Legendary Master Grower Bubba Kush THC’s New Cultivation Editor by DJ Reetz
Home cultivation is an essential part of cannabis. The rich tradition of clandestine cultivation has shaped the legal market and is an integral part of any true legalization measure. Here in Colorado, residents of age have the legal right to grow their own marijuana — up to six plants per person — and the act of home growing can be an exciting and rewarding endeavor.
In the coming months THC will be welcoming a cultivation editor to help our readers do just that in the form of Matt Berger, a man who many know by his grower’s moniker, Bubba Kush. He’s the man behind the strain that bears the same name, and since he’ll be bringing his 30 years of experience growing to the readers of this fine magazine, we thought it was a good idea to get to know a little more about him. For Berger, aka Bubba, the love of cannabis cultivation began in high school during the ‘80s when he would plant seeds in his backyard and in the greenhouse in his high school agriculture class, although his father or teacher would pull most of them thinking they were everyday garden weeds. When he began growing in the woods just behind the house he found more success, and it instilled in him a passion to grow better buds. Bubba took that love for growing cannabis with him to college, where he began to experiment with plant genetics, eventually discovering a phenotype his friend dubbed “Kush,” completely unknowingly of the region of the Middle East bearing the same name known for producing a variety of Cannabis indica. After college, Bubba moved to LA to pursue a career in film and television production as well as at-home horticulture. He took his coveted clones with him, tucking them inside a rollerblade for protection; along with a cut of Northern Lights he had given the name “Bubba”. He soon found other growers had begun misappropriating the name “Kush”, prompting his clique of growers to rebrand their product as OG Kush. Eventually they began selling to the guys from Cypress Hill, and when some seeds where found in one of the bags the rappers had bought from Bubba, which had somehow been pollinated by his Kush, the plants that subsequently grew from them became famous.
48 March 2015
“That was the start of Bubba Kush,” says Bubba. The strain became legendary, and the grower behind it soon found himself plying his trade in Vancouver, where a close call with law enforcement quickly sent him back stateside. Eventually, Bubba ended up in Colorado, where a former growing partner and Originating Godfather of the Kush, Fuji, and another partner, OG1Cannobi were looking to capitalize on the green rush that was taking hold of the state circa 2009. The three opened a dispensary called The Cannasseur on north Tennyson in Denver’s Berkley neighborhood, offering high-end cannabis to those with discerning tastes. But it was not to last. As the city struggled to find a way to rectify the exploding dispensary scene with federal law, shops within 1,000 feet of a school were sent letters notifying them that they would have to move or face federal prosecution. Among those first to receive such letters was The Cannasseur. Bubba and his partners had recently spent several hundred thousand dollars renovating the repurposed house that served as their commercial space, and the mandate to move effectively killed the business. But Bubba stuck with his passion, and these days he’s working on a new genetics line, “Imperial Genetics” combining his and his partners’ combined 60 plus years of growing experience. He also is working on innovative new products to serve the industry.