According to New Frontier Data, just 6% of Americans grow their own cannabis. Count me among the six percent.
The survey says 60% of cultivators are men and 90% are between 18-54 years old. Two-thirds live in states where adult use or medical or both are legal. Most grow indoors (54% to 31% outdoors and 10% in greenhouses). Sixty percent of the respondents stay within the legal limits, growing between three to six plants. A quarter have one or two.
Why do people grow weed? Most say they "enjoy it" (70%), some note it's more convenient (52%) and less expensive (46%). A third are concerned about pesticides and contaminants in commecially grown products. See the chart below.
I'm not your classic cannabis grower. I 've grown (only outdoors) off and on over years. I started on my fire escape with tall sativas from bag seed. I learned that indicas would grow shorter and bushier and would be less visable. Eventually, I started to acquire clones.
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Since New York only passed legalization earlier this year, you had to be very careful not to be noticed. The fire escape faced other buildings and backyards in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Anyone could see what I was doing if they looked closely enough. Fortuanatey, I had a cool landlord and was able to continue culitvating for several years.
I moved a few years ago. Where I live now, the 'scape is in the front of the building and is too public. A friend in the neighborhood has a yard. This year we decided to grow veggies and weed together in his yard.
While the tomato, pepper, cucumber and zucchini plants have been producing veggies for the last month, the cannabis plants are just starting to flower as the days darken earlier.
We're growing five plants. Three are clones - two Bruce Banners and a Texas Shoreline x Jet Fuel Gelato - and two feminized seed plants (not sure of the strain). We planted them in an alley to keep them less visable from the street. They're doing well - except for one of the Banners, which may have been pulled up by a skunk (they're know to roam the yard). We replanted it; it's the runt, but is growing back.
We've been feeding them with a cool new product called Prime Superior Drench, a spray containing beauveria bassiana, a fungus that controls pests. It's best to use a bloom formula when the plants are flowering. It will take until mid-October for the plants to finish.
Yes, you too can grow your own weed. It takes space, planning and know-how. Please join the six percent.
