Cannabis as a house plant

When I retired and started using cannabis to treat my post-mastectomy pain, medical cannabis was legal in California but recreational was not. I’m not positive how it worked, but I think farmers sold their production directly to collectives, who then sold it to consumers. The prices were great!

Then came recreational. Now everything is tightly regulated, there are more middlemen, everything is in fancy packaging and the prices are higher. We’re not getting deals like we used to. I’m not complaining, because I believe regulation is the path toward full legalization, so bring it on. But I miss cheap weed.

I have a friend whose husband grows cannabis in his backyard, and I don’t think they even partake. He just likes to grow stuff. They have been kind enough to give us a couple of mason jars full of very nice weed, but one doesn’t want to be greedy, as in going back and begging for more.

Although I’m not much of a green thumb, I decided to try and grow it. I researched options for growing just one plant. Where I live, you can grow it outdoors, although we don’t get much sun in our backyard. One tomato plant in the ground and a ceramic pot of habanero peppers is about all we can muster. I assumed the only other option would be hydroponic, but it can be complicated and gets expensive fast.

I settled on A Pot for Pot, which is a kit that includes nearly everything you need to grow one plant indoors by a window or under an LED light. I purchased the small 2-gallon kit for $79.95. The plant grows two to four feet and yields up to four ounces of cannabis.

For seeds, A Pot for Pot partners with I Love Growing Marijuana, and you get a 20 percent discount on seeds with your pot kit. The folks at A Pot for Pot say autoflowering seeds are better for growing cannabis as a house plant. Among other things, that means the plants don’t require total darkness to flower. I paid $84 for 10 seeds, leaving some wiggle room for mistakes or more plants in the future!

Everything came in fine form and fashion, and I set it up this weekend. I put the pot by a south-facing window, where I believe it will get enough sun. If not, I’ll have to spring for an LED light. Right now, the seedling is in the little starter kit. If all goes well, it will emerge from the soil in about a week and begin to look like a baby plant after another 10 days. Then I will transfer it to the big pot.

As I said, I’m not much of a gardener. But I thought it was worth a try, and I’m not out a boatload of money. The combined cost of the plant kit and seeds is $88.35. Let’s say I yield four ounces of cannabis. That’s about $22 an ounce. My local dispensary sells buds ranging from $30 for 1/8 ounce to $55 for 1/8 ounce. That’s $240 to $440 an ounce!

We’ll see how it goes, and of course, I’ll keep you posted on my progress. It should take about 11 weeks to grow a fully mature plant. And then I have to harvest, dry, trim and cure.

And people wonder what we do all day in retirement.