Crain Liz - Grow your own: understanding, cultivating, and enjoying cannabis

Copyright 2017 Nichole Graf, Micah Sherman, David Stein, and Liz Crain

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, contact Tin House Books, 2617 NW Thurman St., Portland, OR 97210.

Published by Tin House Books, Portland, Oregon, and Brooklyn, New York

Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

ISBN: 978-1-941040-58-4 (hardcover); ISBN: 978-1-941040-59-1 (ebook)

First US Edition 2017
Interior design by Diane Chonette

www.tinhouse.com

Contents

SAFETY WARNING:

There may be risks associated with the consumption of cannabis, and smoking anything is hazardous to your health.

Cannabis has intoxicating effects, and when its ingested, those effects may be delayed by two or more hours.

Cannabis can make kids very sick. Store all marijuana products in a locked area that children cannot see or reach. Children want to be like their parents and the other adults in their lives. When you use marijuana in front of them, they may want to use it, too. You can keep them safe and healthy by not using marijuana when kids are around. If your child eats or drinks marijuana products, call the Poison Control hotline as soon as possible: 1-800-222-1222. Symptoms can include: having trouble walking or sitting up, becoming sleepy, or having a hard time breathing.

Cannabis may harm your baby if used in any form and at any time during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.

Cannabis can be toxic to animals. Pets that consume it can experience a range of effects, from lethargy to coma to death.

It is illegaland very dangerousto drive a motor vehicle or operate heavy equipment while under the influence of cannabis.

If you plan to use cannabis to treat a medical condition, consult with a physician or licensed medical provider.

This book is intended for educational purposes. Laws pertaining to the cultivation, possession, consumption, and sale of cannabis vary widely from state to state; please check your local regulations.

Of course I know how to roll a joint.

MARTHA STEWART

THE CANNABIS WORLD HAS LONG BEEN THE DOMAIN OF DO-IT-YOURSELFERS . For decades, gonzo horticulturalists have swapped seeds and strains, good techniques and questionable advice. Our forebears developed something of a culture, almost an oral tradition; wisdom was passed along from grower to grower, the history of various strains becoming increasingly colorful as years went by.

In some ways, times have changed. The latest projections have the legalized cannabis trade eclipsing $20 billion in just a few years, and with that kind of money come the usual suspects and usual problems. (Thats not to say there werent serious issues in the past; black markets encourage bad actors as well.) The current era has been dubbed the green rush. As with the gold rush before it, hordes of entrepreneurs have leapt at the chance to make a quick buck (and much like those bright-eyed miners, many will walk away with nothing more than a good story). But also like 1849, theres a certain pioneer ethos you cant help but admire. Growers are breaking new ground and making incredible strides. Some of the old spirit remains, and we think its worth preserving. So in an age when deep-pocketed investors are vying to be the Budweiser of cannabis, we want to encourage an approach thats a little smaller, a little more interesting, a little bit closer to the soil.

This book will give you the background knowledge you need to start growing, the concepts youll want to comprehend when it comes to setting up your space and making adjustments on the fly, and it will walk youstep by stepthrough planting, maintaining, and eventually harvesting your bud. But it goes beyond cultivation. We feel strongly that a deeper understanding of what cannabis is, what it can do for you, and the various ways to enjoy it are just as important as lighting, airflow, and soil science. Our hope is that this book will serve as a valuable resource even if youre buying your bud from the neighborhood shop.

Grow Your Own is designed for small-scale growers; its not a handbook for commercial operations. Its for basements and attics, sheds and garages, closets and tents. And while were not afraid to get into the weeds when the material demands it, our aim is to make the information accessible and keep you from feeling bogged down in unnecessary minutiae. Growing your own isnt just a rabbit hole, its an entire system of underground tunnels. We encourage you to find the burrows youre interested in and keep on digging.

Because outdoor strategies differ greatly based on your particular climateand shift from season to seasonweve focused primarily on indoor gardens. But if youre growing outside, most of the same concepts and instructions apply. Youll feed your soil just as weve described in . But conditions will vary based on where youre located. Your best bet is to familiarize yourself with the concepts we lay out here, then seek out local gardening resources for further specifics.

And that oral tradition we spoke of? In the age of the internet, it has migrated to the message boards. Theres a wealth of knowledge out there just waiting to be pored over, and a great community of hobbyists and professionals offering advice and leaning on one another for troubleshooting. But, as you might expect, it can be tough to decipher whats useful advice from what isnt. Years of prohibition have made fact-checking difficult, and many experts grow at a scale that doesnt easily translate to small spaces. Couple that with the fact that there simply is no single correct method and the prospect of a home cannabis garden can feel pretty overwhelming. Grow Your Own will serve as a reliable starter kititll get you from start to finish, and you can seek out expansion packs as you see fit.

As Im sure we can all agree, the highlight of any heist movie is the moment it comes time to put the team together: the sexy, quick-cut montage that introduces you to the key players and the unique talent theyll lend to that last big job. In a bid to attract Hollywood producers for a Grow Your Own film adaptationand, of course, to make you more comfortable with our credentialswe thought a similar sequence might be in order.

In 2012, the citizens of both Colorado and Washington state voted in favor of ending cannabis prohibition. While David, our master gardener, had been growing for decades, Micah and Nichole were living in New York, going down their own individual career paths; when it came to cannabis, they were merely enthusiastic customers. But the prospect of being a part of something from the beginning (legal cannabis for recreational use!) and having the opportunity to help build a businessan entire industryfrom the ground floor was too exciting to pass up. After being introduced to David through a family friend, we started hatching our plans for Raven Grass, the organic-focused grow operation we now run in Olympia, Washington.

The idea was to put our various backgrounds and training to good use. Each of us possessed a different skill set. We thought we could use them to bring a new perspective and a fresh set of eyes to the cannabis world and its standard way of doing things.