Top 10 reasons to grow your own medical marijuana

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TyKaycha

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Top 10 reasons to grow your own medical marijuana in COLORADO

Article posted on Westword a local Colorado newpaper (copy/pasted here just in case it gets pulled later)

Top 10 reasons to grow your own medical marijuana
By The Wildflower Seed


Whether you grow cannabis to ease a headache or to ease the side effects of chemotherapy, you're putting your health back in your own hands. You're also participating in a historical legalization movement.

You might even call yourself a hero. Here are my top ten reasons why.

10) To appreciate how hard your caregiver works.
Your first crop is practically guaranteed to fail. As an experienced gardener, I took on mine with the love of a farmer and the brain of a scarecrow -- all straw. Too much advice from too many schools of thought led me to forge my own path. But when I accidentally left my greenhouse door shut, my emerald field of green, just five weeks out from harvest, was baked into oblivion. Kind bud has a steep learning curve.

9) To take a stand on legalizing marijuana.
When you get your card and set up your own legal home grow, you are entering into a movement and making a political statement. In effect, you are encouraging local agriculture and exercising a constitutional right enjoyed by few others on the face of the earth -- the constitutional right to grow pot.

8) To stimulate your brain.
Setting up a grow system takes a certain amount of critical thought. You'll have to decide if you want to grow hydro or in soil, under lights or under the sun, which nutrients to dabble in and whether you'll be starting from seed or clone. All these decisions and more will influence the outcome of your crop -- and along the way, the brainteasers will serve as an interesting challenge, especially to those tinkerers out there who have never outgrown trying to make a bong out of an Erector Set.

7) To get bragging rights on Craigslist.
You know you want to get out there and show off your beautiful, homegrown bounty.

6) To make your own medicated olive oil.
Place a few good handfuls of your sugar-coated trimmings (no fan leaves) at the bottom of a Crock-Pot. Pour in just enough olive oil to cover, put the lid on and set to low. Leave on low, stirring occasionally for about twelve hours (all day or overnight), then cool. Strain it and make a big, organic salad. Enjoy!

5) To make sure you can always find your favorite strain.
Everybody has their favorite flavor, the one that sends them over the moon. Learning how to cultivate that strain and bring it to harvest bestows a certain sense of accomplishment on the grower. Consider yourself an artisan and craft yourself a trademark.

4) To piss off Chris Romer.

State Senator Romer spent the better part of the past year belittling the medical marijuana community, all while drafting rules to regulate the MMJ industry (translation: impose huge fees on dispensaries). You go around his expensive rules when you grow your own medicine, and there is nothing Romer can do about it.

3) Vaporizing your own free keif.
This is definitely one of my favorite perks. A keif box is a simple contraption that will allow you to separate and gather precious trichomes from your plant matter. The resulting keif is rich in THC and cannabinoids and is usually sought-after and expensive in dispensaries. When you grow your own medicine, though, keif is a natural by-product, perfect for tossing in the vaporizer for a strong, pure high.

2) So you will always know exactly what's in it.
I like a little mystery in my life, but not when it comes to what's been nurturing my marijuana. When I grow my own, I know what goes in, and I know it meets my standards of high-quality organic. I also know how well the product has been flushed, so I don't have to play games or take guesses as to whether or not I'm smoking marijuana laced in Miracle Grow (or something worse).

1) To enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Harvest time! If you've made it through the trials of your first home grow, you have earned yourself a unique badge of honor. Farming marijuana takes practice, but is well worth the effort. Your first harvest may not be perfect, but rest assured in the knowledge that you are learning a sought-after skill and cultivating a weed that has been grown by humans for more than 3,000 years.

Now put that in your pipe and smoke it.
:character0050:
 
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RMCG

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I like #10, 9, and 4 the best...

Esp. #10, 'Damn, it's just a weed dude' hahaha ok then, go for it...
 
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dman16

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good thread i like the list but i stringly disagree with the part about first grows being almost guaranteed to fail. the biggest reasons i see for first time failure are
1. poor planning, design and setup of grow area (missing a crucial aspect, cheaping out on cooling fans lights, not lightproof, using mircle grow products etc).
2. showing the plants to much attention and, overexcitement (mainly overwatering but also overnuting and pruning….. things of the sort
3. overly ambitious. ex. trying to run over 3000W + accessories in a recirculating hydro system first time.

Im still a noob gardener myself so im no master by any means this is just my 2cents im on my 3rd grow now i would consider all of mine to be relatively successful so far mainly because i got a good nute regimen in a nice environment. i have seen numerous friends fail by the things listed above. i believe doing research and folling in the model of others who ahve had success is one of the best ways to start growing.
here are a few pics of my garden from a few days ago at about 35 days flower
http://i184.invalid.com/albums/x18/deeeman16_2007/DSC01798.jpg
http://i184.invalid.com/albums/x18/deeeman16_2007/DSC01801.jpg
 
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TyKaycha

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good thread i like the list but i stringly disagree with the part about first grows being almost guaranteed to fail. the biggest reasons i see for first time failure are
1. poor planning, design and setup of grow area (missing a crucial aspect, cheaping out on cooling fans lights, not lightproof, using mircle grow products etc).
2. showing the plants to much attention and, overexcitement (mainly overwatering but also overnuting and pruning….. things of the sort
3. overly ambitious. ex. trying to run over 3000W + accessories in a recirculating hydro system first time.
...

Excellent points but the more you spend time in the growing community you'll find that a lot of first time growers fail. True it's not a guarantee, but there is a high percentage. Your points are all things most first time growers fail to take into account.

It looks like you're doing great! Especially for a new grower. Keep up the great work and realize you are in the minority being a successful first-time grower.
 
MileHighChic

MileHighChic

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NOt to mention..Growing your own medicinal marijuana saves you a lot of money if you do it right.

Gotta disagree with #1 also..luckily, my first garden was successful. Thanks to Jorge Cervantes Medicinal Marijuana Growers Bible!

It is very rewarding to grow your own weed. I find it relaxing at times and consider my garden to be a sanctuary.
 
LocalGrowGuy

LocalGrowGuy

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NOt to mention..Growing your own medicinal marijuana saves you a lot of money if you do it right.

Gotta disagree with #1 also..luckily, my first garden was successful. Thanks to Jorge Cervantes Medicinal Marijuana Growers Bible!

It is very rewarding to grow your own weed. I find it relaxing at times and consider my garden to be a sanctuary.

I just finished my first harvest, a tiny grow. I was only hoping for a smokable bowl from a plant I grew myself, and instead I was rewarded with more yield than I could possibly hope for. I totally agree that the garden is a sanctuary, and it's worth it for new growers to do some research and gain some knowledge before jumping in.
 
Dorje

Dorje

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It's a lot easier to get started these days... when I was 18 back in '93 all I had was a crappy Ed Rosenthal book and a few high times. It took a little while to get decent results...
 
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RMCG

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Ask Ed!

Hahaha


Definitely a different time now, esp with forums like these.
 
altitudefarmer

altitudefarmer

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Dorje, you just summed it up for me, as well. Although I started in '91, and the generous farmers in Northern IN and SW MI were kind enough to prepare a great outdoor spot for me in their corn fields, so the learning curve on finishing indoors did not come until later...
 
click80

click80

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It's a lot easier to get started these days... when I was 18 back in '93 all I had was a crappy Ed Rosenthal book and a few high times. It took a little while to get decent results...

when i was about 13 back in...ummm the 20th century...i helped my older bro and his friend on an outdoor grow...his bud was some type of AG major at Va Tech...anyway i wanted to scream when they ripped out the males...of course it ended up good...but i remember that they had a hard time selling it at the college cause people thought it was treated with something nasty 'cause it was so potent...funny huh...another thing that adds some irony...it was grown on federal land in between an Army base and a Federal Pen....sum of us are so blessed with crazy friends and fam...lol
 
click80

click80

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I miss Blacksburg...

Go Hokies.

Very cool...i miss being 16 and the 'rents dumping me on my bro...got dragged a lot of places that CPS would have frowned upon...

Le sigh..thats the stuff that nostalgia is born upon...:dance
 
Mr.Sputnik

Mr.Sputnik

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Mine started with a 400W hallogen work light in the closet of my dorm in college. It was bagseed from some FOCO cronic. It was a disaster, the lamp fell over and melted a hole in my trashcan and nearly caught fire. Yeast for CO2, miracle grow, it was just pathetic.

It's crazy what you can learn when you open a frekin book!
 
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trykome1

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Luckily my first grows were outdoor so I learned some stuff first!
 
Green Mopho

Green Mopho

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Mine started with a 400W hallogen work light in the closet of my dorm in college. It was bagseed from some FOCO cronic. It was a disaster, the lamp fell over and melted a hole in my trashcan and nearly caught fire. Yeast for CO2, miracle grow, it was just pathetic.

It's crazy what you can learn when you open a frekin book!

Haha, sounds just like my first few grows during my freshman and sophomore year in college. Various wattage halogens, lined up everywhere they could fit. Dry ice in a styrofoam cooler with holes punched in it for CO2. Veg room was in the bathroom closet. Miracle grow soil and Peters 20-20-20 for nutes. Growing Mexi brick bagseeds. It was awesome! Buds were loose and sparse, we didn't have a way to cool the closet. Didn't know anything about topping or training, plants were mexican sativas that grew untopped in single stalks. My closet looked like a bamboo garden.
 
click80

click80

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Haha, sounds just like my first few grows during my freshman and sophomore year in college. Various wattage halogens, lined up everywhere they could fit. Dry ice in a styrofoam cooler with holes punched in it for CO2. Veg room was in the bathroom closet. Miracle grow soil and Peters 20-20-20 for nutes. Growing Mexi brick bagseeds. It was awesome! Buds were loose and sparse, we didn't have a way to cool the closet. Didn't know anything about topping or training, plants were mexican sativas that grew untopped in single stalks. My closet looked like a bamboo garden.

Thats funny. I assume that was at least a few years back? I have not grown from seed since I was a teenager. This past summer the local Pot Doctors husband gave me some seeds a dispensary owner had given him. No strain name really, said it was Oaxacan & Diesel. Anyway i was going to take summer off, but decided what the hey!!!

Good golly molly, what a friggin jungle. I know what first generation Vigor means now...what a lesson...plus I was using CO2...Then they started throwing bananas...ARGHHH....Do you know the feeling when you have cola's as big as Arnold's forearms, and they start throwing hermies, and then seed appears...wow what a lesson. I was a wreck....It did make excellent butter though....I understand now how many variables there are with cannabis, also that only experience and effort bring the real Frost out...makes me love it more... I realize why so many people start growing then stop. Cannabis weeds out the bullshit artists quickly..(pun intended)
 
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