Homegrown with Jim Berry: Cannabis Cultivation Basics
This article first appeared in the Health & Wellness issue of Fat Nugs Magazine, published in February 2024.
Welcome to my little addition to the Health and Wellness issue! And for me personally, winter is a very appropriate time of year for such a topic.
If you’re reading these pages, more than likely you have experienced some sort of wellness from cannabis. For some, it has become a better alternative to traditional pharmaceuticals for managing chronic conditions. For others, it’s a momentary escape from the stressors of everyday life. For me, it’s both.
If you’ve experienced some of the “cannabis community,” you’ve probably gotten to experience people who are generally a little more accepting, a little more empathetic, a little more open-minded. Sure, people are people, and there are shit birds in any group. The rest of us are as fallible as anyone else, perhaps even more so. But there does seem to be a truer sense of community, even tribalism, among cannabis enthusiasts and advocates. Recently, I was reminded of a third way in which cannabis has offered wellness to me personally, my home grow.
Lessons in Cannabis Cultivation
Cannabis has been a teacher to me. Cultivation has taught patience and reinforced commitment for me. Cultivation has been an intellectual journey that shows no end. 15 years ago, I was just trying to keep a plant alive for four months. Now, I’m experimenting with specific wavelengths of light to see how they affect the morphology of different varieties. Building on experience, cycle after cycle. It is a private, tropical getaway just for me that I can visit anytime I want, especially this time of year. A perfect day, every day. This is a luxury that I take for granted, until those rare occasions when I’m left without a garden, especially when the weather outside is gloomy. Doesn’t that sound amazing? It is.
But where in the world do you even begin to decide where to put your garden and how to set it up for success? That’s why I’m here today. To offer you many of the considerations that should go into the selection of a space, based on my years of experience, mostly in figuring out what I shouldn’t have done, after the fact.
There is a lot here. But let me preface this with the understanding that these conditions are ideal suggestions. Not every new grower will be able to afford all of the considerations in this column. Pick the features that are most important and attainable to you and get growing. Don’t wait for the perfect space. As you’ll quickly learn, growing is often about rolling with the punches. Get a solid plan together, get in there, and start swinging. I’ll be in your corner.
5 Cannabis Cultivation Basics
Be Discreet
The first consideration for most people is discretion. Putting the cannabis grow where visitors won’t stumble upon it and where the smell won’t be overwhelming.
Ideally, you want to pick a place that is out of the way and doesn’t have significant air exchange with the rest of your living space. One of my first grows was in the furnace room. It was out of sight, but every time the heat came on, the furnace would draw enough air from the grow to push the smell to every corner of the house—obviously, not a good choice. A little ventilation is ok, but not that necessary in my experience.
If you graduate to supplementing the air with more CO2 to accommodate higher photosynthetic rates, you don’t need air exchange at all. I try to pick a space with no windows and no ducting to the rest of the house.
Air exchange with the outdoors should definitely be avoided. There are a number of fungal pathogens and destructive pests that can easily get through a drafty window — seal it up.
You’re also going to want to cover any windows with an opaque material, blocking the light completely. This ensures that you won’t interrupt the flowering light cycle and also
won’t announce to the neighbors that you’re growing the kind. They’ll either judge you or you’ll never get rid of them. Trust me.
Be Discerning
As far as the size of the space, you want it big enough to adequately serve your plants and allow you to get into it to perform the work. You want to be comfortable in there, but you don’t want a space that is overly large.
You will want to control the temperature and humidity as closely as possible and a bigger room will be more difficult (but not impossible) to keep in harmony.
Pick a space to which your pets do not have access. Period. And don’t allow them in the space while you’re working, as tempting as it is to enjoy your favorite pastime with your favorite friend. At the very least, you’ll be picking fur out of your flower. More importantly, they can be an easy vector for fungi and pests to get into your garden.
Never go into your garden when you’ve been outside extensively, yard work or not. I always have clean clothes and hair when I go into my garden. I never wear shoes that I wear outside. I coordinate my other work for the day with a shower, if needed.
You’ll develop your own protocol. Mine may seem excessive, but trust me on this. An ounce of prevention is worth a metric ton of cure when it comes to an outbreak of powdery mildew, spider mites, or thrips. All types of organisms would love to get into your nice warm, year-round garden and wreak havoc. I’m especially careful in the late summer into late fall.
Temperature
Another consideration for space selection is ambient temperature. Does that space stay fairly warm? In the upper 60’s? You will be adding several electrical components that will generate heat. You may need to concern yourself with cooling the space during the day, but if the nighttime temperatures get too low, it can cause issues. You may want to consider adding a small space heater.
Electrical Setup
One major issue that most of us confront at one time or another is servicing the room with ample electrical supply. It may be possible to squeeze all of the necessary equipment onto one standard 15A circuit, but more than likely, you’ll want a little more amperage. You also want to have outlets conveniently located, if possible. I’ve certainly run extension cords around in my time. If you do, just make sure that the cord and circuit are rated higher than your needs. I usually shoot for 20% overhead. For instance, don’t put more than 12 amps on a 15-circuit. It’s a safe rule of thumb I picked up from an old journeyman friend of mine. And as a grower, unless you can safely perform the task yourself, a good electrician is a friend to have. Electrical fires in home grows are more common than you think. (I’ve never had anything even close to an incident because the electrical work was done properly. Just be smart about it.)Room Space and Water Access
Generally, the higher the ceiling height, the better, but I’ve worked in a space with 6’3” clearance for years. It has influenced my purchase decisions from time to time, and I have hit my head about a million times on something, but the room has performed just fine. Water and drain access should just be close by. Usually, a utility tub will do. I mixed fertilizers and dumped pot runoff in my laundry area for years, back and forth with a 5-gallon bucket. I eventually got fancy and added a restaurant sink with a sideboard and a small rain barrel in my room. The sink is a great place to mix, and the barrel is where I collect tap water in order to dechlorinate it before I water or feed my plants. Keep this in mind: when it comes to space selection, these conditions are ideal suggestions. Ultimately, just plan to check as many boxes as you can, and don’t let a lack of the perfect space defeat you. I’ve grown in closets, basements, attics, garages- anywhere I could fit a little gear and some plants. You can always opt for a small grow tent. They come in various sizes and can cost under $100. I picked up this 2×4 that is 5 feet tall on Amazon for $79. Sometimes the best setup is even a tent inside a small room. You can control the environmental conditions of the room as a whole, without worrying about fitting a dehumidifier or air conditioner inside of an already small space. Ample ventilation between the room and the tent may be all you need. Well, folks! That’s about all I have for today. Next time, we’ll start digging into exactly what equipment is right for your space and how to go about setting it up for success.
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