Illustration: Lauren Martin
As of late June, New Yorkers 21 and older can legally grow weed at home. But cannabis isn’t your average snake plant — it’s sensitive and requires daily tending and a ton of gear. Here’s exactly how to do it.
According to the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act, each adult can cultivate up to six cannabis plants, three mature (flowering, ready-to-harvest plants) and three immature (branches and leaves but no flowers yet), with a maximum of 12 per multi-adult household. Once you’ve harvested your plants, you can store up to five pounds of cultivated cannabis flower, enough to roll more than 1,500 king-size joints. Beyond that, there are few legal barriers to growing in your apartment — and your building management can’t say much about it, either. “Unless they are receiving federal benefits, like in Section 8 housing, a landlord can’t prevent you from home cultivating,” says Nathaniel Jenkins from the Office of Cannabis Management. But be mindful that local laws and the OCM’s regulations are subject to change pending review, so it is a good idea to check with a lawyer about them first.
Any experienced cultivator will suggest buying a grow tent to “control the environment fully,” legacy home grower Ricky DeBushea says. These tents mimic optimal outdoor growing conditions when you add full-spectrum grow lights as a stand-in for the sun and small fans to produce “winds” that ventilate the space. Expert cultivator the Dank Duchess prefers buying the tent and equipment separately, but DeBushea notes “there are turnkey options where you can get a tent, light, fan, and pot options all together.” Fully equipped kits from brands like Gorilla Grow Tent and Vivosun start at around $350 for a two-by-two-foot setup.
Buying from a licensed dispensary or reputable online seed bank like Authentic Genetics Seed Co. or Humboldt Seed Company is a good way to start. Different varietals range from $3 to $50 per seed, but experts recommend buying inexpensive strains that you actually like to smoke. “One of the first things I grew was Blue Dream,” says Solonje Burnett, founder of Weed Auntie. “I tend to pick things that are more well known because I know how they feel in my body.” Get the auto-flowering kind, Burnett says. These seeds are easier to grow, harvest quickly, and stay on one light schedule.
Indoor cannabis can be grown either hydroponically or in living soil. For a beginner, living soil can be more cost effective because it requires less material, DeBushea says. He uses BuildASoil’s ClackamasCoots Style ($33), which includes kelp meal and malted barley to nourish plants from the root.
During the seedling and vegetative stages, the plant needs 18-to-24 hours of light per day to grow strong roots and branches. After five-to-eight weeks, the flowers will begin budding, at which point they will need only 12 hours of light a day for eight-to-12 weeks before they’re ready to harvest. During this period, it’s a good idea to perform low-stress training on your plants, like “pushing the leaves away from the stem so that it can get better light where the buds will grow,” according to latif sirat of Hudson Cannabis.
The amount of light and equipment required to grow indoors can overload your circuits, causing electrical damage. Licensed home-improvement contractor Katie Whitaker of Handyma’am implores everyone to dedicate a UL-rated surge protector exclusively to their grow operation.
Too much unabsorbed water can cause root rot and mold, which can destroy your plants. The average plant needs about a quart of water a day during the seedling stage and upwards of three gallons when flowering.
The smell of fresh flowering plants is much milder than dried and burned cannabis, but you can trap any unwanted smells in the tent if you use a carbon filter.
There’s only one way to know your flowers are fully ripe for harvesting: “When you look at the trichomes, which are the oil glands of the plant, they’ll change from clear to being glittery, milky, and even amber in color,” sirat says. He recommends buying a jeweler’s loupe to examine your buds during the last few weeks of maturity. When they’re ready, cut down the branches, trim the leaves, and hang the branches to dry in your tent for a week or two. Dried flowers should be stored in humidity-controlled Mason jars or Grove Bags for an additional month after harvest to finish ripening. This means the entire cultivation process can take up to eight months, but it’s worth it for home growers who really care about their plants. “I sing to my babies. I dance in the room with my babies. I palo santo my babies,” Burnett says.
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