Growing Marijuana

Have you heard the news? Marijuana/cannabis became legal in Minnesota on August 1. It only took about 15 days for me to get my first Master Gardener question about it, so I did some digging into this psychedelic plant. Full disclosure: I have never actually grown it myself, so my information was gleaned from the internet. Reader, I googled this for you and found a dizzying array of blog posts, YouTube videos and news articles. Here is my attempt to distill it all into something… edible.

Question:
How hard is it to grow marijuana? Are there any regulations around it if you’re just growing it for personal use?

Answer:
First, let’s explore regulations, since those are unique to Minnesota. The full list of regulations around growing and consuming cannabis in the gopher state can be found on a new website, cannabis.mn.gov. The state says:

• Up to eight cannabis plants, with no more than four being mature, flowering plants may be grown at a single residence as long as it is at the primary residence of someone 21 or older. 
• Plants must be in an enclosed, locked space that is not open for public view.

So what this means is that, practically speaking, if you’re starting plants from seed you would start no more than four at a time, so that after you harvest the first four, you’ll have four more almost ready to flower and then you can start four more plants from seed, and so on. This is if you’d want a continuous supply.  READ MORE...