3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Growing Marijuana

Alright so you’ve decided to take the leap and grow your own marijuana. You have your strain(s) picked out, growing medium/system ready to roll, ventilation and odor control dialed in and your lights are just begging to have their switches flipped. (You don’t? No worries I’ll help you sort all that out and more in an upcoming post.) I want you to take a little bit and bask in this feeling of excitement and giddiness. After all, you haven’t felt this way since you were a child. Or is that just me? Seriously though, relish this moment. Starting a grow is always an amazing feeling but you’ll never experience starting your FIRST grow ever again.

“I’ve basked, I’ve relished. Can I start growing now?” you eagerly ask. The keyword there being eagerly. You see, eagerness can be blinding. It can cause you to overlook some important details. I want nothing more than for you to have a fun, successful grow. To help ensure that happens I’ve put together a list of questions that you probably haven’t considered but will want to answer before you even germinate your seeds.

Are your goals and expectations realistic?

Look, I’m all for setting big and audacious goals. It’s important to push yourself and see just how much you can actually accomplish. But there’s a fine line that separates fantasy and reality. Ask yourself, what side of that line am I standing on?

Think back to when you were researching the strains you’ve decided to grow. Remember seeing those huge numbers that followed “Yield:”? Yeah, my eyes grew wide and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor too. Be still my heart! No seriously, be still because it’s unlikely that you’ll harvest 1­2 lbs per square meter. You need to realize that one, you’re being sold something and two, that yield is based on a plant being grown in the most ideal conditions.

I can just hear it now; “Andrew, I hear you man but I have a slick setup with all the bells and whistles. It’s as dialed in as it can get!” To which I would respond with, “Awesome! I’m happy for you and I’m sure that will make a huge difference. But unfortunately experience is also part of the equation.”

When you have a few grows under your belt and spend a lot of time learning exactly how your chosen strain behaves, you’ll eventually pull that kind of weight. For now though, I recommend just having fun with it and not putting too much stress on the yield.

Why are you even doing this?

There are plenty of reasons to grow your own marijuana. To save money, to have a large supply on hand, so you know exactly what you’re consuming, or maybe you’re just a toker that loves to garden. These, and many more, are all great reasons to explore the world of cultivation. But there is one in particular that I want to take a minute and discuss.

Money.

I’m not knocking anyone who’s driven by the prospect of monetary gain. You just need to be sure that that drives you enough. Growing marijuana isn’t like growing basil on your window sill. It’s hard work guys. Depending on the size and complexity of your grow, you’re essentially taking on a part time to full time job. Have you considered that? Have you asked yourself if the amount you expect to earn (refer to question 1) is worth the amount of work that lies ahead? Here’s a bit of advice: If you have a passion and love for marijuana, proceed. If you don’t, spend some time taking what I said into consideration. You might find that your time and money is better invested elsewhere.

Whatever your reason is, find it, name it and embrace it. Why? Because some days might be long enough and difficult enough that you’ll need something to draw motivation from. I know, this probably seems silly to some of you. But just like any other hobby, project, or venture, you need to know why you’re doing it.

Do you have your life in order and put together?

Remember how I said this is like taking on another job? Well, a better way to describe it would be that it’s like getting a new dog. When you start a grow, those plants are now your dependents. Just think about it for a minute. You have to feed and water your plants, take care of them when they’re sick, groom them, maintain their “sleep” schedule, clean up their messes, keep their area tidy and so, so much more.

Are you ready for that level of responsibility? Again, it’s time to be realistic. You have to take a look at your everyday life and decide whether you actually have the amount of time, patience and energy to devote to this.

Don’t get me wrong; if you come to see that you’ll likely have to neglect your plants every now and again, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t grow. It just means that you then need to consider if the diminished results caused by this neglect are still worth it. Fortunately, most of the time the answer is yes. Be real with yourself though. If you only have an hour or two a week to tend to your plants, it’s probably not worth it. Either work out the kinks in your life/schedule or wait until you aren’t as busy. You’ll thank me later.

Look, I know how excited you are. I’ve been there. But do yourself a favor, reel it in and spend some time going over these questions. Be honest and, maybe more importantly, be realistic with yourself. It will only do one of two things for you: Validate that you’re ready to go or save you a ton of stress, time, money and even heartache. Either way you come out on top.

If you guys have any questions, want further advice on all this, or just want to chat, drop me a line in the comments below and I’ll happily get back to you!