Are you heading to the dispensary to cop some bud or extracts? It’s a thrilling experience standing behind the counter staring at all the tasty nugs on display. We don’t know about you, but we could spend hours in the store talking to budtenders about the differences in aroma and taste between strains.
The dispensary experience is great, and you have plenty of choices for your bud. The only problem with buying your cannabis from the dispensary is the price. How many times have you walked out of the dispensary with an ounce, vowing to yourself that you’ll start growing?
The reality is, growing cannabis is easier than you think. Setting up an operation in your home is a great idea, and it’s a must for any seasoned cannabis user. Do you need some motivation to start growing bud yourself? Here are ten benefits of growing your own cannabis.
#1 Save Massive Amounts of Money
The biggest incentive for growing cannabis at home is cost savings. Take a trip down to the dispensary, and you’ll end up paying $15 to $20 per gram for top-shelf bud. If you have a fairly extensive habit, that means you could end up spending hundreds of dollars a week on cannabis products at the dispensary.
If you smoke or vape every day, growing cannabis yourself dramatically reduces the costs. Sure, there might be some setup costs involved, but you’ll end up covering those expenses twenty times over in your first year of growing. Why keep spending money on cannabis when you can grow it yourself for a fraction of the cost? It makes sense, right?
#2 Never Run Dry
How many times have you run out of bud at home? If you don’t live near a dispensary, you’ll have to use a black market dealer. Not only is this a risky proposition, but it’s also annoying. You have to get into your car, drive to the dealer, and make some small talk while all you want to do is get home and roll a nice thick blunt.
If you decide to grow cannabis yourself, you’re going to have a never-ending supply that never runs dry. Not only do you have all the cannabis you can smoke, but you can afford to give it away to your close friends as well.
#3 Know What You Grow with Quality Control
How many times have you had a dealer tell you that they have this fire waiting for you, but when you get there, it’s garbage. By growing cannabis yourself, you become the quality control expert. There’s no more buying airy buds or suspect strains from dealers when you have a grow at home.
Buying on the black market is also risky. You don’t know what the breeder was doing when they were growing the plants. You have no idea of the insecticides they used or the nutrients. Even worse, you could end up buying contaminated moldy bud that causes respiratory problems.
When you grow your bud yourself, you are the final quality control point, and you know what your vaping or smoking.
#4 Choose Your Favorite Strains
Arriving at the dealer or dispensary to find a bunch of mediocre strains is disappointing. How many times have you bought bud and found yourself unhappy with the results? We bet it’s more than a handful of instances.
When you grow cannabis yourself, you can choose your favorite strains for your grow. You get what you expect out of the results and a rewarding experience when you vape or smoke the fruits of your efforts.
#5 Experiment with Creating Strains
If you’re growing at home, you don’t have to ever worry about buying seeds again. Pick out a few packs of standard seeds, and grow a male plant along with your females. You can harvest the pollen from the male and use it to cross with your females, creating free seeds.
#6 Growing Yourself Removes the Risk
If you’re buying your bud from a black market dealer, you’re putting yourself at risk. What if the police catch you in the middle of a deal? While cannabis is gaining legal status in many states, there are plenty where it’s still illegal. Putting your freedom at risk to get an ounce is a harrowing experience, especially if things go wrong.
Growing yourself eliminates this risk, allowing you to remain in the confines of your home without worrying about the law interrupting a deal on the street.
#7 Optimal Drying and Curing
Don’t you hate it when a dealer gives you wet bud? You’re paying for the ounce, but after leaving it out to dry properly overnight, you lose half the weight. That’s a raw deal.
If you’re smoking some bud you got from a dealer or dispensary, and the ash is dark or black, it means they didn’t cure it properly. Curing your bud right increases potency and aroma, and when you’re growing it yourself, you know you’re smoking perfectly cured cannabis.
#8 Learn a Skill
Growing cannabis at home lets you experiment with different growing methods to find what works for you. From low-stress training to super-cropping and “seas of green,” there are plenty of ways to experiment with growing cannabis.
It might take you a few rounds indoors to get it right, but you have a proven method that delivers results when you do. Growing cannabis is a skill, and when you get it right, it’s a rewarding experience.
#9 Keep the Trim for Hash, Extracts, and Edibles
Extracts are expensive, but when you’re growing your bud yourself, you can make extracts yourself with your trimmings and tailings. A single home grow could yield a few trash bags of trimmings, and you can use that to make extracts, hash, and oils.
By growing at home, you get access to the entire plant, not just the bud you get at the dispensary. Invest into some hash bags or a rosin press, and start producing extracts yourself.
#10 You’ll Have Way More Friends
If you start growing cannabis at home, you can expect your friends to start showing up out of the woodwork looking for a free smoking session. You’ll be a hit with everyone when you pull out a frosty nug and start rolling.
