Humboldt County News - HowStuffWorks Explains Marijuana Grow Houses

Posted on Oct 13, 2008 - 12:27

just another pot grow in humboldt county

In case you were wondering exactly what goes into setting up, managing, and financing a marijuana grow house, How Stuff Works has published a 6-page article describing all the bits and pieces that go into running a real indoor pot garden for profit. The article is titled Setting Up A Grow House.

According to the website, "HowStuffWorks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Communications, is the award-winning source of credible, unbiased, and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world actually works." We seem to recall that this site started out as a resource for school children, which is why we're a bit surprised to see them explaining commercial marijuana gardening.

The in-depth article references the LA Times story from a few months back and some bits from the Arcata Eye to back up their facts, and they throw down some numbers in the beginning, too. Of course, those numbers are way off. For example, they state that one marijuana plant grown indoors can yield half a pound of pot, but any grower in Humboldt will confirm that actual realistic yield from a single plant is between 30 and 90 grams, and rarely more. Nobody gets more than a quarter-pound of weed from a single plant in an indoor garden in a normal grow cycle.

The article also claims that a single 1,000 watt grow light can sustain 15 to 20 plants, but most pro growers won't do more than 9-16 plants per light, mostly to keep the number of total plants down so they don't exceed the legal limit for Prop 215 cultivation, and also to curb the complexity of their operation.

All in all, Setting Up A Grow House is an informative read, and the author, Robert Lamb, either did a lot of research before writing it or he has first hand experience with indoor pot gardening. He even mentions that grow house operators are less likely to interact with their neighbors, which is probably true. Maybe that has something to do with #12 in this morning's post?

Isn't it interesting that marijuana growing has become so prolific and commonplace that our children can now read about the inner workings of illegal pot gardens at their favorite Discovery website? It turns out this is nothing compared to their article on Manufacturing Crack Cocaine, which is complete with photos and step-by-step instructions on how to turn regular old coke into crack rocks! Yay for education!

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By Padje, on Nov 25, 2008 - 11:01

Howdy,

I checked out your link and I'm confused about crop yields. You disagree with the HSW mention of a half pound per plant indoor yield, but then I read the following in your linked article:

"Half to three-quarters of a pound is probably normal for the average indoor grower."

and

"about the yields in indo grows, i know of growers who get more than a lb per light by using co2 in their rooms, but its true the option isn't for everyone."

That makes it sound like the HSW amount mentioned on the intro page is conservative, rather than over-the-top.

Plus, they back up the "15 to 20 plants for light" with a Cannibus Culture article about an illegal grow house -- which makes it seem like it's not a matter of them getting their facts wrong, just that "legal" growers shoot for a lower number.

Anyway, not harping, just wanting to make sure I have my own assessment of the facts right here.