Maybe the two seasons of ‘Weeds’ we just watched had something to do with it.

November 20, 2008 7:58 AM

Does marijuana make a good house plant?

My husband recently got a California medical marijuana card. He’s been enthusiastically patronizing our local dispensaries. OK, fine, so we’ve got a baggie of pot hidden on the top shelf.

Now he wants to buy seedlings and cultivate plants, because it’s cheaper than buying by the gram. He proposes to keep a couple of plants in our living room near the window, like a houseplant.

The facts: We live in a rented apartment that neighbors can see into. We have a little boy who’s two years old, and I am pregnant with our second child.

My feelings: While I’m OK with him having a safely-hidden supply of pot that he uses carefully, I am absolutely opposed to him growing it in our residence. It will smell bad, it would make me feel uncomfortable to just have a big old marijuana plant growing merrily next to the TV, and most importantly, I think it’s reprehensible to potentially expose our toddler to THC--a dropped leaf would go right into his mouth.

My husband says that my objections are not rational or sufficiently thought-out. He proposes keeping the plants on a high shelf, out of our son’s reach, and insists that the plants don’t smell until the drying/curing process after harvesting. Given that he does have a medical marijuana card, he feels that there’s no good reason NOT to grow it in our home, or for me to feel uncomfortable about it.

Neither of us is willing to give in on this and it’s causing stress. He refuses to consider my alternate suggestions—such as cultivating his plants at a different location—because any setup other than natural sunlight coming through our home windows will cost money, and he’s trying to get a ‘good deal’.

So my questions are:
1. Am I being unreasonable? Sometimes my pregnancy hormones make it hard for me to give myself a reality check if I’m overreacting.
2. I really don’t know anything about pot or the growing thereof, but it seems that he won’t be convinced by any argument that doesn’t involve technical information. Can you help me to construct a compelling argument why growing pot in our apartment is a bad idea?

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (39 comments total)

Seems to me that if you're uncomfortable with the idea, that should be good enough reason.

I don't think they will smell, but also think you'll need more light than he's thinking. There's a reason people end up with an attic full of grow lamps.

And I'd point out this guy.

He eventually got to where he was growing seedlings in his kids' bedrooms. They got him to cop to a plea in order to not have the entire family charged.

And he was making like $100k a year from his job.

I'm in Iowa, don't like pot, but have no opinion on those who do. I just think this is a dumb call.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:06 AM on November 20, 2008

A few things: In my experience, the plants can grow to be quite large, so keeping them on a high shelf wouldn't work. Also, they smell quite strongly when growing, not just when they're being dried out.

I wouldn't worry so much about the children being exposed to it, but I would be more concerned with the fact that the plants will very likely have a... pungent aroma.

Not that I object with growing them; Just don't do it in your living room.
posted by vernondalhart at 8:12 AM on November 20, 2008

Given that he does have a medical marijuana card, he feels that there’s no good reason NOT to grow it in our home, or for me to feel uncomfortable about it.

The card is not a license to grow. I believe more than a couple of plants is a felony, as in your husband will serve time in prison.

Your neighbors will notice the grow lights left on overnight and guests will quickly figure out what that mysterious fern on a top shelf next to a giant grow light is.

I doubt any of this is worth the risk.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:14 AM on November 20, 2008

I think that part of the problem is your husband's, uh, incomplete knowledge about growing marijuana. Without a controlled environment (grow lights, timers, all that High Times stuff), the indoor cultivator's effort-to-reward ratio is pretty low, by which I mean very low. If you ask your husband to learn a little more about growing before he decides to continue on this path, you may find that the problem solves itself.
posted by box at 8:14 AM on November 20, 2008 [7 favorites has favorites]

First off, I presume your husband knows the rules but make sure it's legal for him to be doing this in your jurisdiction. I also believe that just saying "this makes me very ucomfortable" should be a reasonable objection to this situation your husband is proposing and that the two of you need to work towards a compromise solution. You also need to think the meta thoughts abotu whatever his condition is that allows him to have MM, whether that's contributing to his obstinacy in dealing with this issue [high anxiety, for example]

I think it’s reprehensible to potentially expose our toddler to THC--a dropped leaf would go right into his mouth.

I think you have to be prepared for your husband to have a decent solution to THIS problem and then you need to face the fact that you just don't like this idea. I sympathize, I've been there. It's easier to say that you're objecting for some safety reason than because of your own discomfort, but it's possible that your husband can grow a plant on a high shelf or in a locked closet and then you have to ask yourself "does that solve the problem?" and my guess is that no, it doesn't.

The people that I knew who were serious about culitvation grew their plants in closets with grow lights where they could adjust the light/dark cycle and control how and when the plant budded. They could also control the amount the plant smelled and its effect on the larger household.

Turned around, your husband wants to save money. If you would, say, agree to pay for grow lights or an offsite space to grow these plants, would be go for it? My suspicion is also that he might not because the two of you are entrenched and I am sorry about that.

So my answers to your two questions are

1. you feel what you feel. I personally don't think it's unreasonable and I'm pretty, um, "herb friendly"? Your house is your safe sapce and if this makes you feel weird, esp with a baby on the way, your husband shoudl care about that, not be fighting with you about it.
2. I really think it's a bad idea because it makes you upset. If it's a cash issue for him as you suggest, you may be able to address that issue head on with other ways to raise funds or cut costs. If the only solution to his "this saves money" issue is "grow pot at home!" then he's not being particularly reasonable either and it's time for counseling, a good third party friend to bounce this off of, or more serious assessment of what you both want our of your domestic arrangement and your relationship.
posted by jessamyn at 8:14 AM on November 20, 2008

MJ grown indoors has a strong, unmistakable smell that is difficult to mask. Not just when its curing. So that could be an issue. It's also difficult to grow effectively without intense light, so a high shelf (hee hee) wouldn't work very well unless it has a big grow light on it.

Futhermore, having a medical marijuana card does not necessarily indemnify you from getting harassed by the police, nor is it necessarily a free pass to grow weed in your house. I'm of the "it's just a plant" mindset myself, but local law enforcement tends to see it differently, as could your landlord.

OTOH, leaves do not contain the active chemicals, and will likely not hurt your toddler.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 8:14 AM on November 20, 2008

Probably someone from N. Cali will pop in with a comment, but I'm going to point out that pot definitely smells when growing. Like cat pee and skunk butts.

curses, vernondalhart!
posted by fiercekitten at 8:15 AM on November 20, 2008

Plants smell like nobody's business, especially if they get warm.

I wouldn't be worried about the toddler getting a leaf in its mouth (oral use is inefficient, pot often doesn't work the first time, toddlers could do with being slower anyway) but I would be worried about:
1. Neighbors smelling/seeing the plant.
2. Anyone who goes into your apartment for some unforeseen reason seeing the plant. Can you count on landlords, plumbers, emergeny workers, or the UPS man keeping their mouths shut? If I was in their place I might not give a damn, but some people are fucking busybodies.

Wait until you've got a house out in the country. The cops are vicious and this is not a risk worth taking.
posted by dunkadunc at 8:17 AM on November 20, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

My father grew cannabis in plain sight when I was a kid. Hey, it was the 70s! A dropped leaf never harmed me (nor do I think it would harm anyone any more than eating stuff off the floor generally would), and I was never aware of any smell coming from the plants. Having said that, I would personally be uncomfortable having the thing in a visible window because I envision it being attractive to thieves.

More to the point, though, is that he doesn't get the privilege of telling you how to feel. While it's certainly unfair for you to subject him to your irrationality -- "absolutely opposed" is a pretty unreasonably strong position to take based on what seems to be an emotional reaction to a plant -- it's unfair for him to dismiss you as being unreasonable and limit your arguments to the "technical" (by which, I think you mean "factual"). Ignoring your discomfort in the name of a "good deal" says something unflattering about how he values your feelings in the overall scheme of things.

As an aside, whenever I see a couple having a power struggle of this kind, I wonder what it's really about. The behavior of both parties sounds like it's a little bit out of line considering it's supposed to be a discussion about a houseplant. Is it a proxy for some other struggle? At least consider that before you pour yourself into this argument.
posted by majick at 8:19 AM on November 20, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Well I was criticized in another AskMeFi thread for suggesting that marijuana really does have legitimate medicinal applications--and I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with self-medicating, if the alternative is paying a doctor to prescribe an expensive prescription drug that might not be as effective, or as harmless--and I'd go so far as to say that the recreational consumption of marijuana isn't helping the movement to decriminalize--

Moderators may delete this comment if the above isn't germane to the question; your husband is asking for trouble: I presume growing your own is still illegal in California, and he has a family to think of. He has a medical marijuana card and that's enough. You are indeed being reasonable and he is not.
posted by Restless Day at 8:36 AM on November 20, 2008

If this is illegal in your district then it is a really stupid idea.

He can legally buy high-grade marijuana, but to save a few bucks, he wants to illegally grow some shwag...because that's what he is going to get if he doesn't grow it properly, shwag. Short of lights, timed cycles and all that other pot alchemy, he will not get pot that even approaches what he is able to buy. And even if it is legal, it's still probably not going to save much money if you calculate all the fastidious hours it takes to cultivate decent marijuana. With the kid finding a pot leaf and getting brain damage or something, you're probably being a bit irrational. But not wanting to do something illegal or worthless when you have children around the house is not. I think you're totally right on this.

He should just thank his lucky stars that he lives in a state where he can get it legally.
posted by milarepa at 8:40 AM on November 20, 2008 [9 favorites has favorites]

While I do not think a dropped leaf would be an issue (you require significant heat to bind thc to fat or alcohol and activating its potency when eaten)-- this is a really silly idea!

I would suggest pointing him to some instructions on how to cultivate weed--it is almost certainly a lot more complicated and involved than he is imagining. No, you cannot just plant some seeds and stick it by the window.
posted by shownomercy at 8:43 AM on November 20, 2008

1. You're not being at all unreasonable. Putting it up in the living room window is a nutty idea (admittedly, I know nothing about the rights afforded to card holders), and he's wrong about the smell. Geez, having the card probably saves him 2/3rds of the hassle of obtaining ... he should be counting his blessings just to have a steady, legal-ish connection.

2. What box said. He needs to read up. From what I've read, if you get great light from the window, then it could be sufficient for the vegetative part of the grow (though I bet the plants would get way too 'leggy' and require some support), but it just won't do for the budding part. For the plants to flower, *absolute* dark is as important as light.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 8:55 AM on November 20, 2008

Your rental agreement and/or your renters' insurance policy may well have something to say about using the dwelling as a grow-op.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 8:57 AM on November 20, 2008

Growing it properly indoors will likely require a whole setup with (two sets of ) lights as a minimum. This is not cheap, quite the opposite in fact.

Without lights it will be like growing outdoors but without as much light exposure. This will likely lead to a low strength/poor yield crop if it does go to flower at all. You might have the light conditions to grow it successfully indoors but, as with outdoor growing, you rely on natural light cycles to bring on harvesting, so this means only one crop a year (a long wait to sex/harvest plants) and a long time period for upward growth. Marijuana plants can grow up to 20ft tall and though unlikely to get this big a healthy specimen can easily grow 6-10ft or more tall*. This is not houseplant size, certainly nothing that will go on a high shelf after seedling size (and high shelves likely equal poor light).

*Plants grown under lights are artificially induced to flower, so have a shorter growth period, but can still reach a reasonable size.
posted by tallus at 9:07 AM on November 20, 2008

One thing to point out is that while it may be legal in your local area, legal in your state, it is always, without question, illegal on the federal level.

The cultivation of up to 50kg of marijuana is a federal crime, a felony, punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and a prison term of up to 5 years. Federal means everywhere in the US. Including California. This should be reason enough to not put something like this in plain sight, especially considering your family situation.

Note: I'm not trying to scare everyone who uses medicinal marijauna here, I'm just saying that this can be used as ammo in the OP's fight. No possible way that someone should force someone else to have to live with growing marijuana plants against their will.
posted by zhivota at 9:11 AM on November 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

The card is not a license to grow. I believe more than a couple of plants is a felony, as in your husband will serve time in prison.

Actually it is.

On the last week of October, the California Supreme Court agreed to review the most recent case (People vs. Phomphakdy) which had set aside, for about two months, the state medical marijuana possession limits. This action restores the statewide limits set by the legislature in 2003, which are now part of the state Health and Safety Code.

The following minimum limits apply statewide, unless counties have approved greater quantities:

"Qualified patients and primary caregivers who possess a state issued identification card may possess eight ounces of dried marijuana, and may maintain no more than six mature or 12 immature plants per qualified patient." It also allows patients to possess more marijuana if specifically authorized by a doctor's recommendation.

So the verdict is, yes you can grow. And yes you can buy high-quality clones at some dispensaries. Definitely a better idea than starting with seeds. And if he's set on growing his own I'd definitely recommend using a closet or a garage if one's available. Natural sunlight isn't going to produce as well as high powered lights that turn on and off at a consistent time. Also, the initial setup cost is going to be a hefty one if he wants good results, but if he plans on continuing his cultivation in the future the savings will make up for it.

I'm at work now so can't really get you details, but tell him to research this thuroughly first. Or you do the research and prove to him that a grow room is a much better idea. If he looks at the facts, he'll soon realize that sunlight through a window in the living room will not give him a good return on his investment or the results he thinks he'll be getting. This will be the best way to deter him from using the living room.
posted by trueluk at 9:13 AM on November 20, 2008

Of course buying by the gram is expensive. Buy by the ounce and store what he's not using just like you'd store produce-- put it in a mason jar and put the jar in boiling water for a few minutes. It'll seal airtight and the buds won't dry out or get moldy. Can you only buy it by the gram from dispensaries?

Also, remind your husband that the best buds are grown hydroponically (this is an opinion but one that's widely held). Hydroponics set-ups are expensive, difficult to maintain, and much more difficult to obscure than a potted plant, but even with extensive fertilization the potted plant growing in soil will most likely not yield buds anywhere near the quality of what he's used to consuming.

Really, if you can keep up to 8 ounces, reasonable black market prices for the 'dro would be up to $300 or so for an ounce. If you do the math, even if you're buying it as cheaply as $10/gram you're still saving ~$50, and I sincerely doubt he's buying anything of decent quality for that cheap. Growing a personal stash with a kid in the house is probably not the best way to go-- I'd just buy anywhere between an ounce and a quarter-pound and either jar it or spend $80 on one of those home vacuum sealing machines; either way you'll save money and the only hassle is a little extra storage space, but considering that marijuana isn't especially bulky (in these quantities anyway) that shouldn't be a huge problem.
posted by baphomet at 9:23 AM on November 20, 2008

When I moved into my new house it took me a while to figure out why one of the bedrooms locked from the outside and why the airing cupboard had a security alarm in it.

If your husband grows the stuff in front of the window you are kind of asking to be ripped off.
posted by mandal at 9:57 AM on November 20, 2008

My advice for your husband is to pick up the book "Indoor Marijuana Horticulture" by Jorge Cervantes. It will give him a good overview as to what's involved, what the plants like/dislike, how to handle smell, how much light is required, the length of time required to grow/harvest/dry, etc.

My understanding is that growing good quality marijuana is not the same as keeping a houseplant alive - it's not just a matter of watering it every few days and letting it sit in some sunshine. Most people who grow it do so in very large quantities and dedicate themselves to it as a full-time job - hence the expense to the buyer.

At the very least, reading up on the subject will either convince your husband that it's not a great plan (for whatever reasons) or will give him the knowledge to do it in a way that you can live with, too.
posted by VioletU at 10:01 AM on November 20, 2008

People have given lots of good reasons why this is a bad idea. Another thing to consider is that a grow operation may attract unwanted attention from the other side of the law. Some small time crooks could see the chance to make a little money off your crop and equipment, amdanything else they can grab. Or some dumbass teens could decide it would be awesome to have some free bud. Neither is likely to know about the medical card, so either might feel emboldened by the idea that you won't be likely to go to the cops.

This is really an addlepated notion. Your husband needs a better plan.
posted by Good Brain at 10:04 AM on November 20, 2008

We live in a rented apartment that neighbors can see into. We have a little boy who’s two years old, and I am pregnant with our second child.

Someone already mentioned this, but its worth repeating: you can't control what people outside of your home might do. In this case, the landlord almost certainly would have a problem with you growing pot in your apartment, and your neighbors may well take it upon themselves to "protect" your child. Bad idea.
posted by googly at 10:42 AM on November 20, 2008

Are you going to forbid your kids from having their little friends over to play? Because if not, you're going to find yourself having some awkward conversations with their moms.
posted by HotToddy at 10:49 AM on November 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I think it is perfectly reasonable for you to be unhappy about the idea (and I am generally in favour of legalisation and medical use). I don't think that you need to worry about the plants themselves being a safety issue for your toddler or unborn child, but it could be a secondary safety issue by attracting unwanted attention from cops/neighbours/landlords and local wrongdoers. Also, you don't even own your own place, your lease undoubtedly says you can be thrown out for using illegal drugs, let alone growing them!

Growing anything usable is much much harder than he thinks, it is not like popping a houseplant on the windowsill. The stuff he smokes is not made from leaves, its from the flowers. Ask him how much he has read up on cultivation, see if he thinks its just like a houseplant, if he thinks he's going to be drying out the leaves.

I also second the notion that this is really an argument about something else, masquerading as a power struggle over this issue. Hopefully you can resolve both issues.
posted by Joh at 10:59 AM on November 20, 2008

Regarding the smell: I found a plant growing wild in my garden and let it mature just because I felt like it. It was a small plant - less than 3ft, I didn't water it or look after it. It stank up my entire backyard for the summer (and into autumn when I finally cut it down). No way would I want that smell in my house. It wasn't good bud either.
posted by saucysault at 11:40 AM on November 20, 2008

Think of it this way. Your husband isn't a stoner. He's a patient, and the medication recommended to him by his physician is cannabis.

Now, do you feel comfortable denying him access to his medication? How would you feel if it were your medicine in question here? He has a legal and ethical right to supply his own cannabis, either through purchase or self-production. Nobody should limit or obstruct this right (including the Federal government).

Like all medicines, his cannabis should be grown somewhere that is inaccessible to infants or toddlers. But if he decides, based on research, to grow cannabis, then it's best to be a supportive spouse.

He'll return the favor someday when you have medical problems.
posted by Gordion Knott at 11:52 AM on November 20, 2008

Just to echo what others have said; get your husband a decent book or guide that outlines the process so he knows what he's getting into. MJ can be grown cheaply in your house, but just sticking it in the front window is going to a) make you paranoid about it being seen by the wrong people (read: anyone), b) make you worried about your kids playing around it (not really an issue IMO) and c) produce really, really, bad weed (noticeably worse to the extent that he's going to have to use considerably more of it than the store bought hydro he's currently on). Contrary to what others are saying, you don't need a whole hydro setup, I think by law you're only allowed a couple of plants and it sounds like he's only talking about one or two anyway so you can just stick them in a closet where you can control the light and keep them out of sight. Don't start with seeds, get clones, it will save you the trouble of sexing them and will just generally be a lot easier.

You should also double and triple check the relevant laws, particularly the landlord / tenant aspects. Now I don't know how much you're paying, or what your finances are like, etc., but personally I'd say it's not worth the hassle and he should just stick with what he's doing. Besides, I heard that dispensaries are a booming industry, he should shop around, maybe he can find a better price.
posted by mizike at 12:36 PM on November 20, 2008

My husband says that my objections are not rational or sufficiently thought-out.

Wow. Way to dismiss your entirely valid concerns, while at the same time demonstrating that he has no clue what it takes to grow medical-quality marijuana indoors.

Is it really about saving money? Because I would think a well-informed person would probably conclude that, given an alternative legal source, growing in your living room is not a good deal considering space, electricity, time, hassle, risk, and, most of all, your feelings.
posted by ottereroticist at 12:39 PM on November 20, 2008

I knew someone who grew marijuana (a plant at a time) for quite a while. He actually got a medical marijuana card more or less (as far as I could tell) so that he didn't have to deal with the hassle of growing it. It really seemed like a lot of work for him, and, as many people have said, it was certainly not scentless.
posted by advil at 1:10 PM on November 20, 2008

agree agree agree with everything above.

Keep watching season 3 and 4 of Weeds and then see how he feels.
posted by wocka wocka wocka at 1:29 PM on November 20, 2008

Another one with hippie parents.

One of 'em grew these plants for a while. They ended up selling their DIY grow accessories to buy out of someone else's supply, because it was difficult, onerous, and increasingly expensive to get this "simple" weed/herb to grow as healthily and prodigiously as intended.

The smell was strong enough that you could pick it up halfway up the stairs (the "garden" was inside a family member's garage apartment) when the plants were still kind of small.

Growing up around folks who did stuff like this, I heard (and absorbed) a lot of the constant worries over what cops, landlords, meter readers, and friends would think. They say it's not the weed itself that causes the paranoia, but the fact that it's illegal. Growing it is still illegal. Felony. Totally not worth the worry. CPS can use it as a data point counting against the parents. All that together? So, so, so not worth it. Not for the kids, not for the non-using adults, and (ultimately) not for the using adult, either.

It's a shame he's not able to think clearly about the impact on his family's feelings of comfort and safety. It must be a very compelling script he's got running right now to tune you out. I hope some of the info here helps to clear the signal for him.
posted by batmonkey at 1:46 PM on November 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

My, uh, friend did some growing back in his younger days, and I'd like to back up the posters who've pointed out that the plants themselves have a strong smell. The smell changes when they're drying, but there's always an odor. Also, even dwarf varieties will be too big to conveniently keep on a shelf. Lastly, toddler fingers find a way of getting at anything they set their mind to.

My vote is Bad Idea.

Mind you, I',m certainly not anti-pot, either medicinal or recreational. But if your hubby wants to set up his own growing operation, he should look into setting aside a suitable space for it. Even a small closet can work, provided it is set up properly.

Also, a single plant is probably not going to have the yield he thinks it will.
posted by lekvar at 1:47 PM on November 20, 2008

Aside from everything else, this:

He proposes to keep a couple of plants in our living room near the window, like a houseplant.....

We live in a rented apartment that neighbors can see into

...would be asking to get burgled, at least where I live.
posted by pompomtom at 2:09 PM on November 20, 2008

Honestly, if it were as easy and safe as sticking a plant in your window, wouldn't EVERY SINGLE STONER be doing it already?
posted by holyrood at 2:36 PM on November 20, 2008

"My husband says that my objections are not rational or sufficiently thought-out. "

On the one hand, he's kinda right (the harm from a pot leaf is less than a poinsettia). On the other hand, he's clearly clueless (they do too smell).

As someone who's lived with grow-ops, I'm going to say that it doesn't sound like the best time or space for him to be doing this, especially when he has no idea what he's talking about and the consequences of screwing up can be so scary.
posted by klangklangston at 3:19 PM on November 20, 2008

Effectively the only way this will be cheaper is if you sell. Consider that to be the case because of the capital outlay required for the supplies necessary to grow decent weed. This is NOT a cost-benefit win for one person's personal pot use. Bad weed + potential crop failure + terrible smell + used up space + high maintenance plant = just buy the damn weed.
posted by disillusioned at 5:34 PM on November 20, 2008

Houseplants, the kind that can deal with the light from a window, tend to be tropical understory plants that are used to our (relatively dim) homes. Think of philadendron, rubber trees, pothos, etc. They can live in your house, which is basically dark even near windows, because they evolved to live under thick canopies of trees.

Marijuana is not like this. It needs lots and lots of light. (Precisely timed light too, as many people have pointed out.) Another vote for bad idea.

(the harm from a pot leaf is less than a poinsettia)

Poinsettias are not poisonous.
posted by purpleclover at 5:56 PM on November 20, 2008

It is a bad. bad idea.

One or two plants under a window will smell terrible, will be obvious, and will be an obstacle to having people (your parents? friends of your kids? work associates?) over. The smell is hard to overstate--this isn't something that could be stashed in a closet when company is coming over.

But it's bad for another and far more important reason, namely, it makes no f'ing sense whatsoever. When you compare how much of his inexpertly grown weed he would have to smoke to get a comparable high to the (presumably quality) product from the dispensaries, and then factor in the cost of the equipment (he will end up wanting lights, timers, pots, nutrients, and a variety of other materials), it will cost him much more to grow his own. Much more.

And then there are the kids. That brings in so many other issues that it would be enough to sink the idea, in my opinion, even if your husband knew what he was doing.

And then there's the scale. Two plants can yield a decent amount under ideal conditions. Under these conditions, he would be lucky if they provided him with 25% of his intake. You simply cannot grow weed cost effectively unless you grow a LOT, because to do it right takes much specialized equipment. An 8'x10' room would be about the minimum to make it worthwhile.

It's a lot of effort and inconvenience for very little return. I'd leave this one to the professionals of America's hard-working marijuana industry.
posted by kprincehouse at 7:56 PM on November 20, 2008

Insist that you have a fail-proof plan to begin obtaining the family milk at a much lower cost by raising your own cattle in the apartment. Be very vocal and demand that he provide technical logistical arguments as to why it will not work.
posted by allkindsoftime at 7:58 AM on November 21, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]