Grow your own plants: Tips from a cannabis grower

Now that you can grow your own cannabis plants at home, a different kind of business has sprouted including professionals who teach you how to grow your own.

David Weaver is a technical sales representative at Sun ParlourCannabis Grower Supply who has been growing medical cannabis for about five years.

"I got my designated grower licence to grow cannabis for patients," said Weaver.Weaver worked for the United Way before he went to school to take horticulture in Guelph specifically to learn about growing cannabis.

According to Weaver, successfully growing cannabis depends on a variety of elements, including light, soil and water conditions.

"For outside, either you're going to be amending your existing soil or what we recommend is just get yourself a 10 to 20 gallon pot and create a soil-less mix," said Weaver. Because cannabis does grow in the wild, it's not necessarily difficult to grow, but making sure the end product is consumable takes some work.

Currently, you can purchase seeds through any licensed store in Ontario, like the Ontario Cannabis Store online. Weaver said the government is currently taking steps to increase the variety of seeds available.

Weaver said in a growing season outdoors, you can expect plants to grow taller than the average person. Indoors, plants start to flower around 6 inches tall.

"Some plants will flower when the light cycle becomes closer to 12 hours on and 12 hours off," said Weaver. "Some cannabis plants are automatically flowering when they reach a certain size and maturity."

Weaver recommended getting an approved cannabis testing kit to send away and find out what the genetics are for the plants you have, so you know what cannaboid output levels will be.

Sun Parlour an online live stream going for a 100-day life cycle of a cannabis plant, so home-growers could follow along and see what a schedule is like and what they can expect to deal with throughout the growing cycle.

Weaver recommends growing indoors, rather than outdoors, to avoid theft and to be discrete, and cautioned to adhere to the four-plant law in Ontario.