Growing a Marijuana Plant For Fun Only, Not to Smoke it!

Hi everyone,

I am not a pot smoker, but I am a little bit crazy about houseplants (I have tons), and I live in Washington state where pot is now legal. I'm guessing it's still illegal for me to grow a plant without a license, but I just want to grow one to add to my collection of regular houseplants. I don't want to consume it so I don't need it to bud. I just want a sturdy healthy little pot plant with lovely large leaves to keep all my other houseplants company.

I don't want to buy a bunch of grow lights or anything fancy. Can I just sprout a seed and plant it in dirt and put it near a sunny window? I have large south facing windows so get tons of light (when it's not cloudy).

I don't know anything about starting from scratch. My only experience with pot plants is many many years ago, I had a friend who grew pot for sale and consumption, so he would throw out certain plants (I think the males?) but they were so healthy and beautiful that I rescued a couple from his compost heap and they lived in large pots out in my backyard for quite awhile. However, this was in sunny southern California, and I now live in Seattle. Also, these were very well established adult plants that had been nurtured under grow lights before they got tossed into the compost heap for me to rescue.

Is it possible for me to start with a little seed and get a nice healthy plant without grow lights and special equipment? Any advice in general for someone who just wants one as a houseplant? Can I use regular Miracle Grow like I do on all my other regular houseplants?

Thanks for any advice!

Sure you can , Just plant the seed and grow like any other plant that likes full sun

You're a woman right?

Who else would rescue an unwanted plant from the scrap-heap mm?

Yes like Chicken said, grows like any other sun-lover. Treat it like a tomato or any herb you currently grow.

Wait there is one caveat to that: being annuals, planting in winter will mean a plant that goes almost straight to flower, so spring is the best time to plant if you want the bubba to live out a full yewr with you.

They really are wonderful plants. However if you really want to fully enjoy growing them you will need to switch your mindset about it. Nurturing a female to flower and finish is extremely rewarding. But it might not be worth just having in the living room as you can get in trouble. Not to mention a female turning hermie on you. Right now I'm not certain how it would grow. I say but a tent and some equipment and do it right. I don't smoke either, I wish I could but my job won't allow it. I am a provider and curious to see what happens with the legalization. Good Luck

Thanks for all the advice everyone! and yes, I'm a woman, but also just a huge sucker for healthy lovely plants of any kind. I just couldn't let them die there in the compost heap! They were so beautiful!

So it sounds like it should be easy for me to grow one just as a houseplant. But is also sounds like I should wait until spring since it's an annual? Does this also mean that the life expectancy of a plant is just a year? I guess I could just experiment and see what happens. I'm sure I can find someone to give me a few seeds, now that it's legal here it seems to be everywhere! Just last night I was at a Christmas party and we had a "white elephant" gift exchange game and TWO of the gifts contained some pot! haha!

Thanks again for the advice everyone!

I'm kind of doing the same thing right now but not really. I haven't smoked for about 5 months or more now, but I've been growing a plant or two in that time. I'll most likely smoke again in the near future, but for now I'm just growing and storing.

Dribbles said:

Wait there is one caveat to that: being annuals, planting in winter will mean a plant that goes almost straight to flower, so spring is the best time to plant if you want the bubba to live out a full yewr with you.

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So do cannibis plants only live for a year? New to growing so I am sucking in as much info as I can.

the plant is only annual if you allow it to become annual, i've got 3 'house plants' that grow in my house and due to the lights being on (house hold lights) it keeps them from going into flowering thus are constantly in the veg state (what you want) the only thing about keeping them in the veg state is they are going to continuously grow and with cannabis being one of the fastest growing plants...good luck !

iDontSmokeIt said:

I just want a sturdy healthy little pot plant with lovely large leaves to keep all my other houseplants company.

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It's probably going to want to get tall and lanky without more intense light, but you can help it stay shorter and bushier with more foliage if you pinch the tops out repeatedly.

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your advise a few months ago. I finally got some lovely plants!

I got 8 of them (from a legal medical marijuana grower who had an abundance and was getting rid of some) and they look lovely and healthy. The tallest ones are around 27 inches tall (from the bottom of the pot to the top leaves), and the smallest one is about 12 inches tall (see them in my profile picture). They are nice and bushy and the guy said I could pinch off the tops to keep them from getting too tall. I think he grew them in his large greenhouse, though I didn't ask, and when I arrived they were outside his greenhouse in pots just sitting around his garden.

I just got them today, and they are currently out on my outdoor balcony. It's southern facing with tons of sun... when it's not cloudy... as a reminder, I am in the Seattle area where cloudy skies and coolish temps are the norm, although we've had some nice sun so far this spring/summer.

I'm wondering if I can leave them out overnight or if it will be too cold for them. The forecast this week calls for overnight lows in the high 40s to mid 50s. Is that too cold? And then during the days this week it will be partly sunny with highs in the 70s.

As a reminder, I am not growing them to try to make them bud for consumption. I just want them as houseplants and don't want to do a bunch of complicated stuff (ie: fancy growlights and special fertilizers). I'm just doing all this for fun and as an experiment (I love growing different and exotic plants just for fun), but I don't want to kill them right off the bat by leaving them out overnight if it's too cold for them.

So, should I bring them in overnight or are high 40s/mid 50s temps okay? Once it gets colder (when the fall and winter approaches, I will bring them all inside to live with my indoor houseplants (in a very sunny livingroom, southern facing).

Oh, another question, can I use standard Miracle Grow brand fertilizer on them? That's what I use for most of my other houseplants.

Thanks for any advice!

you can use mg on them, just go easy on the nutrients.. i'd start out around 1/4 or so what is says on the back of the bottles, and see how they respond to that.. mg can be a bit hot at times, so a lot of people end up burning their plants and thinking mg is crap..

awesome on your plants. yes you can use MG on them, just be gentle at first till you find how much they like. I've seen plants grow and trimmed bonsai style just a thought. also with just some cfls later in the season you can keep them in veg. glad to see you up date your post. Welcome and good luck with them

Thanks guys! What are cfls?

also, can I leave them outside overnight with temps in the high-40s to mid-50s? or is that too cold for them? How low can the temps get outside before I have to bring them in?

Oh! Compact fluorescents?

compact florescent lights. the little spiral ones

on leaving them out depends on what enviroment they started in. maybe after a little harding up. should be good as long as no frost

slowandsteady said:

on leaving them out depends on what enviroment they started in. maybe after a little harding up. should be good as long as no frost

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i'm pretty much the same way, i'm alright after a i harden up a lil, but as soon as it gets cold, or the frost hits, it's game over...

haha!

Thanks guys! Maybe I will bring them in tonight and get to know them a little better before I leave them outside overnight.

What should I name them? They are all female (and are already quite fragrant!).

although you don't smoke it the flowers are quite pretty. some strains have purples and reds.