Home Growers Corner
Perils of Internet Growing
The Human Connection , Simplicity , and Passion by Gerry Donovan , contributing writer
Do you remember the first cannabis plant that you saw in person ? I do . It was a life-changing experience . It was as if I were a swordfish on the show “ Deadliest Catch .” I was hooked !
“ I want to Grow Weed when I grow up .” This fantastical , far-fetched idea lurking in Midwestern basements and the mountains of the Emerald Triangle was barely a reality in the 90s and early 2000s . It was a lifestyle that led to steel bars and a 6x9-foot cell , one that required folks to look past the law and deep within themselves .
Hearing juxtaposing ideas ranging from regenerative building products , fuels , fibers , and medicines , both ancient and modern , to a “ Devil Plant ” that will send you straight to hell if you look at it wrong ; and , what about the frying egg in those old skillet commercials — “ This Is Your Brain On Drugs !”
This was the beginning of a journey through cannabis . Embarking on a quest through the taboo and unknown , I had to learn for myself what the truth was . From coffee shops in Amsterdam to fields of hemp in Berlin to seminars at The Cannabis Cup and Conferences across America , this plant was calling me .
I could not do an internet search to learn about cannabis , much less grow weed . What if the online police , who most likely already knew about my Napster account , suddenly showed up at my house asking me what those 1,000-watt high-pressure sodium lightbulbs were for ? It literally meant “ Lights Out ” back then .
The Phyto-cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant perfectly bind to the receptors of our Endocannabinoid System . Cannabis is not to be abused but rather appreciated . The interconnection between people and cannabis is indisputable , but the internet connection between people and cannabis is unnecessary .
As we are on the precipice of AI crafting our every written word and sung song , creating and designing “ Art ,” and even taking over the grow space , we are also losing something at the core of what growing cannabis once was — “ People ” connecting and coming together for the love of the plant . Passion is what drove the industry to where it is today . It was your cool uncle , your grandma at the farm , or a neighbor who trusted you enough to water his plants while he went on vacation — all that introduced generations of growers to the plant before the
Gerry working on cloning .
internet came along . It was a very exclusive club of people whose fear of the law was outweighed by their passion for the plant .
If you wanted to grow safely , you told nobody . I repeat — You Told Nobody ! You had to drive to the local garden center and pick up soil , then off to the hardware store to grab a few parts , then to the next hardware store , remembering never to get too much of anything in one spot ! Quietly , your next stop might be at the electronics store for a controller , and if you were really smart , you borrowed grandma ’ s car from someone and parked four blocks away . You walked in a mazelike fashion to end up at the grow shop to pick up a fresh lightbulb and chat about “ Tomato Clones .” That meant everyone growing at home had a little bit more skin in the game than today ’ s growers .
Seeds were like Unicorns , and cloning was an art form . Those cloned plants were treated with an enormous amount of care and love , and , in all reality , the utmost respect that is rare to find these days . And then the internet came along . Once there was no fear of legal retribution , growing cannabis became bragging rights and big business . We got away from the beauty that initially drew us toward “ The Plant .”
Big industry , online marketing , social media trends , click-bait videos , and subversive product placement via influencers all lead to ridiculous , overly complicated growing methods where some companies ’ products claim to be the best and the only way an individual grower grows , and ultimately “ The Only ” way to grow . This leads a new or novice grower to go completely into a head spin with no real direction for their grow .
Get out of the TikTok rabbit hole and endless “ Buy-Me-Now ” pop-up ads and embrace the ability to openly discuss growing cannabis with other real “ Live ” growers without any worry of legal punishment from the state . It is an opportunity we , as growers , never had before — and this beautiful resource , “ Human Conversations ,” is being lost to online know-it-alls and the “ Only-This-Way social media growers .”
As we began typing and searching through the internet that is the universe of 1s and 0s , it seems as though simplicity and the Soul of and Connection to what growing cannabis is has slowly been lost . It doesn ’ t have to be that way . The first step in bringing back the essence of what it is to be a quality cultivator is to “ Keep it Simple .”
22 March 2025