‘It’s complex’: The trials and tribulations of a Kamloops gardener’s first foray into cannabis

Kamloops gardener Andrea Perri grew pot plants for the first time this year and faced a steep learning curve with a lot still left to learn and discover.

“It’s an interesting plant to grow and like so many gardening experiments, when you deep dive into learning about it there’s so much information,” she said.

Some Kamloops and Okanagan residents have been growing a few pot plants in their yards since it became legal to do so in Canada seven years ago, but as a newbie Perri is learning the process is complex, from choosing the right seeds, to making the biggest, greenest plants and knowing precisely when to harvest.

She has been leaning on local, experienced growers for advice.

“It’s way more complex than I thought. It’s about learning, and trial and error,” she said.

The cannabis gardening adventure began when Perri saw a friend growing pot plants and saw it as an interesting challenge to grow her own. She purchased and planted seeds, then took to the internet to research.

“A lot of information on the internet is kind of generic and tailored more to indoor or commercial operations where growers already have tools, tricks and knowledge. It’s not geared toward a newbie with an outdoor plant. You have to get clarification from people in your area,” Perri said.

Some of the varietals she planted didn’t make it and the ones that did were auto flowering varietals that are not subject to flowering based on light conditions and run their course in roughly nine weeks. Perri’s auto flowering plants turned out small.

“They sprouted great but I didn’t fertilize them so my friend’s plants grew much bigger because he fertilized his, so that’s something you have to do,” she said. “I did so many things wrong.”

She traded a plant with a friend for one that isn’t auto flowering and it grew to be huge and began flowering in early September. Before the plants flower, the desired goal is to get them as big and green as possible.

“I discovered pot plants are heavy feeders that need a lot of water but don’t want to be soggy,” Perri said. “They’re weeds, so they’ll grow, but you learn little things to make them bigger and healthier.”

As October and the risk of frost approached, Perri wondered when exactly to harvest her plant and posed the question to her online gardening community.

“They’re tropical plants, I wondered what frost would do to my plant,” she said. “Some growers said to harvest before frost but the majority advised I leave it longer.”

The prime time to harvest pot plants is right when little tiny hairs on them called trichomes have turned from clear, to milky white to amber colour.

The trichomes contain chemicals that affect the taste, smell and level of psycho activity they produce.

Perri panicked and harvested her plant too early, before it had enough amber trichomes.

“After spending time to get the plant grown and flowering, it is disappointing to harvest it too soon before its ready, or too late when gets frozen, mushy and ruined,” she said.

“There’s a perfect harvesting window and a differing consensus on when it is, I think because people are living in different microclimates growing different varietals. You really have to talk to people in your neighbourhood growing the same thing.”

Perri was surprised at how heavy, wet and sticky the buds are. She’s currently learning how to dry the plant without it getting mouldy. Her plant is hanging in a cool basement in a mesh bag.

“We’ll see what happens, a lot of this is really technical,” she said. “Growers who are good at this… they know the plant, the chemistry and talk in percentages of humidity and temperatures.”

She’s already planning to try again next year and is eager to learn more.

“I’m already cataloguing my errors in knowing what kind of seed I have, how the plant grows and how it works,” she said. “People who are experienced have been supportive and happy to share what they know.”