Raindrops patter against the plastic covering of a small greenhouse that holds four nearly mature marijuana plants in a Monterey backyard. Dylan Osborn, 25, is the founder of Greenbox Grown, a website that gives guidelines on cannabis cultivation, and these are among the plants in his series of how-to videos.
“It doesn’t take a genius to grow cannabis,” Osborn says, poking his head into the greenhouse. “You just need the right information and equipment.”
The plants sprout up from pots packed with coco coir – a growing medium made from coconut husks – and through a screen of green – dubbed a “scrog” – which is a net of string above the base of the plants to prevent branches from bending. Pot leaves, appearing purple from the hue of blue and red LED lights hanging above, sway in a breeze blown by two fans that regulate the flow of warm air from a small heater.
Osborn has four greenhouses, each holding plants growing under varying conditions, like exposure to pests and excessive use of nutrients. Twisted orange wires slither from under each greenhouse, up a steep trail of dirt, across the wooden deck, into the home’s carpeted living room and up the stairs to a power outlet just outside his bedroom.
The energy bill runs about $40 a month for the biggest greenhouse, he says. The total supply cost for a two-plant greenhouse averages $450, he says, while its harvest is valued at $4,800.
His four greenhouses packed with pot plants are a long way from his initial experiments with cultivation.
“When I first started growing as a college freshman, I had one plant in a Solo cup on the windowsill,” Osborn says, remembering his days at the University of Southern California.
It wasn’t until he observed his father, R.L. Osborn, a former famous BMX freestyler, facing frequent backaches and migraines that Osborn began looking into medicinal marijuana.
“I tried everything. Lots of painkillers, 35 shots of Botox to the head, but marijuana was the only thing that gave me a bit of relief,” R.L. says.
At the time he discovered the remedy in 2013, there was only one marijuana delivery service, Sweet Leaf Caregivers, in all of Monterey County. Osborn took the opportunity to dive in so his father could have a steady supply.
It didn’t take long for Osborn to develop a ganja green thumb. He dedicated his free time from working at his father’s carpet cleaning company to develop a growing plan that would only take about 10 minutes out of someone’s day to maintain.
“Sometimes it feels a little risky but medicinal marijuana is gaining acceptance,” R.L. says of his son’s startup. “Some older patients are uncomfortable visiting dispensaries, and plenty of those people like gardening already, so I think this method could help a lot.”
On the tour of his spacious backyard, Osborn points to a ladybug standing out among the hazy yellow and brittle leaves of two plants under attack by aphids.
“Ladybugs love eating aphids, spider mites, even caterpillars,” Osborn says. “They’re the ultimate pest control.”
The Greenbox Grown website launched Jan. 17, featuring a video series that covers technical elements like greenhouse air circulation and how to remotely maintain temperature while away on vacation. The site includes graphs illustrating a greenhouse’s operation costs, and links to seed vendors.
Four weeks later, harvest has come and gone. Osborn’s upstairs bedroom has a bed, a tall bong in front of a couch, and, situated on one corner, a black tent he unzips to reveal branches drying in insulated material kept at 70 degrees by a fan. More impressive, and impossible to conceal, is a drying rack Osborn made out of PVC pipe, each of its five shelves holding loose and light “popcorn” buds.
His brother Cody, on vacation from studying biological sciences at USC, helped film some of the how-to videos and trim buds after harvest.
“We have a do-it-yourself attitude in America right now,” Cody says. “People are brewing their own beer, gardening their own vegetables. It’s not hard to imagine people embracing growing their own cannabis.”
Nine mason jars, each holding at least an ounce of cannabis and labeled with the strain name and date harvested, are nestled in a dresser drawer. Each jar has a moisture control packet, like the kind that keep beef jerky dry, tucked amid the buds. This is the final stage of cannabis cultivation: curing, and it’s what unlocks potency while increasing shelf life.
“I want to make Greenbox Grown the Wikipedia of weed growing,” Osborn says.
He then opens a jar and offers an intensely floral whiff of some homegrown Blue Dream.