Seed-starting soil: that’s a huge category, whether they’re doing it in peat pots or little 4-in. JP: How did you establish this category in the garden center?ĭKR: It’s all about from the seeding starting to the soil to the pots to the next stage of soil when you transplant. When they know your staff is open to it and you can handle questions, they will sit here for a half hour and talk to us. I’m telling you, they’re not shy anymore. When do I know to harvest is when they’re turning amber. We find a lot of people’s plants are smaller than they should be and then when they put them outside they’re leggy because now they’re getting more direct sunlight. Where they’re supposed to have 12 to 14 hours and have them under a lamp for eight hours-they’re mimicking the sunrise-sunset. They start them indoors and they’re not providing enough length of light. Mostly you find out they’re not getting enough light. And then it’s maybe my plants are too small. JP: What are the most common questions you receive about this category?ĭKR: When to harvest is a big one. That way, if people came in with questions, we were able to do that. All our staff was informed, but for basic questions. Last fall we took our whole staff to a day-long workshop someone gave on cannabis growing. She knows everything from prop’ing (propagation), harvesting, light spectrums and all that stuff. We have one expert on our staff-she’s our resident expert. We haven’t had any negative feedback.ĭKR: We cannot sell the plants. It’s customers we’ve had for decades that are coming to us and asking us questions. We did all of this on social media and then the outpouring of customers saying we’re so glad you’re doing this, we’re so glad you’re open about it. Okay, let’s be the first ones, let’s at least let people know where they can get certain things.ĭKR: It became legal last year, and we decided we were going to grow our own out here in a pot and showcase it on our Facebook and Instagram about the growing process to let them know what problems they could run into, like seed starting, transplanting, fertilizing, trimming and then drying. section of fertilizers, bug control, fungus controls, all the soils and all the pots.’ We just started with that and decided to put it on our website. We said, ‘Well, we’re certainly not going to hang a flag with a marijuana leaf on it outside, but let’s designate a 4-ft. We’re not in a city … it’s a big summer community. We are on Cape Cod in Sandwich, which is the oldest town in Cape Cod. Jen Polanz: Why did you decide to include cannabis products as a category for the garden center?ĭonna Kutil Ross: When it became legal we chatted with each other, my brother and I and my other partner. So when recreational became legal in Massachusetts, they had a choice to make. They actually started carrying FoxFarm potting soil (the gateway product), along with some fertilizers and new additions like 10-gallon pots about six years ago at the request of customers who became very loyal to her store. They’re pretty open about carrying products related to cannabis, and I wanted to get the scoop from her on how they got into it and what they carry. With that warning out of the way, I contacted Donna Kutil Ross, the co-owner of Scenic Roots, a garden center in East Sandwich, Massachusetts. Now, before I go any further, the rules and regulations vary by state, so always check your local laws before you go any further. That got us thinking and talking about what the potential is for cannabis at the garden retail level. We asked the co-owner of Scenic Roots about the Cannabis Corner and how it got started.Īt this year’s IGC Show in Chicago, there was a real, live cannabis plant in one of the booths (it was in the A Pot for Pot booth). As medical and recreational marijuana becomes legal in certain states, some garden centers are considering carrying related products.
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