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The main environmental impact comes from the plants high water consumption which for a grown up plant is a bit over 20 litres per day. Thats when growing in soi
by 2III7 9y ago
The main environmental impact comes from the plants high water consumption which for a grown up plant is a bit over 20 litres per day. Thats when growing in soil. Hydro weed needs much less water but doesn't taste so good.
- brianwawok 9y agoHow much water do almonds need? How much water in the US is used to grow almonds? How much water would be needed to grow weed for every man, woman, and child in the US?
- nothrabannosir 9y agoIf this is rhetorical, and you know the answers, do share. Because I have no idea. It sounds like you do? Additionally: why are those numbers relevant? Just for context?
- ceejayoz 9y agoAlmonds are brought up because they take up 10% of California's water (https://newrepublic.com/article/125450/heres-real-problem-almonds https://newrepublic.com/article/125450/heres-real-problem-al...). A single almond takes 1.1 gallons of water (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/wheres-californias-water-going/ http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/wheres-califo...) to produce. Any argument for limiting marijuana growing based on "it takes lots of water!" has to address why we already permit stuff like almonds to be grown in drought-prone areas.
- nothrabannosir 9y agoOk I can hardly compare “x litres per plant per day” vs “n gallons per almond”. How long does a plant live and how many “portions” does it have? I can guess almonds would be, say, a handful for a “portion”? So that’s.. how much in litres? See this is why I’m not super stoked about that original comment. Instead of making a clear point, I just get thrown some random hints and a “you go figure it out”. It’s like I’m supposed to make ones argument for them, and it might turn out to be completely irrelevant (maybe almonds are orders of magnitude more [e:less!] thirsty!) and then I can’t even reply because the actual argument was never made! Just give me the numbers. Do your own homework :) (well, not you, but op) (Edit: as someone else mentioned, this is assuming op was being rhetorical. If it’s a genuine q: I completely second it)
- brianwawok 9y agoI know almonds take up a TON of water in an area without a ton of water. I do not really want to do the math, but if you are worried about the water usage of weed, I do implore you to first look up the water usage of almonds.
- nothrabannosir 9y agoThanks, but no thanks. I’m not keen to do the homework for your argument. [e: I’m not saying this to be petty, my point is this is not a strong argument. It’s a common occurrence, and a pet peeve of mine. I can imagine it feels right—in fact I also believe you are probably right! But were I of the opposite inclination, this wouldn’t convince me.]
- gknoy 9y agoI had thought that the high water use of California's Central Valley almond trees was something that was relatively widely known. I know I've encountered in in a variety of readings over the last couple of years, and I haven't been specifically trying to research it. This is something that has already been written about a fair amount; is it really fair to expect him to "do his homework" for the counter to your claim when it's based on what is, to some, common knowledge? Moreover, the poster that you had already replied to above included two links to articles about the cost (in water) of growing various things. If you feel the need to "check the numbers", I think the burden might be on you to go find them.
- mistercow 9y agoI think it's important to note that while you can divide the volume of blue and grey water used to make a ton of almonds by the mass of one shelled almond, and get 1.1 gallons, you're ignoring kind of a lot of outputs of almond growing.
- rconti 9y agoAlmonds have to be grown in warm areas. Cannabis doesn't.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jhiska 9y agoTwo wrongs don't make a right. One can argue that both almonds and cannabis take a harmful share of water in drought-prone areas and that both will be controlled.
- loeg 9y agoTo the extent that either is a problem, the solution is market-pricing water. High water use farms will move out of drought prone regions for basic economic reasons.
- Parcissons 9y agoSurprisingly little if you used good, israely drip irrigation.
- gaius 9y agoAlmonds don’t kill owls.
- hinkley 9y agoNo, they’re just destroying the North American honey bee population.
- code_duck 9y agoHydroponic doesn’t taste as rich and earthy as organic soil-grown, but it is not considered substandard. You can get a very high-quality product hydroponically, or low-quality in soil. The people who are concerned are connoisseurs, like the same crowded that would buy local organic heirloom tomatoes and get craft beer on tap.
- loeg 9y agoWhere does your 20L/day figure for a single grown plant come from? That sounds absurdly high, given the size of a grown plant. I admit I have no domain knowledge, so I'm prepared to be wrong (and surprised). But I'd like a citation or some kind of source for that order of magnitude.
- megaman22 9y agoPeople that grow for quality over quantity can produce some prodigious pot plants. 20L/day is right about in line with what is described here: https://hightimes.com/grow/giant-plants-of-southern-oregon/ https://hightimes.com/grow/giant-plants-of-southern-oregon/
- loeg 9y agoNot to nitpick too much, but the article describes 15-19 liters (4-5 US gallons/day average): > each plant gets about four 5-gallon buckets of water every four or five days Nitpicking aside, the plant that article describes and pictures is very, very large (i.e., an artifact of the 6 plants per farmer limit imposed by that particular state law). I don't believe those plants are typical for farmers who do not have to follow six-plants-per-person laws. It seems misleading to suggest that the typical plant requires 20L/day based only on the data point of these huge plants.
- BRAlNlAC 9y agoUsing plants as a measurement of quantity of product produced is misleading, full stop. As long as we continue to legislate limits on plant quantity and not bud quantity (not that I think we should, only that it would be superior) we will continue to promote unhealthy industry practices. For growers who are worried about plant quantity (this was still very much the case even among most "professional" growers this season in Cali, for example, because the first thing cops do is count your plants) 20L/day during the height of the summer months isn't out of the ordinary at all, I know many growers in norcal do 10 gallons a day or more, depending on the soil. But the original point, that marijuana is hugely wasteful of water, is pretty ridiculous when you compare it to other crops. Everything uses a lot of water. And saying that indoor is better because it uses less water ignores the extreme amount of waste created by using (and climate controlling for) indoor lights.
- rconti 9y agoIt seems like this is less of an impact than many crops. Traditionally, grow operations have flourished in places like British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and the "Emerald Triangle" of coastal/wooded Northern California. I have no particular knowledge about how the plants grow, but I assume this means they grow well in those climates (not that they're merely more tolerated in those locales). Therefore, an outdoor grow operation could probably done with minimal irrigation and no real impact on drinking water supplies.
- scardine 9y agoCanabis Sativa is from hotter climates but Canabis Indica is from colder places. The best strands are hybrids that try to select the best properties from each natural variety.