For thousands of years, cannabis grew wild around the world, with different strains native to different continents, sparking hundreds of years of human experimentation with the magical plant.
In the late 20th century, California radicals and hippies established what would become the Emerald Triangle - Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity counties North of San Francisco - as the global home of the cannabis community, industry, and innovation. The Emerald Triangle is home to many of the changes in growing techniques and strain variation we still see today.
The 20th century was not kind to cannabis growers, so to avoid police helicopters and snooping cops, Emerald Triangle farmers started building grow houses with artificial light and temperature controls to hide out. Little did they know, that move indoors would start its own weed industry revolution.
These days, there are three distinct styles of growing - outdoor, greenhouse, and indoor - each with its own benefits and drawbacks, and each capable of producing beautiful, potent, flavorful, smooth smoking flower. For a deeper look, let’s check out the differences between Greenhouse flower and Indoor flower.
Greenhouses are a staple of many commercial crops, and cannabis is no different. Greenhouses, aka hoop houses or light assist, provide a barrier from the weather but still allow natural sun to hit each plant.
A level between outdoor and indoor, greenhouses are able to provide more protection from the natural elements than outdoor grows, but not as much climate and light control as a fully indoor grow.
Greenhouses are much cheaper to operate than indoor grows, but more consistent and reliable than a full outdoor grow, making them a perfect middle ground for many small or medium sized independent operators.
Using the help of the natural light coming through, greenhouse flower benefits from the irreplicable help of the sun, producing unique terpenes and bud structure that you might not find with indoor weed.
Greenhouses are the goldie locks of the cultivation industry, a perfect middle ground between indoor and outdoor, producing amazing flower on a reasonable budget.
Indoor weed has come a long way since Emerald Triangle growers first hung lights in makeshift shacks to hide out from the cops.
These days, indoor grows are popping up around the world, using increasingly high tech lights, fans, plant beds, and tracking systems to produce a completely controlled environment for every plant.
Dialing in every bit of light, wind, humidity, temperature, and more is an expensive endeavor, but at a commercial level indoor weed offers the most consistent and visually appealing buds, with tight, bright, dense buds coming down in every harvest.
Smokers love indoor weed for the bag appeal and high test numbers, but the tight controls necessary to produce flower inside also means that it is easy to make mistakes that will cause issues for an entire crop at once. Growing indoors is a delicate, expensive endeavor and it shows in the final price of the flower.
There is no superior method for growing because every plant, every grow, and every grower are different, but if you’re looking to see the differences for yourself, the best way is experience. Pick up Cookies Humboldt Grown flower in Cookies stores across California and check out the Golden State’s best greenhouse flower to compare for yourself - can you tell the difference in a blind smoke test?