Politics
Colorado Governor Offers Advice On Growing Marijuana Plants Bonsai-Style
The governor of Colorado shared tips on how to grow bonsai-style marijuana plants over the weekend.
In a Facebook post, Gov. Jared Polis (D) wrote that “it’s possible to cultivate a cannabis bonsai” and linked to three articles that lay out steps to cultivate marijuana in the specialized style. According one site, the primary reason to grow cannabis bonsai is to generate clones, or genetic copies of marijuana varieties derived from mature plants.
The article recommends using the bonsai technique to cultivate Critical Kush and White Widow, two popular hybrid strains.
“Coloradans have the constitutional right to grow up to six marijuana plants per adult in your home,” the governor said. “So does a marijuana bonsai count as half a plant or a full plant? Don’t test your luck.”
Polis added that “keeping six bonsai of any kind alive and well is a lot of work anyway” and asked whether any of his followers had “actually tried this.”
Polis is a staunch defender of his state’s legal cannabis program, and part of his gubernatorial campaign focused on his support for the industry. He told Marijuana Moment last year that, if elected, he would do his part to expand Colorado’s cannabis laws—by signing reform legislation that his predecessor John Hickenlooper vetoed, for example.
In the months since taking office, Polis has made good on that promise. The governor approved bills in May allowing for cannabis home deliveries and tasting rooms at marijuana shops, and he defended the former policy in July by arguing at a conference with other governors that deliveries can mitigate the risk of people driving to purchase cannabis products while under the influence.
“Colorado has long been a leader in cannabis reform,” he said at the time. “Our new efforts include allowing delivery of marijuana, so we’re moving away from the risk of people driving while impaired by having legal delivery to people’s homes.”
His administration also launched an online tool that’s meant to help the public keep track of the state government’s accomplishments, including its regulation of the cannabis industry.
The governor’s latest marijuana horticulture advice could prove useful to another state leader, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee (D), whose personal garden may or may not feature cannabis.
Inslee insisted in December that Washington’s marijuana is the best in the nation and said that while he doesn’t consume cannabis, he does “grow it legally.” A spokesperson later told Marijuana Moment that the governor was broadly referring to cultivation operations in the state’s legal market, however.
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Photo courtesy of Polis For Colorado.
