Cultivation Guidance from the OCM.
The OCM put out a Medical Home Cultivation Guide that is definitely useful to somebody (like me) trying to figure out exactly what the regulations are supposed to mean. I do think it is a little intimidating - 17 pages is probably too long for a lot of people, but it definitely adds additional layers of understanding to where you are and are not allowed to grow.
One question that was clearly answered - your landlord can prohibit you from smoking, but they can’t prohibit you from other forms of cannabis. Not as clear - i am pretty sure your landlord cannot prohibit you from growing, but may be able to restrict your ability to grow by, say, prohibiting grow lights.
There’s a hard cap on plant limits at 6 mature and 6 immature, no matter how many patients or caregivers live in the house.
You do not need a fence - you can grow in “a garden covered with shrubs or flowering plants that makes it hard to see” or “on open space on your property not seen or accessible by others”.
On odor management, the OCM encourages discretion, saying that natural herbs and flowers can be used to mask the scent. They recommend basil, lavender, or mint - all good companion plants. They also mention that they also limit the visibility of your grow. I’m not sure basil is tall enough to do that, but it’s their rules, so if they say it works, then who am i to argue!? In any event, we would add sunflowers (to distract unwanted eyes) and yarrow (attracts good bugs and repels bad ones), and maybe virginia creeper (the leaves look like cannabis) if you want to confuse people about what you are doing back there.
On waste management, it looks like you can pretty much just toss it in the trash. They do say to destroy it beyond recognition, and mix it thoroughly with non-cannabis waste, but to protect young people and pets - “Be sure to have a closed trash lid wherever you toss your cannabis.”
Some stuff that I have questions about - they make a claim that there has been an increase in electrical fires from indoor grows. I haven’t noticed that trend, and I didn’t see a source to back that one up. The message is good - be sure you aren’t overloading your electricity, but if there isn’t an actual increase in electrical fires, maybe don’t make that claim. And if there is, we definitely need to be talking about it.
An HCANY member (who shall remain nameless until he reads this post and says it’s OK to use his name) pointed out that curing at below 50% humidity is very low. I was taught that you want to shoot for 65%, and had some success at this number. 50% is definitely in my experience too low for a quality cure.
Also, they say that you should store cannabis in an air-tight container. This is true, but i think it’s important that the container is either in a dark spot or is opaque. Keep it air tight, and in the dark!
Finally, for the moment anyway, i was pretty confused by the bit about CO2 pollution, but it was mostly on my own end. They say “Use of CO2 generators or practices(?) are not necessary for home grow (which is true) and should be avoided to eliminate the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and reduce environmental impact.”
I learned a little thanks to another HCANY member. (There are a lot of knowledgeable people in this group you should really consider signing up while it is still free). It turns out that CO2 generators do produce carbon monoxide, and it is also possible to poison yourself with CO2 itself (it’s actually oxygen depravation, not CO2 poisoning, that gets you, but the end result is the same). So CO2 generators can cause harm from both CO and CO2. I think they could have been a bit clearer on that one, but glad that they mentioned it.