At present, over half the states in the country have legalized marijuana either for medical use or recreationally. That clears the way for plenty of small shops to sell the stuff, but growing your own plants at home is still a challenging endeavor for anyone not well-versed in soil, lighting schedules, nutrients, and all the nuances of raising the perfect pot plant. A startup called Leaf thinks it can make you a marijuana maestro with almost zero effort on your part, thanks to its new smart grow box.
MUST SEE: Niantic will share details about new Pokemon coming to Pokemon Go next week
The Leaf — yes, the startup is named Leaf and the box itself is also called Leaf, stay with me here — stands just over five feet tall, and about two feet wide, and contains everything a marijuana plant needs to reach its full potential. It controls the humidity and temperature, watering schedule, nutrient dosing, and of course lighting.
Leaf’s magic box syncs with its app, available on iOS and Android, and lets you monitor how things are going in the box or even get a glimpse inside with the Leaf’s built-in HD camera. The idea here is that the plant can remain enclosed at all times until it’s fully matured. At that point, the buds can be harvested and you can use the Leaf’s drying mode to air them out without making your house or apartment smell like a Cheech & Chong movie set.
Leaf suggests you don’t need any prior growing experience in order to use the box, and that each plant will yield four ounces of final product on average. That’s a pretty decent haul, but there’s still the matter of actually waiting for the plant to grow. Even under ideal conditions, and even with the fastest-growing strain of plant, you’re still looking at a couple of months from plant to harvest, and some strains will take considerably longer.
However, depending on how much you actually need — for medical purposes or just for fun — four ounces every few months might be more than enough to sustain you indefinitely, which would make the Leaf’s $2,990 price tag a bit easier to swallow. The company is currently taking pre-orders with a $300 deposit.
