When you walk into The New Grow Center in downtown New Rochelle, you might think you’ve entered a high-end gardening store. While the supplies there could help you grow the best tomatoes you’ve ever had, New Grow's real specialty is pairing supplies with education to help people grow their own cannabis plants at home.
Recently, Deivid Elliot, one of the owners of New Grow and an accomplished cannabis farmer, hosted an educational session for home growers at the store. Deivid started by giving an overview of all the products the center sells to help facilitate successful growing, including soil, fertilizer, nutrients, pest management, inoculants and teas, and, of course, seeds.
“Everything here is quadruple certified organic,” explained Deivid. “They're certified in Oregon, California, and Washington state, and now we got them certified here in New York through the Northeast Organic Farming Association.”
The store not only sells different types of THC seeds for sativa, indica, and blends but also seeds for CBD and CBN plants. When showing the different types of soils and their components, Deivid explains the many elements that go into the mix, including peat moss, worm castings, volcanic ash and glacier rocks from Chile and Argentina, pumice, and a type of burned wood called biochar.
The New Grow Center has been open for about a year and a half and prides itself on its knowledge of the evolving cannabis rules in New York State, which, from July of this year, will allow the recreational growing of THC plants. Deivid deeply understands all the intricacies of New York law, including how many plants each household can grow at one time and the options for caregivers who are growing for someone with a medical marijuana card.
“What we've done from the beginning was teach law and the state of the cannabis industry in New York,” says Deivid. The owners of The New Grow Center founded it with the goal of helping local communities and businesses navigate a complex new market. The team is committed to building an inclusive and diverse cannabis market by providing access to education, materials, supplies, and resources.
Their current class schedule includes:
- Budtending 101
- Demystifying the Cannabis Industry
- Cannabis Germination and Seed Selection
- Cannabis Transplanting and Living Soil
- Home Cultivation and Plant Biology
Since many of New Grow’s customers live in apartments and don’t have their own gardens, Deivid continues the educational session by giving a tour of the center’s growing tents. “We have a partnership with AC Infinity, which produces these tents, which are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controlled,” Deivid explains. “ So I can go on my phone and it tells me what the humidity is right now and the VPD (vapor pressure deficit), which is how much water pressure I'm removing from there.”
Deivid shows how he can adjust those settings, and others, from his phone to closely mimic what would happen if the plants were growing outdoors. “It can't be Mother Nature, but this gets extremely close,” he says.
Deivid’s passion for cannabis farming began over ten years ago when he moved from New Rochelle to Oregon to learn how to be a cannabis grower. All the seeds sold at New Grow come from Deivid’s farm in Oregon. “My background is in heating and air-conditioning construction,” he says. “So because of my environmental control experience, I was able to get into the industry rather quickly.”
In a separate room, Deivid begins the class for the participants, walking everyone through the steps needed to be a successful grower, including the importance of lights and how their strength and placement affect growth.
After that, there’s a hands-on demonstration of how to remove budding seedlings from water and put them into soil. Deivid shows class members the difference between thriving seeds and those that probably won’t make it.
Despite the many steps that could make the process seem quite complex, Deivid is able to explain things in a way that prevents it from being overwhelming. He also talks about the many benefits of growing your own cannabis, which is often less expensive than buying from a dispensary, and the knowledge that the product you’ve grown is organic at every stage.
Deivid concludes, “You can't compare buying a product to growing it. I don’t think there’s anything better than growing your own—you know what goes into it.”
For a schedule of classes at The New Grow Center visit:
www.thenewgrowcenter.com
The New Grow Center LLC
365B North Avenue
New Rochelle, NY 10801
P: 914-344-6101
Store Hours
Mon-Sun: By Appointment Only
