David Kurth, U-Bud Cannabis Services, Ontario, Canada

David Kurth, CEO and head grower at U-Bud Cannabis Services helps brand new growers in the Toronto, Canada area get their feet wet with marijuana growing and have a successful first harvest! With cannabis being legalized nationwide in October 2018, you can imagine that there is lots of opportunity for an entrepreneurial grower like David to capitalize on his skills and knowledge while helping growers learn the ropes. I know I relied on my friends in much the same way, thankfully they didn’t charge me. Typically, David can visit his clients one or two times after the initial setup visit, and with the help of technology and a well laid out plan sees many of his customers have a bountiful first harvest. After that, they can renew the contract, purchase the equipment and continue on their own, or pull the equipment out. Currently, David is helping people grow their legal 4 plants in a 4x4 grow tent, with oversized carbon filter and exhaust fan. The lighting varies a bit between a 315w Ceramic metal halide or a full spectrum LED light, they do offer an advanced grow with 2 LED lights within the same tent. They also provide super soil and 2.5-gallon pots for each of the 4 plants. Providing donated seeds to each customer, he helps to get them germinated on the customer’s kitchen counter. Providing a complete tutorial to help them be successful is also a key component to the business’ success. With David’s business, he tries to keep the variables small and the things to pay attention to minimal. He has his new growers watch temperature and humidity to ensure the environment stays dialed in. Beyond that, he asks them for simple observational health of the plant. Color and shade of the leaves, any blemishes or signs of bugs, changes in the top of the dirt and any anomalies from one plant to the next. They also encourage having customers send pictures if they’re concerned about a plant and even have some setups with cameras within their tent.  What’s David’s advice for increasing yield off each plant? He suggests more lighting to his customers and putting those 2 LED lights in each tent to maximize the wattage and spectrum available to the plants. Typically, they don’t encourage plant training to new customers but work with a few experienced customers to teach them the sea of green technique. What’s David tell his customers about Integrated Pest Management? Keep your outdoor pests outdoors, and you’ll prevent them from being in your indoor garden. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in their small setups. If there are signs of problems, he suggests an essential microbe spray, EM-1 from Stepwell Super Soil on the leaves to help with powdery mildew and bug prevention. What types of character traits does David love to set up a new grow for? For them, it’s as simple as following a process. They have simplified the first grow for customers so well that as long as they can follow directions, they see close to 100% success rate. After the first grow, he does help growers experiment a bit but encourages everyone to keep it simple and not to get too far ahead of their abilities. David’s parting words: don’t cheap out when purchasing equipment or accruing knowledge. Quality comes with a cost, but if it’s truly quality it will return dividends time after time. Check out U-bud.ca to connect with David and his team, or find them on any social media platform that you frequent. You can also find them at a few places in Ontario if you’re in the area, reach out and check it out! If you liked this interview, and want to hear more from David please head over to http://thehomegrownhelpers.com/bonus and download the rest of the show!  After you check out the bonus information, if you need a little more guidance or help setting up a room, troubleshooting a problem or whatever you need in the garden – reach out to me at [email protected] and I’ll do some research to help you find the right consultant for the job, your location and your personality. This episode is brought to you by 2 MyGrowPass.com partners. Dealzer.com is a full service online hydroponic shop. Use “Podcast10” to save 10% on your entire order, or become a member and gain access to that exclusive 15% off code. Dealzer has your entire supply of hydroponic needs from pots to lights to tents. Grab your entire shopping list at dealzer.com and save 10% using “Podcast10” during checkout at dealzer.com. We also partnered with Green Craft Distribution who offers lines like Kushley, StashLogixx, Buddha’s Tree and more, along with several lines of CBD products from several quality lines sourced from around the country. Use code “Growcast” to get 10% off or become a member and gain 25% at greencraftdistribution.com.