- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Denver and help keep the future of Westword free.
Dear Stoner: What’s better for a small home grow, the attic or the basement? My attic is a decent size (about five-foot ceilings) and much more empty.
Joe Shingles
Dear Joe: An attic can be a dicey place to grow cannabis if you’re planning to live in the same home. While five feet might seem tall enough for an attic, you’ll probably want a reservoir to put your plants on so that water and growing mediums don’t spill out onto the attic floor (bad news for the ceiling below), and that can add a couple of feet. Most cannabis plants need more than three feet to thrive, but I’ve seen them grown in more cramped conditions. Still, you’ll probably have a much harder time modifying the electricity and ventilation in an attic to suit a home grow than you would in a basement.

Another downfall of attic grows: They can out your operation. There have been multiple reports in years past of police being able to identify and bust illegal cannabis grows in attics after snowstorms. Why? The electricity from the growing lights melts the snow, leaving the roof buck naked next to its powdery neighbors. So just move all that shit that’s in your basement upstairs, and put the grow below.
Send questions to marijuana@westword.com.
Keep Westword Free... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Denver with no paywalls.