The Company Behind Miracle-Gro Wants To Help You Grow (Legal) Hydroponic Weed

In the beverage industry, large mega-beer companies have acquired craft beer companies or created their own faux-craft beer brands, to keep up with the change in consumers’ tastes and preferences. The same thing is happening in a business you might not expect: Scotts, a company that makes fertilizers and other products for home gardeners, is getting into the business of helping people with some slightly larger houseplants: hydroponically grown marijuana.

Cannabist shared the story of Hawthorne Gardening Co., a subsidiary of Scotts that focuses on organic and hydroponic gardening. While lush lawns and backyard gardens are a pretty steady business, there’s one part of the home gardening market set to grow a lot, very soon.

Scotts first invested in AeroGrow, a Colorado company that makes indoor gardens. There’s a very specific picture that probably popped into your head when we said “Colorado” and “indoor gardens,” but the company’s setups are on the small side and meant for small kitchen crops like fresh cooking herbs or lettuce. The company is working on setups for larger crops, though.

As recreational cannabis becomes legal in more states and is already legal for medical use in a majority of states, people will be looking for help in growing their own and supplies to do so. There’s a reason why Scotts bought General Hydroponics, a company that sells everything you need to grow plants indoors and without soil.

Scotts bought General Hydroponics, a company in California, in 2015, looking ahead to legalization ballot initiatives coming up soon, including California in just a few months.

“I’m not going to lie, the lion’s share of General Hydroponics business in North America is cannabis growers,” the manager of the Hawthorne division told Cannabist.

How one of America’s most visible Fortune 1000 giants quietly snuck into the cannabis industry [Cannabist]