JACKSON STORE SPECIALIZES IN ITEMS NEEDED TO GROW PLANTS INDOORS

Jim Luck sells bat guano, lady bugs, Kushie Kush and Happy Frog
fertilizer, Perlite, black pails, grow lights and aeration systems ?
all foreign to common gardeners.

Some of it is used to produce vegetables, although customers at Mighty
Grow on Monday were overwhelmingly budding pot farmers.

"We are here to help people grow plants," said Jim Luck, who works at
the store on W. Michigan Avenue. "They grow everything from tomatoes
to orchids, citrus and marijuana."

Mighty Grow features dozens of brands of organic fertilizer for
hydroponic operations and all of the equipment required for growing
plants indoors without soil, including a large tent that can be
outfitted with pumps, pots, lights, tanks and aeration for $1,600.

The floor model contains a small jungle of gangly cherry tomato plants
that have never tasted soil. Their roots live in a clay medium and are
bathed at programmed intervals by aerated, nutrient-rich water.

"Hydroponics means water at work," Luck said.

It is a niche that has expanded greatly under Michigan's medical
marijuana law.

People with medical clearance can grow marijuana for themselves and
others with prescriptions. The growers call themselves caregivers.

"I decided to grow on my own because I thought it was cheaper,"
Jackson grower Mary Robbins said, rolling her eyes.

Robbins has arthritis, bulging discs and pain from several car
crashes.

Pot prices rose from $65 a half-ounce before the medical marijuana law
to more than $100 a half ounce, because growers are trying to retrieve
their investments and capitalize on potent weed, Robbins said.

"Modern strains of pot will knock you on your ass," she
said.

Growing marijuana indoors is incredibly complex, Robbins has learned.
She has one prospective "patient" if she is able to grow a reliable
supply. It has been a hard-knock education with plenty of setbacks.

Strains of pot are as varied as grapes, and each has its own traits
and requirements, she said. Among the strains are White Widow, Train
Wreck and Blue Berry. Growers buy seeds from a network of suppliers.
Luck said he does not sell pot seeds.

Mighty Grow does not offer classes, but there is a running dialogue
among customers and Luck regarding growing tips and
troubleshooting.

Luck said marijuana growers are just one segment of Mighty Grow's
customer base. Many Jackson-area residents are learning how to stretch
their gardening season by keeping indoor hydroponic gardens.

"I have people who grow citrus trees in their basements, wheat grass,
lettuce, orchids and tomatoes," Luck said.

Mighty Grow is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Saturday.