“Hydro,” of course, means water, and there are many advantages to growing cannabis in water instead of in soil.

(For those of you paying close attention-it’s tetra- hydro cannabinol, remember?)

You get higher, faster yields because hydroponic cultivation bypasses the root web. A crop is usually ready in twelve weeks-four harvests a year-and you control your own “sunshine” and “weather.” Therefore, you can rotate your cultivation from grow house to grow house so as to have a continuous yield.

You don’t have soil-borne pests and parasites. You don’t have to worry that you’re going to wake up one morning and find that three months of work is being eaten or dying of a communicable disease. Ergo, you’re not going to spray your plants with toxic pesticides and other shit.

Because it’s more automated, hydroponic cultivation requires less labor. The greater automation requires a higher start-up cost, but it can be amortized over several years, and the higher yield more than makes up for the initial outlay.

Ben also had a philosophical reason for going hydro.

“Human beings are mostly water,” he told Chon and O. “So it’s like the hydro is going home.”

“That’s sweet,” O said.

“Or stupid,” Chon added.

In any case, it took a lot more than just water to get the business started.

It took money, and a lot of it.

Start-up costs.

They already had the big-ticket item-the primo plant-so then it was a matter of hardware.

The biggest item was a house.

The selection of which was tricky, because it’s not so much the house, it’s what they had to put in the house. Marijuana, yes, thank you-but to grow the marijuana required, among other things Grow lamps.