Dear Dan, I’m retired military and now have use of my Post 9/11 GI Bill. I think that success is a relative term and for me it would be to take the ready resources at this juncture in life and try to project for myself a future doing something I like and hopefully do it well and have a positive impact on my community. In short, I want to grow pot. What would be the best degree program for a guy with a free education in hand? Horticulture? Agriculture? Something else? – AMS
Dear AMS,
Congratulations on the completion of your military career and thank you for your service. Your best bet is to focus your education on horticulture. Classes in plant science, propagation, pest control, botany and garden management will all help you achieve your goal of growing pot, but you must also study some plant-specific material such as High Times Magazines, grow books such as Jorge Cervantes’ Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible, and DVDs (my colleague Nico Escondido’s Grow Like A Pro is a great overview of cultivation).
Absorb everything you can about cultivating this wonderful plant but beware of believing everything you read on the internet. There is plenty of misinformation and bad advice floating around in cyberspace so stick with trusted sources and reliable data. Your military background should also help you in planning, execution and discipline; three things many growers learn the hard way through failed harvests.