This is a major and contentious debate. I'll do my best to summarize it for you.
Some people think that indoor is better because the grower can tightly control all of the environmental conditions in which the plant grows. If the grower is very good at what s/he does, then this can be true. But very often, the grower is not good enough to do better than Mother Nature. In any case, indoor is definitely more expensive because they have to pay huge power bills to keep the lights running, and this is bad for the environment.
The advantage of outdoor is that it's a lot more forgiving. If the grower lives in a favorable climate, then they can grow great cannabis outdoors at a much lower price than indoor. Outside, the plants have the benefit of the full spectrum of the sun, which is very difficult to reproduce artificially. Plus, this method is much better for the planet. The downside is that the plants are out in the environment, where stuff like pollen, dust etc. can get stuck to the buds. For most folks that's harmless, but for patients with very sensitive autoimmune conditions, for example, that can be a concern.
Personally, I think that the best way is greenhouse, which combines the best of both techniques while minimizing their drawbacks. Greenhouse growers primarily use sunlight, but on cloudy days they can supplement with LED lights to give the plants fuller spectrum light. They can also tightly control the growing environment in other ways, similar to indoor, and filter out pollens and dust. But because they primarily use sunlight, they have a much lower carbon footprint and it's much less expensive to produce. This is my preference.
Comments
This is a major and contentious debate. I'll do my best to summarize it for you.
Some people think that indoor is better because the grower can tightly control all of the environmental conditions in which the plant grows. If the grower is very good at what s/he does, then this can be true. But very often, the grower is not good enough to do better than Mother Nature. In any case, indoor is definitely more expensive because they have to pay huge power bills to keep the lights running, and this is bad for the environment.
The advantage of outdoor is that it's a lot more forgiving. If the grower lives in a favorable climate, then they can grow great cannabis outdoors at a much lower price than indoor. Outside, the plants have the benefit of the full spectrum of the sun, which is very difficult to reproduce artificially. Plus, this method is much better for the planet. The downside is that the plants are out in the environment, where stuff like pollen, dust etc. can get stuck to the buds. For most folks that's harmless, but for patients with very sensitive autoimmune conditions, for example, that can be a concern.
Personally, I think that the best way is greenhouse, which combines the best of both techniques while minimizing their drawbacks. Greenhouse growers primarily use sunlight, but on cloudy days they can supplement with LED lights to give the plants fuller spectrum light. They can also tightly control the growing environment in other ways, similar to indoor, and filter out pollens and dust. But because they primarily use sunlight, they have a much lower carbon footprint and it's much less expensive to produce. This is my preference.
Thank you!