🌿 Apples, Oranges, and the Great Green Divide

By OG Strain

Let me start by saying this loud enough for the judges’ tent to hear me all the way back in Palenville—indoor-grown cannabis and outdoor-grown cannabis should NOT be in the same competition. Period.

Now, before anybody grabs their trimmers or their torches, let’s talk facts. I was at the Damn Sam 2025 Cannabis Cup in Palenville, New York, and listen… Hudson Valley Green One took first place, and yeah, they brought that heat — no denying it. Beautiful buds, grown in a perfectly tuned indoor setup where every leaf got VIP treatment. Lights? Controlled. Humidity? Perfect. Temperature? Dialed in like a NASA mission.

But here’s the thing — that bud was indoor-grown. Meanwhile, Lazy Day Farms and Tokalotapot Seeds came in hot with second place, and guess what? Their cannabis was outdoor. Grown under real sunshine, real skies, with wind, rain, and every bit of the unpredictable personality that comes with Mother Nature herself.

Now how in the world can you put those two in the same category? It’s like lining up a Formula 1 car next to a monster truck and saying, “Alright boys, same racetrack, let’s see who wins.”

Indoor growers, I respect the craft — y’all are plant scientists. You control every photon, every molecule of air, every drop of water. Your buds are flawless because you built the environment they live in. And I salute that.

But outdoor growers? Man, that’s a whole different grind. That’s real-deal farming. You’re out there rolling with the punches — battling heat waves, bugs, storms, deer, and the occasional nosy neighbor. And somehow, you still pull buds that make people go, “Wait, that’s outdoor?!”

So when the trophies came out and first place went to indoor while outdoor came in second, I couldn’t help but think: this isn’t a fair fight. There should’ve been two competitions — one for indoor, one for outdoor. Keep it fair, keep it honest.

Because comparing indoor to outdoor is like comparing apples and oranges — or maybe more like comparing craft beer to cannabis. They both get the job done, but they come from totally different worlds.

And let me be clear — both kinds of growers deserve respect. Indoor growers create immaculate art. Outdoor growers craft pure, organic soul. But when they’re thrown in the same ring, it doesn’t celebrate their differences — it blurs them.

If we really want to honor the plant, then let’s honor the journey it took to grow. Separate the leagues. Give out two first-place trophies. Because an indoor bud can be flawless — but an outdoor bud that faced every element and still came out shining? That’s something divine.

So yeah, that’s how I feel about it. What do you think? Should they separate the categories next time or keep throwing sunshine and LED lights into the same competition?

Hit me up — I’m curious. Because to me, outdoor vs. indoor ain’t a rivalry. It’s two different love stories growing under two different skies.

— OG Strain
Host of Strain’s Strain Reviews (Talk Cannabis)
Guest Writer for The Plug’s Pages Magazine