5 Questions with Ernst Rustenhoven, CEO of ILGM
High Herstory had the opportunity to meet Ernst Rustenhoven, CEO of I Love Growing Marijuana (ILGM), at Hall of Flowers. Since its founding in 2012, ILGM has emerged as a leading cannabis seed bank, known for its extensive range of premium seeds and commitment to educating growers at all levels.
In this Q&A, Rustenhoven shares insights into the origins of ILGM, highlights some of their most unique strain offerings, and discusses how the company adapts to the ever-evolving cannabis regulatory landscape. He also elaborates on the importance of feminized seeds and the motivation behind ILGM's comprehensive grow guides. Whether you're a novice or an experienced cultivator, ILGM provides valuable perspectives on cultivating cannabis with confidence and creativity.
High Herstory: How was ILGM founded?
Ernst Rustenhoven: ILGM was founded in 2012 by a cannabis cultivation enthusiast. We offer a diverse selection of premium seeds, along with exceptional customer support and educational resources, to empower growers at all levels to cultivate with confidence.
High Herstory: What are the most unique strain seeds that ILGM sells?
Ernst Rustenhoven: ILGM recently launched a limited-edition collaboration with Green Bodhi, a boutique breeder known for integrating ancient wisdom with modern organic practices to sustainably produce potent genetics. The partnership featured three unique strains:
Hazy Girl Strain
Reminiscent of freshly baked pastries, Hazy Girl exudes a sweet scent followed by skunky undertones that provide calming effects to help ease the mind after a long day.
Mystery Haze Strain
Powerful and potent, Mystery Haze features candy-like notes intertwined with a hint of hazy undertones to produce peaceful and uplifting effects that keep you content day or night.
Golden Pineapple Strain
Ferociously fruity with a hint of spice, Golden Pineapple offers energizing effects, making it ideal for daytime consumption.
In general, we aim to regularly provide our customers with new strain varieties, sometimes in limited seed drops. We ensure that we stay on top of the trends, delivering the strains the cannabis community is looking for right now. We however also want to ensure that our customers with a particular taste, or who are eager to explore, are being serviced at ILGM. We collaborate with selected breeders to bring unique strain drops that provide exactly that.
High Herstory: How does ILGM navigate the constantly changing regulations in the cannabis space?
Ernst Rustenhoven: At ILGM, we grow with the changing regulations. For example, when New York legalized home grow, we offered 420 people in NY $100 worth of free cannabis seeds if they signed up to our newsletter. It was a fun way to help cannabis lovers get access to premium seeds to start their home grow journey.
High Herstory: What do you wish people would understand about feminized seeds?
Ernst Rustenhoven: Feminized seeds provide a more dynamic growing experience compared to autoflower seeds. These plants can become as successful as you make them, and it’s extra rewarding when you do it right. For those who want to read more about the different types of seeds available, including feminized seeds, we recommend reading our article on this topic.
High Herstory: We love your grow guides on ILGM.com What inspired the company to create such an in-depth resource on cannabis cultivation?
Ernst Rustenhoven: This is what ILGM started as; an educational blog about how to cultivate cannabis. Eventually, we added seed sales as an enhancement for our audience. We found that there are not many in-depth resources to learn how to grow cannabis so we sought out to change that. We aim to help growers every step of the way!