Cultivation

Articles

A review of the changing attitude and knowledge gap in cannabis cultivation and more.

Gaining Deep Knowledge About Cannabis Cultivation: How and Why

Gretchen Schimelpfenig, PE, is the Technical Director of RII and manages the organization’s Technical Advisory Council. She is an LED-lit home cultivator. While serving Burlington Electric Department customers, she incentivized horticultural LED lighting equipment through energy efficiency programs, and has commissioned LED lighting designs and installed systems in commercial and industrial buildings, including greenhouses used for academic research on hemp and other cultivars. She authored the RII 

Best Practices Guides on HVAC and LED Lighting for Cannabis Cultivation and Controlled Environment Agriculture.

 She has a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Wyoming and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University. She is a licensed Civil Professional Engineer in California and Vermont. 

Learn the ways light energy from different parts of the action spectrum can affect plant expression, harvest structure, and quality characteristics and how light-emitting diode light fixtures can be controlled to modulate light intensity and spectral distribution to produce different effects.

How LED Light Recipes and Controls Can Improve Quality and Yield for Cannabis Producers 

Part I of this article series explores the concept of balancing leaf temperature to optimize plant growth.

Why Does Leaf Temperature Matter in a Commercial Grow Room?

Chase Towery, the COO of Cultivera, discusses his company, the concerns affecting supply management in the cannabis industry, and much more.

A Look at How Seed-to-Sale Management Software Alleviates Supply Management Issues

Learn the ways cannabis cultivation uses water as a resource, how to measure and benchmark the key performance indicators (KPIs) for water efficiency and productivity, and the benefits of monitoring, quantifying, and ranking KPIs for water.

Cannabis Water Report Highlights Opportunities for Water Efficiency

Soil, water, and nutrient compositions play important roles in one’s quest to produce ultrapremium flower material; but unequivocally, it is lighting spectrum, coverage, and penetration that have the most influence over the terminal outcome, particularly in controlled environment agriculture.

Lighting: Setting the Stage for Genetic Potential in Cannabis and Hemp

This article explores what we do and don’t know about the origins of Cannabis ssp. from a botanical perspective and outlines some of the hypotheses proposed to explain the “why” of cannabinoid production in plants and the approaches that researchers are taking to try and answer this elusive question.

Back to the Root The Role of Botany and Plant Physiology in Cannabis Testing, Part IV: The Botany of Cannabinoids or Why Do Plants Produce Cannabinoids and What’s in it for Them?

Understand what information to gather for cultivation operations, which KPIs are important, and how to interpret a performance benchmark.

Resource Benchmarking for  Competitive and Efficient Cannabis Cultivation and Production Processes

Learn tips about monitoring environmental conditions to further improve yields.

HVACD Controls for Plant Health, Product Quality, and Energy Efficiency in Cultivation and Drying Processes

David Hodes has written for many cannabis publications, and organized or moderated sessions at national and international cannabis trade shows. He was voted the 2018 Journalist of the Year by Americans for Safe Access, the world’s largest medical cannabis advocacy organization.

From setting up a grow to tracking each plant, a look at new cultivation technology solutions designed to both improve  efficiencies and create more data analytics.

Cannabis Cultivation: The New Agriculture Tech Playground

This article discusses the difficulties of reining in the intense energy use of the cannabis industry from the perspective of the most energy efficient state: Massachusetts.

How to Rein in Cannabis Industry Energy?

Here we explore the role that terpenes play in plant immunity, defense, and signaling.

Back to the Root The Role of Botany and Plant Physiology in Cannabis Testing, Part III: Genetic and Environmental Factors Associated with Terpene Synthesis in Plants

A closer look at the benefits of incorporating drone technology into commercial cannabis operations.

Invasion of the Drones: How Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Can Help Cannabis Growers Improve Crop Quality, Lower Costs, and Save the Planet

With grow light technology constantly advancing, Noah Miller, CEO of Black Dog LED, discusses the research behind grow light technology and its future in cannabis.

The Science Behind LED Lights

Brian C. Smith, PhD, is Founder, CEO, and Chief Technical Officer of Big Sur Scientific. He is the inventor of the BSS series of patented mid-infrared based cannabis analyzers. Dr. Smith has done pioneering research and published numerous peer-reviewed papers on the application of mid-infrared spectroscopy to cannabis analysis, and sits on the editorial board of Cannabis Science and Technology. He has worked as a laboratory director for a cannabis extractor, as an analytical chemist for Waters Associates and PerkinElmer, and as an analytical instrument salesperson. He has more than 30 years of experience in chemical analysis and has written three books on the subject. Dr. Smith earned his PhD on physical chemistry from Dartmouth College. Direct correspondence to: 

Here a scientifically based representative sampling plan for hemp grows is presented, detailing how to collect composite samples, how many to collect, and how to analyze them.

A Proposed Representative Sampling Plan for Hemp Grows

 A novel mid-infrared spectrometer that measures total THC in dried, ground cannabis plant material in 2 min is discussed as well as the applications of this analyzer for law enforcement, forensic laboratories, and regulatory agencies.

Distinguishing Hemp from Marijuana by Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy

Marguerite Bolt discusses the Purdue Hemp Extension Program, hemp cultivation, community education efforts, and more.

America’s Heartland Tackles Hemp Cultivation with Education

Dr. Arno Hazekamp discusses the formation of the new coalition as well as their goals, research, and education initiatives.

The Legal Cannabis Coalition: A Closer Look at How Dutch Horticultural Companies and Scientific Partners Joined Forces

Todd Statzer, the Vice President of Environmental Sciences at urban-gro, offers some tips for pesticide use in cannabis cultivation.

Best Practices for Pesticide Use in Your Cultivation Facility

A recent press release (1) announced the formation of a group called the Legal Cannabis Coalition (LLC), which consists of a dozen Dutch horticultural companies.