Growers and Growing

Articles

Casey Houweling, the inventor of the semi-closed greenhouse, explains how this greenhouse concept came about, the challenges he’s had developing it, and the potential it holds for the future of the cannabis industry.

The Semi-Closed Greenhouse: A Revolution in Cultivation and Energy Efficiency

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.

Here, we take a look at the top issues related to cannabis cultivation: what top environmental problems still face the cannabis industry, how to reduce emissions in grow facilities, the different effects of various strains on carbon emissions, and how the government is finally helping the industry do a deeper dive into understanding these issues.

New Data on the Environmental Impact of Cannabis Cultivation

is a Senior Scientist at Agilent Technologies and a Visiting Professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

Experts within the global cannabis and hemp industries discuss the importance of testing and regulations and sustainable measures that can reduce the sector’s environmental impact.

How Manufacturing, Regulations, and Sustainability Are Affecting the Cannabis and Hemp-Based Products Industry

Learn how having a firm understanding of how you plan to use your facility, what power options are available, and strong partners can guide you to the best solution which is critical to your bottom line.

Powering CEA: Power Supply Solutions for CEA Facilities

When it comes to cannabis cultivation, growers have their own methods on how to get the best products from their plants. Through using different soils, irrigation practices, lighting, and other approaches, each item plays an important role in how the plant matures. In this interview, David Cohen, CEO of Fluence, discusses the rise in LED lighting methods and how it can be the best tool for the industry.

LED Lights Lead the Way in Cannabis Cultivation

How can we address the pest problems created in commercial cannabis cultivation facilities when environmental control systems are improperly designed or implemented?

How Poor Environmental Control Creates Pest Pressure

The choice of growing media can contribute to precision, consistency, and repeatability from plant to plant and harvest to harvest. Here, we consider five factors that should be evaluated to help make the best choice of growing media.

Five Factors to Inform a Well-Grounded Growing Media Decision

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 about the diverse kinds of support cannabis growers can get from utilities and efficiency programs for efficient lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), and controls approaches.

Get Help Greening Your Grow Utility Efficiency Programs Supporting Cannabis Cultivators

This article outlines why multiple testing modes are important, what to look for in third party test providers, and how a cultivator can evaluate these potential providers both at the outset and in an ongoing manner for accuracy and reliability.

Cannabis Cultivation Quality Assurance 2.0:  Starting Clear, Staying Clean

In this piece, we touch on the benefits and challenges associated with autoflowering genetics, and provide justification for why these unique varietals may be the catalyst for making cannabis medicine more accessible and approachable for the general population. 