Growers and Growing

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. 

Articles

Learn how to bring efficiency concepts together to create circular cannabis systems.

Circular Cannabis Systems: Tracking and Minimizing Waste  and Emissions Impacts

A look at what effects water and air movement in plants.

Providing Sufficient Airflow for  Plant Growth Environments

is a Full Professor and Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at The University of Texas (UT) at Arlington.

The data presented here document the phytochemical composition of a large dataset of Group III cannabis cultivars and allow for the identification of distinct sub-classes.


Differentiation of Group III Cannabis Cultivars into Novel Sub-Classes

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

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.

Better seed genetics, power-free tunable lighting, and other new scientific discoveries are making headway in what has become an ag-tech leading industry.

Cultivation Breakthroughs  for a More Uniform Plant Are Coming

Learn about the value of monitoring environmental conditions, how software platforms can analyze data and offer insights, and the ways growers can use data to optimize plant health and vitality.


Make Data Work for You: Environmental Monitoring for Optimal Outcomes

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. 

Autoflowering Genetics Present Unique Opportunities

Part III of this series explores the impact of light spectrum on plant growth and the equipment needed for indoor cultivation.

Does Light Spectrum  Alter Plant Transpiration Rates?

Learn about the four major steps of integrated pest management (IPM) programs: setting action thresholds; monitoring and identification, prevention, and control; the various control methodologies; and how climate control systems both enable indoor cannabis cultivation and can manage pests like mold and mildew.

Integrated Pest Management for Cannabis Cultivation Monitoring, Identifying, Preventing, and Controlling Pests with HVAC Solutions

Isolated CBD, full-spectrum oil, and even smokable hemp are all being diluted down by a draconian regulatory framework that needs to be changed to facilitate growth, innovation, and prosperity throughout the industry.