CANNABIS HORTICULTURE II

Cannabis Agriculture and Horticulture II

Unit 3 Discussion

(Question 3)

When dealing in anything cannabis today there are two ways to do things, Organic and Non-organic. This applies to the entire process of growth and management, including media selection, nutrients used, as well as pest management and control. Special consideration needs to be made when dealing with consumable but also combustible and inhalable products. Chemical structures are changed when combustion occurs meaning that the products that you may be using as foliar sprays or pest management applications need to be fully understood. Some chemicals in their neutral form may be chemically safe for human consumption, but once combustion occurs their structures are transformed into different chemicals, which may be harmful to your health. This is the main reason I believe the organic approach to be the most reasonable and health conscious method for dealing with pests and disease. One major player in the organic pest management realm is other living biology including predatory mites and ladybugs among others. When using living biology, which harvests other biology rather than plant matter, you can save a crop from predators without the use of harmful chemicals which may degrade the product's finishing quality. Certain essential oils can be used to manage pests which are considered an organic approach, yet they should not be used once flowering has initiated because they can affect the taste and flavor of the end product. These are the reasons I believe incorporating living biology into my pest management protocols to be vital to any successful grow operation.

Cannabis Agriculture and Horticulture II

Unit 4 Discussion

(Question 3)

The cannabis plant produces beautiful resin coated flowers that must be tended to before, during, and after harvest. By the trimming process you've already spent plenty of time giving your plants and buds all the requirements they need to flourish and the end is here. All your hard work and energy has paid off and you have flowers ready. Now it is time to harvest your plants. Several tools will be necessary to ensure your harvest goes off without a hitch. The first of which is a pair of nice trimming shears or scissors. These will be used to manicure your flowers before hanging them to dry. Another important tool during the trimming process is a jar of alcohol or alcohol wipes. These will be used to sterilize your tools but also to be used as a solvent to keep your trimming shears working. After a short while trimming resinous buds your trimming shears will begin to stick. You can collect the hash that has accumulated on your scissors and put it aside to use later and then your scissors will need to be cleaned with alcohol to prevent sticking. The use of trays or containers to trim in is common, or even specially designed bins such as the “Trim Bin” which makes separating your trim and collecting kief extremely easy. The last tool we will need is some coat hangers or plain old wire strung up to hang and dry our cannabis once we have manicured it. As long as you have these basic tools, your trimming process should go without a hitch.

(Question 4)

The cannabis drying process is one of the most vital steps in your harvest. The drying process can make or break you. If not done correctly an entire harvest can be ruined, losing any smell and taste, or worse tasting like hay by the end of the process. There are several guidelines which should be followed to ensure your harvest is successful. The educational videos from this week referred to what are known as the “Three C’s”, Containment, Cleanliness, and Control. When talking about containment they are referring to containing the odor given off your freshly harvested cannabis. The use of carbon filters to scrub the air as it is exhausted are used to mask the odor coming from your dry space. Control of humidity and temperature is also a huge part of the drying process. It is extremely important to keep the humidity and temperature within optimum range to avoid mold and mildew issues from devastating your harvest. In commercial and experienced grow operations specialized drying rooms utilize humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air-conditioners and heaters to provide the correct climate for perfect drying. Kevin from the instructional videos recommends 60% relative humidity and 60℉ in your drying space for optimal experience. Airflow is also a big part of the equation. Fans should be used to keep the air moving and to avoid any stagnant pockets of air and moisture. When speaking of cleanliness they are referring to maintaining sanitation in the space as well as when handling your plants at any point during the flowering and drying stages. A drying room should be sealed and sanitized prior to bringing your crop into the room. The walls should be easily cleaned using smooth surfaces that can be disinfected easily. Rubber gloves should be used from the start of the flowering cycle to avoid passing contaminants from your hands to your flowers. As long as one follows these guidelines your drying process should be successful, but every strain and every situation is a little different. This really is an art, and what sounds good and logical on paper is not always the best course of action. Every cultivator will learn through experience as they progress in skill and knowledge and will fine tune their own perfect recipe to suit their individual needs.

Cannabis Agriculture and Horticulture II

Unit 5 Discussion

(Question 2)

When it comes to trimming your cannabis plants there are two ways to do things, wet or dry. Each having their own advantages and disadvantages, which will be explained here today. Like I've said many times before, this is an art, and everybody has their own style. Some cultivators prefer to trim their cannabis plants before drying, while others swear by trimming their plants after they have dried, and it all boils down to personal preference. Trimming wet cannabis is mostly done out of convenience. The leaves and buds themselves are still firm and turgid, making trimming off unwanted material easy. Since the flowers still have moisture left inside them they are also much more forgiving when handled. The downside to wet trimming cannabis is a shorter shelf-life after having trichomes disturbed in the process of trimming and the end product tends to be less refined. Many cultivators choose to trim their cannabis plants after they have dried due to this. The larger leaves lend to a longer drying process, but also work like cocoons protecting the trichomes during the drying process. This prolonged drying process lends to a better overall smell and taste. This all comes down to your own personal preference, neither way being better than the other.

(Question 3)

When growing cannabis, daily inspections as well as adjustments here and there can greatly increase not only quantity but also quality of your finished product. Throughout the grow cycle we should have been training our plants to grow in certain directions, cleaned out any leaves and branches obstructing airflow through the center of our plants, as well selectively removing large leaves to allow light to penetrate more deeply into the canopy. All of these are training techniques used by cultivators to increase the success of their farm and to increase the quality of the product. There are several more noteworthy techniques I feel should be explained and when executed correctly can greatly increase yield.

The first technique is known as “pinching out” where the terminal shoots are cut or “pinched” to allow the side shoots to take dominance. The tops of each shoot, also known as “terminal shoots” , produce a hormone known as auxin. Auxin is a plant hormone which regulates the elongation of cells in shoots resulting in plant growth. When the terminal shoot is damaged, the auxin is then distributed to the lower shoots. The original point of dispersal, the top of the plant or branch, has been damaged or removed, so the plant distributes the nutrients to the other flowers and branches. When done correctly this can lead to multiple bud sites on the same branch. This is a common practice also known as “topping” where the top of the plant is removed and most likely cloned. The remaining side shoots now fight for dominance and will result in multiple colas has opposed to just one main cola.

Another technique that is known to increase overall yield is known as “FIM” which is short for “F*ck I Missed”. As the name implies, this technique was discovered by mistake and is extremely similar to “pinching out” but the placement of the cut is different. Instead of removing the entire terminal shoot, we cut across the leaves at the veins as they are emerging from the apex of the shoot. What is left is the shoot with almost all the leaf cut off leaving only the webbing of the “fingers”. This causes the plant to disperse the auxin in a similar fashion but can result in many more colas taking dominance. When done correctly the outcome is usually 4 or more colas which can greatly increase your yield.

The last technique I believe to be important to understand when training and pruning your cannabis plant is known as “super cropping”. Using this technique cultivators squeeze and damage the interior of the branches of a plant. One must be careful not to break the branch completely, only a gentle squeeze and roll. This action damages the interior of the shoot while maintaining the integrity of the branch. The site will now be flooded with extra nutrients to help repair the damaged branch. The branch will grow back thicker, much like human bones when they break or fracture. The resulting branch will show increased growth and will be able to support a heavier flower. If done correctly all of these techniques can increase a cultivator's yield and quality.

Cannabis Agriculture and Agriculture II

Unit 6 Discussion

(Question 2)

The process of curing cannabis can be a difficult one to master and if not done properly, the quality of the harvest can be impacted negatively. The consumer is not only looking for a visually pleasant flower, but also one full of flavor and aroma. Flavor and smell are major selling points in today's cannabis market, so it is in the best interest of any cultivator to ensure the product they produce reflects that demand. To ensure a crop delivers a quality worthy of a top shelf price tag, cannabis should always go through a curing process. This process allows for cannabis that has been dried to an optimum level, to be slowly stabilized and to allow chemical changes to happen within the flowers themselves. These changes lead to an increased level of smell and taste, as well as making the flowers more shelf stable. If done incorrectly a cultivar can lose its smell completely, or even be left tasting and smelling of hay.

To ensure your curing process is a success several things need to be kept in mind. Cannabis should begin the curing process when the stems are almost fully dry, after buds have been removed from its branch. The flowers are then put inside glass containers or mason jars.

The mason jars should be kept in a cool and dark location for about 2-4 weeks, being “burped” several times a day until the desired aroma is achieved. The ideal temperature for curing is 60-70℉ and the ideal relative humidity for curing is 50-70%. When these steps are taken the smell and taste of your cannabis can greatly be improved.

(Question 4)

Growing cannabis for a living has been a dream of mine since a young age, though at first seemed like a pipe dream if anything. As more states legalize cannabis and more scientific evidence supports the medical benefits of this medication, that dream seems to have become reality. With New York legalizing adult use of cannabis as well as expediting home cultivation for medical patients, I am doing everything I can to prepare myself for this reality. To prepare myself I am educating myself through schooling as well as through application. I have almost completed constructing my own personal grow space equipped with ventilation, carbon filter, as well as lighting on light movers. I fabricate all my own grow and clone equipment, watering systems, and produce my own compost. All of these skills and knowledge will assist in my growth in this industry.

Honestly it would be hard to narrow my choice for my favorite aspect of being a cannabis cultivator because I enjoy the entire process. I have found the process of tending to a plant to be extremely therapeutic but also extremely gratifying. I believe my favorite aspect to growing cannabis is breeding and the ability to breed my own novel strains. I think it is amazing that I have the ability to create a new strain that is my own design. That aspect of this business is what excites me most, to be able to create something unique. What's even more interesting is that my unique strain could possibly help a multitude of people who seek relief from medical and recreational cannabis. I am a medical cannabis patient, and I know through first hand experience the many benefits that cannabis possesses. The ultimate goal is to grow and produce medication for me and my loved ones, and if given the opportunity provide the same relief to those in need.

Unit 6 Assignment

Student Generated Question

When cultivating cannabis there are a multitude of choices which need to be made, from strains to media used. Which media do you find most effective and why?

Growing cannabis has been a passion of mine for many years and now I get the opportunity to possibly make a career out of that passion. Over the years I have experimented with almost all available media at one point or other. I began by fabricating my own aeroponic and hydroponic grow systems, utilizing water and air pumps, misters, and airstones to provide the optimum conditions for growth. In my experience the downside to these systems is the amount of maintenance required to keep them running, but the increased growth rates make it worth it if you have the time. Special attention needs to be paid to the temperature as well as the pH of your water in the nutrient reservoir and can take up several hours of your day maintaining and changing nutrients and pH levels. Since the roots are in direct contact with your nutrient solution they uptake nutrients much faster, but can also suffer from deficiencies and changes in the pH in the reservoir much more quickly. If you do not maintain the correct conditions in your environment as well as in your reservoirs, an entire crop can be destroyed before you can address the issue.

After many different experiments and several failures and successes, I have opted to grow in soil. I have not had much experience with living soil due to the fact that I am an indoor cultivator, but it is something I am trying to understand more deeply. For now I am using an organic amended soil mixture from a company called Roots Organic. It is an organic soil mix which contains compost as well as peat and vermiculite for aeration and water retention. When growing in soil, the dirt acts as a buffer, shielding the roots from overexposure to nutrients. The optimum pH level for all essential nutrients to be absorbed is between 5.5 and 6.2 and when your pH falls outside this range several nutrients stop being absorbed. These levels are extremely important to pay attention to, especially when growing hydroponically and aeroponically. The pH is not as important when growing in soil and the plants can show a greater resilience when grown in soil. I personally believe the taste is also much better when grown in soil. For these reasons I choose soil to be my choice of media.

Cannabis Agriculture and Horticulture II

Final Project Report

In our quest to become cannabis cultivators here in NY we are faced with the challenge of the legality to cultivate at the current time. Being given the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in New York has been dampened due to the fact that cultivation of cannabis is still an illegal activity. In attempts to best replicate the cultivation of cannabis at home for the students of this class, we were directed to grow another plant called a Stinging Nettle, which is similar to cannabis in many ways. In the following essay I will discuss the many similarities between these two plants, the planning and building of my grow site, as well as documenting my experience growing stinging nettles.

First we need to understand why the stinging nettle is being used in place of cannabis to simulate a cannabis grow at home. The stinging nettle is also known as Urtica Dioica and shares many similarities with cannabis. Stinging nettles are dioecious, meaning that they have separate male and female plants, just as cannabis does. They are also herbaceous, meaning that they have soft green stems, with little to no woody stems. The stinging nettle and cannabis are also perennial plants, meaning that they can survive for several years or indefinitely if the conditions are correct. Another interesting similarity that stinging nettle and cannabis possess is that they both produce trichomes which contain medicinal compounds. Cannabis produces several different cannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA and these chemicals are stored in trichomes themselves. On the stinging nettle, the trichomes produce histamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine, which have been used in traditional medicine for centuries. With the current legal status on home cultivation, choosing a stinging nettle to grow as a replacement makes much more sense when we understand just how similar these two plants are.

To grow my stinging nettle, I first needed to build a grow tent to house my grow. I built a 2’ by 4’ grow tent out of PVC and wrapped it in panda paper. I then took two zippers and created a zip door to access the grow tent. I placed a LED light bar attached to ratchets to adjust the height of the light. I bought a small clip fan to attach to the support bar and provide airflow to the plants once inside. This was only meant to be a staging area until I could complete my own indoor grow space. I began by preparing a space which was originally storage. I cleaned and sanitized the area, at which time I covered the walls in panda paper, which is a thick mylar film which is used to cover the walls and help seal your area. I then purchased and installed a 4 inch exhaust fan and carbon filter to exhaust the air coming from the grow space. I purchased three LED lights, a 1000w HPS, as well as a light mover to maximize light coverage. Three oscillating fans were also placed strategically around the room to provide optimum airflow. This space will eventually become my indoor garden once home cultivation becomes legal, and with my medical marijuana card that can be reality by December 15th after the Cannabis Control Board expedited home cultivation for medical patients.

Once my space was prepared, I began propagating my stinging nettle seeds. I began my growth in red 8 oz. solo cup filled with amended soil from Roots Organic. The soil mixture is all organic, containing compost as well as peat and cocoa for aeration and water retention. I cut holes in the bottom of the cup to allow proper drainage and then cast several seeds into the cup and watered them. After about ten days, the first signs of life appear and several dozen seeds take root shortly after. Once healthy plants began to strengthen I then thinned out my cup and removed all but 2 stinging nettles in the original container. At this point I removed several nettles that still had established roots and chose to attempt a transplant of one into a new pot. The end result was 3 healthy stinging nettle. Once the roots had completely filled the solo cups, I then transplanted them into small air pots, which provide plenty of oxygen to the root zone and avoid possible mold issues or drainage problems. I began a watering regime and after several weeks the nettles grew too big to support themselves. I purchased bamboo shoots and incorporated them in my pots to provide support for my stinging nettles. I also purchased rubber coated wire, which I found to be helpful in training my plants in different directions through low stress training and to my bamboo shoots as well. Once the plants had some extra support, they began growing much more quickly and appeared much more healthy.

Along the way several problems arose which I needed to deal with early to avoid any damage being done to my stinging nettle. At one point in time I began having issues with my humidity being too high. This encouraged powdery mildew to form and needed to be handled efficiently. I introduced my exhaust fan and carbon filter to exhaust the humid air coming out of the room. With the humid air being drawn out of the space, and fresh air being introduced, my humidity problem became less of an issue. At this point I needed to address the powdery mildew before it caused damage to my plant. I began doing research and speaking with my local grow store and chose a product called Dr. Zyme. This product is an all natural enzyme product which uses citric acid as a pesticide and a fungicide. This product has been approved to spray on cannabis and edible plants up to 1 day before harvest. This product addressed my issue effectively, but to avoid spraying my plants in the future I did a little more research. I found a product being used in commercial grow operations called a CleanLight, which uses specialized bulbs which produce a spectrum of UV light which is not damaging to your plants, but can be effective at sanitizing and killing powdery mildew and many other fungal infections that can affect your plants. This UV spectrum destroys the DNA of small organisms and renders them sterile, so the spores cannot multiply and sporilate. There is also another benefit to this light, as new studies have proven that introducing UV spectrum into your grow can increase THC and trichome production. For that reason I chose to purchase the CleanLight for my own personal space. To avoid powdery mildew issues in the future, I run the light 1-2 times a day to avoid any infestations from occurring and have noticed an increase in the quantity of trichomes on my plants as well.

To get the experience of first hand cannabis growing in NY we were given the opportunity to do an internship at a local cannabis facility. Unfortunately I was unable to successfully find an internship in time and chose to grow the stinging nettle at home. Due to the fact that I did not complete an internship I was unable to gain experience into the operation or labor involved at a commercial level. Hopefully one day I will be given the opportunity to gain first hand experience, but until then I need to do all the work myself. Weeks were spent building and setting up my grow space including framing walls, running air ducts, installing ventilation and covering the walls and ceiling with protective materials. Lighting needed to be strategically placed to provide the best coverage, and light movers were introduced to allow better coverage. With a light mover, one light can cover much more area and also help strengthen your plants due to the constant movement of the light and the plants chasing and following it as it passes over. Once the plants are established in the room, time must be spent everyday to maintain growth and to water them when needed. Time must be spent supporting the plants when they become too big to support themselves with some type of netting or stakes. They must be inspected often to address any pests or diseases from causing damage to your plants. As the plants progress in their growth their nutritional needs will also change and special attention needs to be made to the feed you give them. A cultivator needs to understand the nutrients they use and understand the signs and symptoms of nutrient deficiencies or toxicity when growing cannabis as well as other medicinal plants such as the stinging nettle. The amount of time and energy required to grow a plant from seed to maturity as well as maintaining a grow site and operation is difficult to quantify. With so many different jobs and so many different things to maintain and adjust I can understand the importance of a good team.

The main factors hindering my growth as a cultivator at this current moment is the lack of capital needed to achieve a successful grow operation. I am currently a self employed general contractor living in the city of Syracuse paying for school out of pocket. I do not possess farm land to grow outdoors and have not been given the opportunity to showcase my cultivation skills due to current legal status in NY. Because of this I also do not have any investors or any capital required to even begin. To establish a working knowledge of cannabis growth I have begun preparing my grow space and waiting for the expedited home cultivation laws to take effect. After December 15th, I will legally be able to cultivate in my home because I am a medical patient and a medical marijuana card holder. I will be documenting my entire process, from propagation to flowering and harvesting. In doing so I hope to establish a working portfolio to possibly build my resume and gain potential investors. Until the home cultivation of cannabis becomes 100% legal, I will prepare by building a website and establishing a following.

With an existing working knowledge of cannabis and my new found knowledge on growing stinging nettles, I hope to become a successful cultivator in Syracuse New York. Understanding the similarities between these two plants, and using this understanding to grow cannabis is the main goal. Having grown both in the past, I understand completely the reasons why the stinging nettle was selected to grow in place of a cannabis plant. They are extremely similar in anatomy and biology, both possessing trichomes and being used in the medicinal and textile industries. Through this experience I hope to have increased my cultivation skills as well as prepare myself for problems in the future.