It’s hard not to wonder how humans took Cannabis from a handful of different cultivars when we first started farming to almost 3,000 unique strains today. Many modern strains started when growers selectively bred for plants with unique traits and cannabinoid levels. But how did we get here?

Let’s start with the history. Many cannabis users are familiar with the three “types” cannabis: Sativa, Indica, and Hybrid. These “types” describe 2 potential subspecies of the Cannabis species or genus, and the “hybrid” is a cross between them. A fourth “type” is known as Ruderalis, commonly recognized for its autoflowering traits.

Now the big question is how we get from point A to point B. Let’s take a look at a few practical examples to find out:

Jack Herer is a sativa-dominant, hybrid strain. Jack Herer was produced by crossing Northern Lights, Haze, and Shiva Skunk (or a similar skunk phenotype). This brought out the best traits in those three strains, creating a super strain, so to speak.

Another example is the Blueberry strain. It’s known for its blueberry taste, and it’s an indica. If you cross it with Haze, you get Blue Dream, or substitute haze for Girl Scout Cookies, and you get Blue Cookies, a highly resinous strain not intended for the light consumers. Both Blueberry and Haze are known for being basic strains that are generally used to cross with other strains.

By selectively and carefully crossbreeding different strains, one can bring forth the best characteristics of any given set of strains.

And science is evolving. As humans have bred these different types, we noticed that different varieties have different uses and effects. Recent research has shown that THC and CBD are not the only two components of a marijuana plant. There are over 250 unique cannabinoids in the plant such as THC-A, THC-V, CBN, and more. Many of these cannabinoids don’t yet have a known purpose, but some have shown efficacy for medical purposes such as cell regrowth.

We should also discuss the value of terpenes in Cannabis as well. Terpenes are compounds that are the fragrant oils in many plants, not just Cannabis. Medical research suggests that terpenes have an “entourage effect” on the cannabis, providing additional medical benefits such as anxiety reduction, depression inhibition, inflammation reduction, and more.

Related Article: And, as time goes on, we can even use genetic research to determine best breeding practices, using Marker-Assisted Selection.

So why do breeders mix strains together to create these super strains? The answer could be as simple as sheer boredom to as complicated as wanting a medically potent strain to help others. All answers are correct.

In a market that creates new strains every week, it behooves breeders to keep experimenting to stay in the market. The cannabis strain list will continue to grow, as even dispensaries are looking to create their own in house “Custom” strains. What strains do you love? Let us know in the comments.

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Want to get in touch with Zach? He can be reached via the following methods:

1. Email: woozac18@gmail.com

In a Closed-Loop Aquaponic System, the only time you should be adding water is when it's necessary to replace water losses from evaporation or plant uptake. Since water is recirculating between the plants and the fish, the overall water requirement should be 5-10% of a traditional soil-based garden where daily water requirements can be 3-6 gallons of water per plant per day.

When it comes to waste water runoff in a Closed Loop Aquaponic System, there is little to no water runoff to begin with. However should any water ever happen to escape the closed loop system (say, from a leak), the important thing to remember is that when using safe aquaponics practices, you can never apply any fungicides, pesticides, aerocides, or nutrients that would harm the fish or those who would consume the plant-based products. This means that should any water accidentally escape the system, it should generally be safe for the environment.

When the authorities show up at your aquaponic cannabis farm, you’ll not only get to show them your happy, healthy fish but also your amazing, pesticide-free, organically-grown plants that derive the majority of their nutrients from fish waste. For those tasked with enforcing environmental laws, the fish really are a ‘canary in a coal mine'.

I’m just going to take a nap…

Cannabis is an energy-intensive crop when grown indoors. According to a 2012 study conducted when medical cannabis was legal in California, but recreational sales were still prohibited, indoor cannabis cultivation was responsible for about 3 percent of California’s total electricity consumption, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 1 million California homes. Since California voted in Proposition 64 to legalize adult-use cannabis, an increase in the number of grows may lead to a significant increase in electricity consumption in California overall. Other states have seen similar increases in electricity demand after legalizing recreational cannabis. For example, half of the load growth in Colorado is now attributable to new cannabis cultivation.

It is only within the last several years, in states where cannabis cultivation has been legal, that government agencies and utilities have had enough data to determine what regulations need to be enacted to ensure that there is enough total power being generated to handle the expected load growth consistent with the expansion of indoor cannabis farming.

In an effort meet forecasted utility production levels, as well as clean energy goals, there will be an increase in programs that incentivize higher efficiency equipment, Automated Demand Response, off-peak consumption, and renewable, on-site energy generation. For this reason, growers may wish to utilize Artificial Intelligence to help optimize crop production with minimal electrical costs. These CIM programs will also interface with the utilities to see “real time” utility rates, projected times to tier level increases based on current farm demand levels, grid loads and alarm conditions.

We use the Impact Series LED Grow Lights for our grows, because they are so energy efficient. Many power companies offer rebates and special discounts for using energy-efficient grow lights, so we highly recommend you consider an LED grow light.

This might not be for everyone, but it works for us because we like to keep the plants above the fish tanks whenever possible. This way we’re only pumping water in one direction and gravity takes over afterward. The trailer we grow in also protects the fish from the elements and predators.

Inconspicuous!

In our demonstration garden, we took a 40' tractor trailer and slightly elevated one end of the trailer to allow the entire interior to be turned into a bed flood and drain table which the plants sit inside. As the water moves back and forth between the fish tank and the plants, water seeps into the holes drilled into the bottom of the buckets.

The action of flooding and draining the table with fish water allows the rising water to act like a diaphragm and pushes the trapped air at the bottom of the bucket up into the root zone for increased root development. Bigger Roots Mean Bigger Fruits!

As to yields; first keep in mind that a tractor trailer is not an ideal environment. We’re using an uninsulated tractor trailer, there are increased opportunities for disease and pest infestations when the doors are open, and we are not using supplemental CO₂. Nonetheless, even with these less-than-ideal conditions, each plant still yields between 2-3 ounces each. When factored at low end, this yields 40 oz (1120 grams or 2.5 lbs) under a single 740-Watt light.

Closed-loop aquaponics is a fundamentally simple idea. Take some fish, throw them in a bucket, use the waste to fertilize plants, and then feed the fish the excess plant matter. In practice, however, it’s a bit more complicated. You have to design your entire system and workflow around the philosophy of “do no harm”, making sure to never do anything that would negatively impact neither the plants nor the fish.

But it’s worth the effort. Closed loop systems are extremely water-efficient when compared to conventional agriculture, and extremely energy efficient. They also produce very little waste. Closed-loop aquaponics systems adhere very closely to most consumer safety regulations, as the fish in the system are more sensitive to environmental dangers than humans are. Growers can see the results of their decisions very quickly.

So let us know your thoughts in the comments or survey below. We look forward to seeing more aquaponics systems in the future!

Editor's Note: Let us know if you'd like to see a schematic or precise setup of an aquaponics grow, and we'll see if we can find one!

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Want to get in touch with 151 Farmers or Darryl? They can be reached via the following methods:

1. Website: http://151farmers.org/
2. Email: info@151Farmers.org

Cannabis' medical use, regulations, and high wholesale price have catapulted the industry to the forefront of agriculture and agritech. If there's one thing that canna-cultivation is teaching the farming world, it's that every parameter in a grow operation can be completely controlled.

This brings us to a fairly new technology rising in the agritech world – dehumidification.

Relative humidity is like air temperature, plants have a preferred range in which they thrive and ranges which inhibit growth.

But crops aren't the only living organism in a grow-op. There are pests, bacteria, and fungi lurking, waiting to stake their claim. In the case of cannabis, the most notorious is Botrytis, commonly known as "bud rot", a fungus dreaded by growers. It also happens to love humidity. In fact, it absolutely needs high levels of relative humidity or it won't develop at all.

Humidity related ailments are especially critical when it comes to cannabis, particularly because of its end use as a medicine. As such, it requires high levels of scrutiny to maintain quality and uniformity. But it also faces challenges due to its physiological nature. Cannabis buds are extremely dense, running the risk of creating microclimates within themselves. Combine this density with the fact that the plant is constantly transpiring through its leaves, even the sugar leaves on the bud, and we’ve created a humidity monster.

Controlling humidity levels in a grow operation is critical to fend off bud rot, as well as other common diseases such as powdery and downy mildew. But humidity isn't all about diseases either -- it's also about giving the plant what it needs at the right time so that we can get more out of it. Good humidity control not only increase a single plant's growth rate, but also affects the crop placement density, allowing for more plants in a given area.

It all comes down to a simple concept known for millennia - give the plant what it needs and you can get more out of it.

Reducing crop loss through dehumidification is one side of a two-sided coin. The other side is pesticide and fungicide usage. These are a big deal in cannabis because, as we mentioned, it is scrutinized for its medicinal value. Many pesticides are expensive, and they sound really unappealing to consumers. Additionally, many of these pesticides are not rated for use on cannabis, and may turn into even worse chemicals when burned for inhalation.

A simple way to reduce the use of these chemicals is by keeping harmful disease levels low in the first place via smart dehumidification protocols. We've discussed this elaborately in a previous article titled "Using Climate Control to Prevent Disease". If you're interested in IPM (Integrated Pest Management), which you probably should be, this is for you.

In short, diseases are caused by organisms, all of which have their favorite environmental conditions. When they are deprived of those conditions, they simply don't actualize into full-blown diseases.

This is a big deal. In a traditional greenhouse setting, humidity is dealt with by ventilation. It sounds simple and inexpensive, but it's actually the opposite. Ventilation takes the controlled greenhouse air, adjusted to be just right for the crop, and literally throws it out the window. Needless to say, this wastes precious energy and money. In a modern cannabis grow space, this technique has been swapped out for a different, but more effective method based on the same approach.

HVAC systems are used to control temperatures, and many growers also use them to regulate humidity, because that is a side effect of their function. But most HVAC units are not designed for the task of dehumidification and they're inefficient at it, to say the least. Running an oversized and overpowered HVAC system to control humidity ends up wasting a lot of energy and, in the long run, unnecessarily wastes money on maintenance in addition to the relatively high initial investment. A dedicated dehumidifier frees up your HVAC system to do what it does best.

Water is a major component in any agriculture. It is constantly flowing through the environment -- including the plants, the soil, and the air. 98% of the water the plant uses ends up back in the air as humidity. Wasting water is exactly that - a waste. Refrigeration-based dehumidifiers, such as those produced by DryGair, can reclaim that water and put it back to work. Needless to say, this is a money saver. With the state of water these days, especially in places like the popular valleys of California, it may, in the near future, become a necessity to be as efficient as possible with this valuable resource.

Related Article: Water regulations in states such as California will likely impact grows. A good dehumidification system combined with a purification system will reduce water usage and waste while also keeping your grow healthy. Check out this article on the subject by Hydrologic.

We've established that dehumidification alone is worth pursuing. But introducing a new piece of equipment to an operation presents additional opportunities, and here at DryGair, we recognize that.

A key factor in cannabis production is air flow: a constant breeze diffuses the humidity surrounding the plants and prevents the formation of microclimates. This function can actually be integrated into a dehumidification system. We designed our systems to be placed in the center of the grow space, amongst the foliage, in order to create air circulation that evens out with the airflow while it intakes humid air and expels dry air. It’s a twofer.

Uniformity is the holy grail when it comes to air control. Growers work very hard to keep conditions optimal, but one small area, unreached by a fan or poorly insulated, could muck things up really quickly. That’s all it takes for bud rot to take hold in one plant. The spores from that single plant can then get blown around throughout the operation, spreading the infection. It's the equivalent of how a single child with the flu can get the entire school sick. All that hard work is undone in an instant.

Factoring in all these elements: saving money on energy, water, and pesticides on one hand and increasing efficiency, output, and quality on the other, and the end result is a positive ROI (return on investment) in less than a few cycles. Ask any financial advisor and they'll tell you that an ROI of less than a few years is almost always a no brainer.

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Want to get in touch with DryGair? They can be reached via the following methods:
1. Website: https://www.drygair.com
2. Phone: +972-9-7730980
3. Email: info@drygair.com