Urban Legends About Weed – Part 2

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We thought we might deviate from our normal fare and explore some of the more interesting aspects of cannabis culture. Let’s go over some urban legends and see if there’s any truth to them! A Growers Network special.

We wanted to continue a series on some of the funny or strange urban legends you might have heard around cannabis. Is there any truth to these legends? Or are they simply myths and somebody’s blowing smoke?

Let’s dive in!

Marijuana is a “Gateway Drug”

Here’s the basic premise posited by proponents of this legend: Somebody young tries cannabis and likes it. But over time, as they try it more and more, it starts to lose its edge, so they have to resort to gradually harder drugs to get the same “high” they used to get from weed.

At first glance, this argument might sound reasonable. After all, well-established psychology has shown that Habituation is a real thing. If you do something frequently enough, eventually it loses its novelty, and the effect it has decreases. For frequent smokers and alcohol users, this is true, and they have to resort to consuming more of their drug of choice to get the same effect.

Can you become habituated to cannabis?

Yes. It is true that frequent users of cannabis have to use more of it to get the same effect. Experienced users frequently recommend that new users do not try the same levels or amounts that they use, otherwise the experience could be extremely unpleasant.

Could knock you on your butt.

A research paper from 1963 examined cannabis habituation (in a rather balanced way I might add), and came to the conclusion that cannabis can be “habit-forming” but not in the same way one might describe other drugs, thus creating a discrepancy between our normal usage of the word addiction and how it would be applied to cannabis.

But what about the jump to harder drugs?

This is where the logic of the original premise falls apart. For most drugs that people get habituated to, they simply use more of that drug. Alcoholics do not jump to using heroin, tobacco users do not suddenly jump to smoking crack cocaine.

In fact, in places that have legalized cannabis, there is evidence that hard drug users actually use cannabis to get off of said drugs. We mentioned this in an earlier article on How the Police Benefit from Cannabis Legalization, but a study that looked at legalization in Oregon and Washington found that alcohol use and other drug use declined when marijuana was legalized, while marijuana use rose. The authors of the study posited that drug users were substituting cannabis for other drugs, which is consistent with other studies they cited (DiNardo and Lemieux, 2001; Crost and Guerrero, 2012; Anderson et al., 2014; Kelly and Rasul, 2014).

So does marijuana as a gateway drug hold up?

Based on our research, no. Evidence suggests it may actually be an anti-gateway drug, helping users of harder drugs (particularly opiates and alcohol) reduce or cease their usage.

The US Government Created a Secret Weed Strain Called “G-13”

Conspiracy theories abound about the US Government and cannabis. Some are true, as we discovered in the last Urban Legends article. This one continues the conspiracy train and claims that a secret super-powerful strain of marijuana codenamed G-13 was created by the US Government. The legend goes that the CIA and FBI gathered the best strains of marijuana from around the world and bred them together to create the best strain ever. The “G” stands for government, and the “13” stands for the 13th letter in the alphabet, M (for marijuana).

Is there any evidence for this? Not that we can find. The legend is repeated in several places, but there are no primary sources we can find that even remotely mention such statements.

What’s more likely is that this was a form of early viral marketing for a real strain named G-13 in the 70s and 80s.

Multiple Presidents Have Smoked Cannabis

This one’s a pretty common urban legend passed around about multiple different presidents. Some of them have admitted to smoking weed in the past, but a lot of presidents were rumored to be users of the chronic. Let’s take look at what we can find:

#1 - George Washington: Grew hemp at Mount Vernon, but no evidence for smoking cannabis. In a letter, he mentioned that female hemp plants were better due to being more productive.
#2 - John Adams: A strong advocate for industrial hemp, and in a letter to the editors of the Boston Evening-Post, he wrote in the post-script about “want a world of Hemp more for our own consumshon.” The context implies that it’s for industrial purposes, but could easily be interpreted in a different manner.
#3 - Thomas Jefferson: Grew hemp at his estate, but all quotes claiming he smoked cannabis have been unsubstantiated.
#4 - James Madison: Reportedly claimed that hemp gave him the insight for writing the Constitution, but it’s likely he was referring to industrial hemp.
#5 - James Monroe: According to “The Great Book of Hemp,” Monroe found hashish while serving as a diplomat to France, and smoked it throughout his life. Unfortunately, besides this book, I can’t find other sources to corroborate this statement.
#7 - Andrew Jackson: Several websites claim that Andrew Jackson smoked with his troops, but I can’t find any records confirming this.
#12 - Zachary Taylor: Several websites claim that Zachary Taylor smoked marijuana while serving during the Mexican-American war, but I can’t find records to confirm this.
#14 - Franklin Pierce: In a letter to his family, Franklin Pierce is quoted as saying that the “only good thing” to come out of the Mexican-American war was his use of marijuana.
#16 - Abraham Lincoln: There are no substantive records or quotes of him using cannabis. All quotations that have been asserted and used to claim he smoked don’t make sense chronologically.
#35 - John F Kennedy: According to close family and friends, JFK smoked cannabis to deal with lower back pain. JFK supposedly used other drugs too.
#39 - Jimmy Carter: Jimmy Carter advocated for the decriminalization of the plant, but no records of him using the plant exist.
#42 - Bill Clinton: Bill Clinton publicly admitted to smoking marijuana once or twice, but he “did not inhale.”
#43 - George W. Bush: While serving in office, Bush publicly denied using cannabis. However, after his service, he told his biographer that “I wouldn’t answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.”
#44 - Barack Obama: Obama has admitted publicly several times that he has smoked marijuana. When running for office in 2008, he even said, “When I was a kid, I inhaled, frequently. That was the point”

That’s the second part of our Urban Legends on Cannabis. We’ve got a few more up our sleeves for the next article, but if there’s anything you’d like to see, please let us know in the survey or on the forums!

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Hunter Wilson is a community builder with Growers Network. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 with a Masters in Teaching and in 2007 with a Bachelors in Biology.

Procurement’s Role in Cannabis

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Cannabis Business Opportunities’ Sandra Thibodeau explains why your procurement department really matters, no matter what part of the industry you’re in.

The following is an article produced by a contributing author. Growers Network does not endorse nor evaluate the claims of our contributors, nor do they influence our editorial process. We thank our contributors for their time and effort so we can continue our exclusive Growers Spotlight service.

As a business owner, the success of your business is directly related to the performance of your supply chain. Procurement is the beginning of your supply chain, and ceases when you have everything you need to make your products and/or services. The terms “Deals,” “buying,” “sourcing,” and “contracts” are tossed freely around the industry instead of calling them by their proper names: procurement and purchasing management.

Most companies have a purchasing or procurement department as part of their everyday operations. These departments provide a service that constitutes the backbone of many cannabis businesses, including cultivation, manufacturing, retail, and ancillary businesses.

Often, many people, even some who work for these companies, are unaware of what the purchasing department does, why it exists, or what purpose it serves. In order to better understand the role of the purchasing department, we should examine the functions that it performs, namely procurement and purchasing.

What is procurement?

Procurement is the process of selecting vendors, establishing payment terms, strategic vetting, selection, the negotiation of contracts and actual purchasing of goods. Procurement is concerned with the acquisition all of the goods, services, and work that is vital to the cannabusiness. Procurement is, essentially, the umbrella term within which purchasing can be found. Because procurement includes several core business functions, it should be considered a core part of any organization’s corporate strategy.

Essentially, the procurement department is focused on following a series of systems and processes to identify, source, and manage contracts. From the moment your company decides to identify vendors, renegotiate a contract, or host a Request for Quote (RFQ), time marches towards the contract stage. It can take as long as 4-8 weeks to work through data collection, vendor bidding and selection, negotiations, and contract signing.

How is purchasing different from procurement?

Purchasing is the method by which goods and services are ordered. Purchasing can usually be described as the transactional function of procurement for goods or services, and therefore is considered a subset of procurement. The purchasing process often also includes payment and receiving.

Because purchasing is a subset of the overarching procurement process, the terms of “procurement” and “purchasing” are often used interchangeably.

Why does a well-designed procurement department matter?

As part of your overall business plan, your business practices should reflect your branding. Customers pay attention to companies whose philosophies and practices align with their own beliefs. Aligning your procurement function with your corporate strategy is an important part of this.

For example, let’s say your business is building (or has built) its identity around being environmentally-conscious. Your procurement strategy should reflect that decision. The procurement department should have SOPs in place to ensure that all goods and services are sourced from companies that share similar values or provide materials in an environmentally-friendly way. Failure to align your procurement strategy with your branding can harm your company’s reputation -- both with your customers and the companies you purchase from.

Key Performance Indicators for Procurement

Procurement effectiveness is generally measured by two key factors: cost and efficiency. In order to be considered effective, procurement must be able to move at the speed of business — fast. Speedy procurement in the cannabis industry is now a requirement.

Many cannabis companies have come to recognize the importance of well-implemented procurement and are choosing to either outsource their needs to professional procurement companies such as Cannabis Business Opportunities, or hire full-time professional procurement personnel. Companies such as Kush Bottles, Grow Healthy, Harvest Inc. have already pushed to obtain professional procurement personnel, putting themselves at a distinct advantage.

Final Thoughts

The modern procurement function has evolved from a basic administrative function to a strategic role within the organization. Procurement teams in the cannabis industry face the unique challenge of shrinking supplies of commodities, but rising concerns for sustainability. All procurement departments desire to reduce costs, but must balance that desire with regulatory and ethical considerations that could have a direct impact on the corporate brand.

Cannabis leaders need to stop thinking about procurement as the end point of a process, and start looking at procurement as an entryway to spark new ideas, attract new business partners, and generate more resources.

In this new industry, where investment money is pouring in, it is important to make smart decisions that will positively resonate throughout your business. As companies grow in this emerging industry, we need to find new ways to build and sustain healthy competition to create the standards for supply chain management and procurement processes.

Procure with power,
Sandra Thibodeau, CEO, Cannabis Business Opportunities

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Sandra Thibodeau served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Officer. She has a bachelor's degree in Business with a minor in marketing from St. Martins University and a Masters in Public Administration with a focus on economic disaster from American Military University. For the last 3 years she has acted as a technical acquisition liaison for the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Will There Be Cannabis On Mars?

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As space travel and human-manned missions to Mars become a reality, could cannabis make its way to outer space, too? Jessica McKiel of Cannabis Tech explains.

Disclaimer

This article was originally published on Cannabis Tech. If you would like to read the original article, click here.

Living on Mars may seem like a far-fetched, idealistic dream for sci-fi lovers, but the reality of a human mission to Mars is probably closer than we think. For example, SpaceX intends to launch a mission to Mars within the next decade, and NASA has plans to test deep space habitation facilities, with plans for a human-crewed surface landing on the red planet by 2030.

Both private and public interest groups have envisioned what a real mission to Mars would look like, including the details around what crops humans would require to survive. While Matt Damon’s character on the Martian may have survived off potatoes, such a scenario isn’t necessarily realistic. There are currently only ten crops which have passed a simulated Mars test, which means researchers have successfully grown these plants under Mars-like conditions here on Earth. The crops include tomato, rye, radish, pea, leek, spinach, garden rocket, cress, quinoa, and chives. But, what about a more diverse crop; what about cannabis on Mars?

The Argument(s) for Cannabis on Mars

One problem for a manned Mars mission is that the early settlers will need access to basic medicines. Some estimates place the cost of a supply shipment from earth at $1 billion, which isn’t unrealistic considering the cost of the rocketry necessary to travel at least 56 million kilometers for delivery. Regular resupplies for the first settlement are simply not a feasible way to get medical care. Settlers will need to have the ability to produce their own supplies, including food and medicine.

Cannabis could offer a solution for many medical conditions and diseases. The surface conditions on Mars are expected to be grueling, including different atmospheric pressure, wind storms, shifts in gravity, and the daily grind of setting up and running a space-base so far from home. Cannabis is a primary candidate for the treatment of chronic pain, inflammatory diseases, mood disorders, and more here on Earth, so it would make a perfect candidate for the first natural medicine to go to Mars.

Marijuana plants are also highly adaptable, in size, chemical makeup, and yield. It’s a plant which is useful for so much more than medicine. Its seeds can be used for food and oil, and its fibrous stalk can be used as fuel or for rigging. All of these products could prove useful for early Mars settlers.

Cannabis cultivators are already pushing the limits of this adaptability on Earth in their drive to grow more productive cannabis, in increasingly smaller spaces. They have also been striving to improve consistency between crops by maintaining total control over environmental growing conditions. These are all considerations scientists are working on for growing crops in space.

A Canadian laboratory at the University of Guelph, Ontario is already working with Canadian Space Agency’s Long-Term Space Plan, NASA’s Advanced Life Support program, and European Space Agency’s Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative to design regenerative life support systems for long-term human missions in space. The laboratory is taking this technology and applying it to cannabis production. Self-contained and highly controlled cultivation is real, it’s just waiting for a move to outer space.

The Relationship Between Mars and Cannabis Cultivation

Mars settlers would likely benefit from an aquaponic setup like the one built by Green Relief, which is producing fish as well as cannabis in a closed loop system. Or they could use an aeroponic setup like the one used by GrowX, which was itself borrowed from NASA’s experiments in microgravity. Both the cannabis and space industries are pushing the boundaries of technology in their own ways, but there’s a lot they could learn from one another.

Many former NASA scientists are also making a small leap between industries, including the vice president of BIOS, Neil Yorio. He now develops specialty LED lighting for agricultural use based on his experience with the Bio Regenerative Life Support Systems developed for NASA. Furthermore, Wayland Group, a medical cannabis company, is also pulling in experience from former NASA researchers, adding Dr. Hans Dendl, a former researcher from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on to their advisory board. The potential for crossover between the industries is apparently already underway.

As the race to Mars continues at a pace similar to the competitive innovation going on in the cannabis sector, the “final frontier” still remains a regulatory one. Because Cannabis is still illegal in the US, all programs working in conjunction with NASA (a federal agency) are heavily restricted in their use of the plant.

That said, Space Tango is growing crops in tiny microwave-sized, climate-controlled tanks on the ISS, and they are now planning to grow hemp too. Before they can introduce THC-containing variants into the microgravity climate, and truly explore how cannabis works in space, US federal regulations must change to accommodate this experiment. But, with the US government recently asking for public comment on marijuana, and over 30 states with legal access to it, change is likely just around the corner. Cannabis might soon be growing legally across the country, and even in zero gravity.

Biosynthesis - The More Likely Scenario

Although researchers are learning about cultivation in outer space, the most likely future for cannabis in space is going to come from laboratories. Thanks to the process of biosynthesis, an enzyme-assisted process that will allow for the creation of cannabinoids in a laboratory, the possibility of cannabis-based medicines in space makes a lot of sense.

Using cannabinoid biosynthesis on Mars could allow for increased production of medical compounds at a significantly reduced cost, since scientists could skip the resource-heavy requirements for growing a plant. Essentially, technicians on Mars could create specific, pure cannabinoids on demand, without water, land, or electricity.

While it will likely be decades or even centuries before we see the colonization of Mars as depicted in a variety of different movies, it only takes a little imagination to visualize what the future holds. Imagine a strain of Mars OG actually created on Mars; or maybe the anti-gravity conditions will prove to have extraordinary cannabinoid yield, resulting in the development of anti-gravity growth chambers here on Earth? Only time will tell.

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Jessica McKeil is a freelance writer focused on the medical marijuana industry, from production methods to medicinal applications. She personally found relief through cannabis for the treatment of her panic and anxiety disorder.

Statewide Delivery Rules Bypass Local Marijuana Dispensary and Retail Bans

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Susan Gunelius of Cannabiz Media explains an interesting way to get around city-wide bans on local cannabis.

Disclaimer

This article was originally published on Cannabiz Media’s blog. If you would like to read the original article, click here.

It’s not unusual for states to allow local municipalities to ban marijuana sales within their borders, but in doing so, they’re limiting access to medical marijuana that patients within their borders need. As a result, patients have only four options:

Move to a different municipality that allows cannabis sales
They (or their caregivers) can travel greater distances to make a purchase
Forego medical marijuana to treat their conditions
Buy from the black market

In all three cases, patients typically have to pay a lot, won’t get the medical marijuana they need, or add to the illicit market’s sales. Fortunately, some states have recognized that when municipalities ban marijuana dispensaries or retail locations, the result isn’t less drug activity. It’s just less obvious drug activity. In fact, dispensary and retailer bans often have the opposite effect and ultimately benefit the black market.

To ensure that patients have access to the medical marijuana they need without requiring that municipalities allow dispensaries, some states have decided to approve medical marijuana deliveries to cities and towns that have banned dispensaries and retailers.

Medical Marijuana Delivery Now Available Statewide in Oregon

On December 28, 2018, a new rule from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission went into effect in Oregon, which allows medical marijuana patients to order cannabis for delivery in any municipality, including those that have prohibited licensed marijuana activity. This means medical marijuana deliveries can be made to patients in towns that have banned marijuana sales and dispensaries.

This change came into effect just a couple weeks after the state lifted a temporary limit on the amount of marijuana a patient or caregiver could purchase at one time from a single ounce to eight ounces. The limit began in August 2018 to reduce what the state referred to as “nefarious” purchases. However, the limit created an undue burden on medical marijuana patients. It also backfired, fueling the black market and increasing the state’s marijuana oversupply problem.

While many town officials disagree with the new rules, the OLCC believes the rules will give medical marijuana patients access to the cannabis they’re entitled to, particularly those who don’t live close to dispensaries (sometimes called “cannabis retail deserts”) and can’t travel.

Statewide Delivery Could be Coming to California

This month, California’s Office of Administrative Law (COAL) is expected to review proposed regulations from the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), which will include rules that allow marijuana business to make deliveries in municipalities that banned retail stores.

California’s cannabis program is based on a dual-licensing and local control system, which means licensed marijuana dispensaries and retailers must get permission from both the state and the municipality that they want to operate in. Unfortunately, for many MMJ patients, the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA) estimates that fewer than 20% of California’s cities allow retail stores to sell marijuana for recreational use. In Los Angeles County, a whopping 93% of cities ban retail sales.

As a result, there are large areas in the state of California where patients have no reasonable way to access legal medical marijuana. The proposed regulations will allow licensed retailers to deliver to any jurisdiction within the state as long as orders are placed with a state-licensed retailer, the delivery is made to the same address as the one from which the order was placed, and the delivery vehicle doesn’t display any type of advertising, images, or messages that promote cannabis.

For patients, having access to medical marijuana through deliveries will solve the physical accessibility problem, and for many licensed retailers that are competing with thousands of unlicensed delivery services that already deliver in cities where licensed stores are banned, the new rules will enable them to better compete with the black market. Of course, the black market is likely to continue to thrive since the various taxes applied to legal marijuana sales can increase the price by more than 34% in Los Angeles, but statewide delivery is a step in the right direction.

The Future of Local Bans vs. Statewide Delivery Rules

Based on the data, it would seem that allowing statewide delivery of medical marijuana would solve patient access problems and steal some business from the black market. If it works in Oregon and California, it’s likely that other states will follow.

Consider Michigan where recreational sales haven’t started yet. Dozens of cities have already banned marijuana sales according to the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs – including cities where voters made it clear that they wanted it based on their votes in November.

For example, marijuana retailers were banned by city commissioners from Royal Oak, Michigan despite the fact that 70% of residents voted yes on proposal 1 to legalize marijuana sales. The same thing happened in Birmingham, Michigan even though 61% of voters voted in favor of legal marijuana. This goes back to another issue we’ve been discussing.

Michigan’s recreational market won’t open for sales until the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs creates the rules and regulations and begins granting licenses, which isn’t expected to start until 2020. The state has a lot of time to create rules that give medical marijuana patients maximum access. Could statewide delivery be the solution Michigan and other states choose to implement? We’ll have to wait and see.

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Susan Gunelius, Lead Analyst for Cannabiz Media and author of Marijuana Licensing Reference Guide: 2017 Edition, is also President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company offering, copywriting, content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and strategic branding services. She spent the first half of her 25-year career directing marketing programs for AT&T and HSBC.

How to Grow Cannabis 243 – Nutrients Crash Course

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In today’s How-to-Grow Cannabis article, Growers Network talks about nutrients and their purpose in your grow.

Good morning/afternoon/evening/witching hour!

Today we’re talking about nutrients. In the 100s level of our How-to-Grow Cannabis series, we focused on growing in soil, particularly potting soil. This soil often comes with enough nutrients to last the entire growing period. However, as we move into the 200s level of growing, we need to talk about how to replenish your soil’s nutrition or add nutrients to your inert medium.

So let’s get started.

Do you want to learn how to grow cannabis? Check out Growers Network University!

What is all this stuff?

If you browse any online supplier of growing equipment, you’ll notice there’s a ton of different “nutrient” products, and it’s not obvious what they’re all for. You may get lost as you venture into the dark pits of e-commerce and try to suss out what you’ll need. I’m here to make the experience less harrowing, and hopefully explain what all this stuff is.

Macronutrients

Sometimes called “base nutrients,” your fundamental nutrients for plant growth are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, or NPK for short (NPK representing their symbols on the atomic chart). These three nutrients are called “macronutrients” because they are required in large amounts for plants to grow. A deficiency in any of these three nutrients will have serious consequences for your plants.

The marketing for these items can be somewhat confusing, and you’ll see different adjectives to describe these basic nutrients. The important thing to look for is three numbers separated by a dash, such as “2-2-3” or “10-10-10”. The first number represents the concentration of nitrogen, the second number the concentration of phosphorus, and the third number the concentration of potassium.

Micronutrients

As a certain ancient text says, man cannot live on bread alone. The same is true for plants. While NPK accounts for a majority of the nutritional needs for plants, there are many micronutrients that are required to prevent your plants’ horrific demise. I’ll compile a short list here, but the list is by no means comprehensive:

Iron
Sulfur
Calcium
Magnesium
Manganese
Zinc
Molybdenum
Copper
Boron

Of this group, calcium, magnesium, and iron need to be in higher concentrations than the rest. If you’re growing with water straight from the tap, you generally won’t need to add any calcium to your mix, because tap water contains fairly high levels of it.

I just want something simple.

While no single plant or grow setup has a “one-size-fits-all” nutrient regimen, the closest you’ll get to an all-in-one nutrient package is called a Hoagland Solution, named after a scientist who helped develop hydroponics in the modern era. The Hoagland solution contains pretty much all the nutrients your plant could want, but the ratios may need to be adjusted for your unique case.

Stuff you really don’t want in your nutrients

Plants, like many other living organisms, pick up stuff from their environment. While generally plants will pick up most of the good stuff in their environment, they can also pick up some pretty bad stuff. In the Cannabis industry, the bad stuff falls into either of two categories: Pesticides or “Heavy” metals.

Pesticides

A savvy business person might want to combine the pest control and fertilization into one to make the whole process quicker and easier. But this is a really bad idea for Cannabis.

Why? Well, simply put, pesticides provided through the soil like nutrients end up sticking around inside the plant. These are collectively called systemic pesticides, and give the plant a massive boost when fighting off pests. Systemic pesticides are most commonly used in ornamental plants which are not grown for human consumption.

The problem is that some of these systemic pesticides may also end up in the final product -- which people will smoke. If you think eating or drinking a pesticide is bad, smoking it is worse, and can cause some nasty reactions.

So if you’re buying nutrients for growing cannabis, please don’t buy any nutrients with pesticides in them.

“Heavy” Metals

The other thing that plants can pick up are the so-called “Heavy” metals.

No, not that kind of metal.

These metals are toxic to humans, and are called “heavy” because one of the most common toxic metals is lead, the heaviest non-radioactive metal. However, not all of the “Heavy” metals are actually all that heavy. They’re just toxic. Here are some toxic metals you do not want in your plant, because they will end up in the final product:

Lead
Mercury
Chromium
Arsenic
Cadmium
Beryllium
Cobalt
Nickel

It is not possible to completely eliminate these metals from any nutrient or soil regimen, so governmental organizations such as the FDA establish limits on how much can be present in the final product. Always read the MSDS for any nutrient you buy, and try to find nutrients or additives that do not have any of these metals listed.

Synthetics? Organics? Amendments? Teas? Additives? pH? AHHHH!

In our next article, we’ll explain the differences for these products more in-depth. Suffice it to say that all of these different products have their place in your grow, depending on your needs and your style of growing.

How do I use this stuff?

There are several different ways to apply nutrients to your product, depending on how your grow has been set up. The short and simple answer is that most nutrients need to end up in your plant’s root zone, so your method of application will depend on the best way to get to your plant’s roots.

Soil and some mediums: Fertilization

Since soil is the simplest, we’ll start with it. Soil fertilization is as simple as mixing the nutrients in water, putting it in a watering can or sprayer, and watering the plants. With some nutrients, you can also place them on the soil and water it, but we don’t recommend this. Mixing the nutrients beforehand ensures more uniform distribution for your plants.

All Mediums: Fertigation

Fertigation (a portmanteau of “fertilization” and “irrigation”) is a process by which you apply fertilizer or nutrients through the water lines you use to feed your plants. This method works for all mediums, and is most commonly used at the commercial level. That said, sometimes this method can clog up the irrigation lines, so make sure you know how to fix a clog before you start doing this.

Hydroponics: Put the nutrients in your reservoir

Hydroponic methods such as ebb-and-flow or deep water culture have large reservoirs of water that feed the plants. You can pre-mix your desired nutrients in a bucket or bag outside of the tank and pour the nutrients into the reservoir. If all goes well, the nutrients should all dissolve or suspend in the tank evenly. If you see white precipitates start forming (and dropping out as a white powder in the water), your nutrients are conflicting with each other, or you have a pH imbalance. You’ll need to address either (or both) problems.

What if I don’t want to use nutrient products?

Some people find the idea of shipping nutrients across the country distasteful and/or environmentally unfriendly. If you want to skip using nutrient products, there are some methods available to

Manure / Compost (Soil-only)

If you prefer to grow with organic or permaculture principles in mind, a great method for providing nutrients for your plants is with animal manure, or compost from plant/food waste. You simply need to gather up the materials you want to include in your fertilization regimen and store them in some kind of self-contained bin.

It will take time for microbes to break down the organic compounds contained in the waste, so this method will not help you if you need nutrients NOW. You will need to give the material a few weeks to a few months to break down, with some mixing every few days to prevent the growth of fungi and nasty anaerobic bacteria.

Once the material looks sufficiently broken down, you can apply it directly to the soil and water it.

Compost Teas (All mediums)

If you want to use your compost or manure in a hydro grow, or you just want to enhance it for your soil, there’s one additional step to take: Add water and stir. There are some professional systems available for making the compost “brewing” system simpler, but at its core all it takes is a bucket and something to stir with. The professional systems will provide more even distribution of the nutrients and enhance oxygenation of the tea, which will produce more beneficial bacteria.

Either way, once you have a compost tea brewed, apply directly on top of whatever medium you’re growing in -- do not apply through your irrigation lines, or you will get some pretty awful clogging. The particulate matter in compost teas is too large to fit most irrigation equipment.

Intercropping / Crop Rotation (Soil-only)

This method only applies to soil, but you can grow several crops side-by-side to keep your soil healthy and nutrient rich. This is called “intercropping” and the most common example of intercropping is called the “Three Sisters,” or corn, beans, and squash. Certain plants, when grow side-by-side, maintain the health and nutrient quality of the soil.

Another alternative is rotating your crops. For one growing cycle, you can grow cannabis, and for the next, a nitrogen-fixing crop. You will still need to add phosphorus and potassium, but can reduce your nutrient requirements overall.

Aquaponics (Hydro-only)

This is a more advanced method that will take a lot of time and practice to get right, but you can use fish to generate fertilizer. Some hydro systems have living fish growing in their reservoir tanks, and feed these fish local plants or fish food. The fish fertilize the reservoir, and the water gets passed to the plants. The returning water is generally cleaned up and returned the fish. While this is a pretty brief explanation, implementation of this system is difficult, because fish are very sensitive to deviations in their environment.

That’s all, folks!

This article was a crash course in plant nutrition. In the next article, we’ll dive into some more specifics about things such as synthetics, organics, amendments, and more. If you think we’re missing anything, please let us know in the survey below, or on the forum.

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About the Author

Hunter Wilson is a community builder with Growers Network. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 with a Masters in Teaching and in 2007 with a Bachelors in Biology.

Looking for Jobs in the Marijuana Industry? Here are three tips.

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Growers Network has received quite a few questions from job seekers, and we found a few common threads in their questions. Today, we’d like to address some of those questions and hopefully make the job search easier!

Author’s Note: Don’t judge me because I’m going to use Old English for these headings. It felt appropriate, ok?

So let’s say you’re looking for a job in the weed industry. There’s a lot of jobs out there you’ve heard, and it all sounds interesting. Can you help me find a job? Well, we’re here to tell you it is definitely possible, but you may not want to burn yourself out on trying it all. Here are three tips that’ll help you during your search.

1. Know Thyself

The first part of your job search should start with you. What are your skills? What would you like to learn? What drives your passion? What do you not want to do? For example, if I hate gardening, I probably shouldn’t look for a job that involves growing cannabis. That should be off the table. Or let’s say I enjoy chemistry -- extractions might be right up my alley.

Here’s a quick list of questions you should ask yourself, and these should help you pick the job that you want:

What am I currently skilled at? What did I excel at in school?
1. If you did well in Biology or Chemistry, growing or extraction may be for you.
2. If you were strongly inclined towards business or math, there is a strong need for financial managers and entrepreneurs.
3. If you were good at psychology, writing, or history, marketing may be more your speed.
4. If you were focused on physics, computer science, or technology, there is a very strong need for developers and engineers.
What is my current job, or were my past jobs?
1. IE: If you’re an experienced marketer, you may want to transfer that experience into the industry.
What do I NOT want to do or deal with?
1. Ex: If you hate customer service, you shouldn’t be a budtender or salesperson.
2. Ex: If you hate gardening, you shouldn’t be a grower.
Where do I want to work?
1. Remember that every state and country has different rules regarding working in the cannabis industry, and you’ll need to keep them in mind.
What level of legal risk am I okay with?
1. If your answer is none, you shouldn’t look at any plant-touching businesses.
2. If your answer is some, you may consider a company that serves the cannabis industry.
3. If you don’t care about legal risk, all jobs are open to you.

2. Know Thine Enemy

Your enemy is not finding a job. Your enemy is not rejection. Your enemy is not a lack of opportunity.

Your biggest enemy when looking for a job is yourself. I speak from experience when I say this. The job search is often soul-sucking and frustrating. It often feels like you’re throwing letters into the wind and they come right back to you.

The trick is to prevent burnout when you’re looking for a job. Come up with a strategy for how to prevent burnout. Here’s what I worked out for myself:

Limit how long you spend applying to jobs per day. I set a maximum of 30 minutes per day, with my optimal around 15 minutes.
Try different job boards periodically. If you get stuck on the same one, your results may decrease.
Dedicate more time applying to jobs that sound interesting, and less to jobs you don’t care as much about.

Hopefully you can come up with some of your own techniques to avoid the burnout!

3. Know Thine Tools

Getting a job used to be as easy as walking into a building and asking for an application form. Nowadays, there are all sorts of ways to find jobs. Here are just a few suggestions for where to look when you want to a job:

Conventions
1. If you live in a state with recreational cannabis, it’s not uncommon for regular festivals celebrating cannabis, or industry conventions to be held in large cities. Visit these events and speak to the vendors at the events about whether they’re hiring. You may make a positive impression and land yourself a position!
Online
1. All sorts of websites are dedicated to finding jobs. Some are specific to cannabis, some are not. Here is a taste of a few that I’ve seen that have cannabis jobs:
Word of Mouth
1. If you already know somebody in the industry, they may be able to help you out. Ask them if they know of any available positions that might suit your skills and personality.

Is there anything we missed or failed to touch upon? Let us know in the survey or on the forum!

Enjoyed the article? Want to continue the conversation?

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December 7, 2022

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December 10, 2020

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December 7, 2020

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About the Author

Hunter Wilson is a community builder with Growers Network. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 with a Masters in Teaching and in 2007 with a Bachelors in Biology.

Ask Me Anything: Women in Cannabis

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Growers Network recently hosted an Ask Me Anything focused on Women in Cannabis. We have truncated and transcribed the content for your perusal. If you are interested in joining these conversations, consider Joining Now.

In a new segment, we are bringing you our Ask Me Anything from the community! Our AMA’s were previously only available on the Growers Network Community, but we want to give you a chance to see the high-level conversations happening in our forum. Enjoy!

Legend:

GNS - Growers Network Staff
Host - Our amazing host!
GN Member - A member of the Growers Network community

Editor’s Note: Sections of the conversation have been moved or clipped out for clarity. Because our AMAs are living, breathing conversations, you can get people talking over and around each other. We have done our best to clarify people’s conversations without putting words into their mouths.

Skip to any section in the AMA:

About the Host
Introduction
What do you enjoy most about working in the cannabis industry?
Why do growers use plastics instead of stainless steel?
Does your company incorporate much steel in its design?
How do you keep your facility clean?
What are your biggest challenges working in commercial cultivation sites?
What is your pest management strategy?
What tracking software do you use?
What medium are you growing in?
Is your license vertically integrated?
How challenging is the Canadian licensing process?
What are your thoughts on lab testing for THC?
What advice would give to somebody new to the industry, particularly young women?
What are your thoughts on patents in cannabis?
What was your biggest mistake as a grower? What did you learn from it?
Does Iran consume a lot of cannabis?
What are your thoughts on the entourage effect?
What do you see for cannabis in the US by 2023?
Post-Script

About Our Host

Our host wished to remain anonymous, so we have anonymized her name and information. If you are a member of the Growers Network community, you can speak with her directly and learn more. You can even continue the conversation on her AMA here. If you are not a member, consider Joining Now!

Our host holds a Ph.D. and a M.Sc. degree in Analytical Chemistry, and a B.Eng. in Food Science & Technology. She has worked in Production/QC managerial positions and also as an independent ISO 9000 consultant in food industries for years. After her Ph.D. graduation from the University of British Columbia, she worked as a Research Scientist for three years in an analytical laboratory, with a focus on medical cannabis testing. She was responsible for method development for cannabis quality control testing and writing research proposals on analytical protocols for measuring/monitoring the health effects of medical cannabis.

Woman in Cannabis

GNS: I have been looking forward to this AMA very much, as I think the topic of women in cannabis deserves more precedence not only within our community, but in the entire cannabis community worldwide. I have gotten to know [Host] over the course of the last year and have nothing but the utmost respect for her passion, drive, and professional approach to cultivation of cannabis. I believe she represents the very essence of the seasoned cannabis professional. [Host] is a leader in our industry and I think she brings a lot of wisdom to our forum. It’s an honor for her to accept our invitation for an AMA today. Thanks so much!

Host: I appreciate every single word. Simply I can say, I try and I believe cannabis industry needs more female leaders. It inspires me to see successful strong women here who beautifully complement the spectrum.

I take this opportunity to say a big thank you to this network, when I joined the network, I planned to find my voice and character and it helped me a lot. Among many, GrowerNick has been always a great help and inspiration for me. Thank you all!

GNS: During AMA’s I often ask folks how they found their way into the cannabis industry. In your case it sounds like the cannabis industry found you. What about working with cannabis do you most enjoy?

Host: At first, it was overwhelming, I guess because of my academic background, I was complicating everything, but now, I found my approach to problem solving, and it is very fun. That being said, it’s a world of learning and opportunities and keeps me interested everyday.

GN Member: In my steel business we designed and fabricated a steel rolling table to grow in - I use them in my own growing system. We have also designed and fabricated steel towers to grow vertically. Since surgical procedures are performed on stainless steel, it seems important that “medicine” should be grown using the most sterile environments possible. Goodness, if hairnets and disposable jumpsuits are required - why are growers using plastic? Isn’t it clear that plastic leaches?

Host: It is mainly the price per square foot of the growing tables. No one can question stainless steel, but honestly the initial investment is the main bottleneck. That is my thought. I invite everyone comment on this to complete/ revise my answer.

GN Member: Are the plants in plastic pots?

Host: Yes. Currently that is our practice.

GNS: Interesting conversation. Plastic pots are used across the board in food production and I have never seen a stainless steel growing pot.

Can anyone provide any science references about what a plant might pick up from plastic pots?

I know growers who have had fire hazards because a bulb blew and landed on plastic, which in turn caught on fire and ruined the room. But I would like to see the science behind the plastic paranoia beyond it being a fire hazard.

Host: Thank you for your comment. I would love to know more about it as well, plastic pots do not concern me either.

GN Member: There we go… [LINK]

GN Member: I am aware of the water bottles, which is one of the reasons why I never drink out of plastic containers. But - cost of production is a huge part of success in this industry, and most of all hydroponic equipment used to grow your food (and cannabis) for decades has been made from plastic.

Plastic pots have been used in agriculture since the 1950’s (at least) and I would just like to see the science that can show me what molecules were transferred from a plastic pot to a plant.

I am a vegetarian who eats mostly organic food since 1994, but I am also hesitant to make claims about harmful practices in cultivation, such as using a plastic pots, if it is not based on actual science but rather NPR articles that are about something else (Though I love NPR).

I would point out, most watering lines are PVC or vinyl, the Dosatrons I use are plastic, as are the Octabubbler heads I use to distribute water. The nutrients are sold to us in plastic packages and I could go on and on. Where does one draw the line in the sand of plastic paranoia?

GN Member: I feel the same way, I, too, don’t drink from plastic water bottles. It’s probably the old hippie in me. I make the changes where I can, and fortunately, this is where I can make a change. I made it a New Year’s resolution a few years ago to be very conscious about how much plastic I consume - things like plastic bags/straws etc. I avoid it where I can.

GN Member: I am an old hippy at heart myself and I feel where you are coming from.

What really got me away from plastic water bottles were the microplastics: [LINK]

I grow as organic as I can, but I do however try to be not too scared of everything around me.

If anyone has any info about cannabis plants picking up chemicals from plastic, please send it over as I will include in in my upcoming cultivation book. I am much more concerned with growers using PGRs (Plant Growth Regulator) than I am with them using plastic pots.

GN Member: I still like clay pots in grows. You can wash and auto cleave clay with steam the old fashioned way. We would only grow gerberas in Clay. We reused the pots every year. After sanitation. Steam is a great thing we lost in more modern production.

But, you could pasteurize anything you needed. One old cut flowers grower in St. Louis who had a good lab in his growing operation used live steam in his laboratory to help clean.

Also steam to clean propagation and seeding room is a must. We used a steam shower generator in both and the lab/process areas. Home grade stainless steel Dishwasher with sanitation setting is a great tool for cleaning everything in small grows: knifes, scissors, anything you would put in an autoclave.

I think in the grow, plastic is not an issue for plants. The leached products either have the wrong polarity or are too big for absorption.

GNS: Cleanliness is vital to maintaining a healthy cultivation environments. Does your facility incorporate much steel in its design?

Host: We are using the common growing benches (aluminum with Staal & Blast trays) for all other parts of the production, such as trimming, packaging, etc. stainless steel tables are the must.

GN Member: Do you use a Dutch style bench?

Host: No. We have not. That is something that I can learn from you.

GNS: While we’re on the subject of facility cleanliness, can you share a little about cleaning procedures in your facility? What do you use to keep everything healthy and clean?

Host: The production areas must be cleaned and sanitized to pharmaceutical standards. SOPs must be written for routinely cleaning the corridors, growing rooms, and a vigorous cleaning protocol for between batches. Cross contamination is one of the biggest challenges that must be carefully controlled. I am using a product similar to ProKure (chlorine dioxide) which is very effective.

GN Member: These are the protocols that I will have to follow after I receive my licence from Health Canada. For now, I’m personal use.

GN Member: [We use] a pressure washer

GNS: [That is a] vital piece of equipment that makes quick work of cleaning your facility!

GNS: What have you found to be the biggest challenges working in commercial cannabis cultivation facilities?

Host: One of the biggest challenges is establishing a preventative pest management plan. In Canada, there is nothing on the registered list of pesticides that can be used as a corrective solution if there is an outbreak of any fungi or pests. So producers must establish a very carefully designed IPM that nicely match their production strategies.

In addition, there are still many details that need to taken care of after the production to retain the integrity of products, especially for export. I guess health and safety and sustainable practices are overlooked as well, just to name a few.

GN Member: This is a GREAT point. There is the obvious regulatory challenge associated with ensuring your crops pass testing, and the less obvious challenge of maximizing yields and quality to ensure profitability. One of the things that we find folks overlooking in their IPM strategy is mechanical design. I don’t think everyone realizes how critical correct mechanical design (HVAC) is to an IPM strategy. SOPs and employee behavior are very important, but the HVAC design is going to define the vast majority of potential exposure points to outside contaminants. In addition, proper environmental control has a big impact on the overall health of the plant and its natural resistance to pest and fungi–where plants are generally unhealthy, pests will have better opportunities to thrive.

Host: Yes! you beautifully explained that. When plants undergo environmental stress, they become very prone to pests and diseases. Usually we tend to overlook this fact.

GNS: It’s all about being proactive, not reactive in your grow. Do you have any favorite products you use for your IPM strategy? What products do you find indispensable in your cultivation facility?

Host: Vegol Crop Oil is the one that we use in vegetative phase and then we integrate biological crop protection in flowering stage.

GN Member: How detailed is the IPM plan in Canada? Do you use proactive measures, such as trap plants in the grow?

Host: We are using Biobest products and I am happy with that.

GN Member: For fungus control are you think along the lines of strawberries in hot houses in the Netherlands, with a UV blast from the lights type of approach?

I think they spike UV light five minutes every 60 minutes, during the non people times. They report good fungal and bacterial control. Could be adapted for cannabis?

Host: Why not? I [would like to] explore this personally.

As far as I understand in Canada, most producers are looking into biological controls in flower, meticulous sanitation and cleaning protocols to minimize cross-contamination. Obtaining healthy cloning material[s] are very important as well.

GN Member: And how do you handle VPD or dew point control?

Host: Controlling VPD is very vital and it can prevent many further consequences. We try to always maintain the sweet spot.

GN Member: Does the sweet spot get a line in the book keeping in the chart of accounts as a KPI for QA?

Host: Yes! We monitor it to be able to tune the environmental conditions and we record it as part of the batch production records. But I have not formally incorporated it in KPI. That is a good idea.

GN Member: The best thing I learned IT fortune 50 is you better have a KPI or KPM for everything you. If something I touched could have an impact positive or negative we tracked it to project and financial. I know every line of code produced cost x and aged at y and and cost more each year in service on a log scale.

Detail can be tracked. It can be created at a point and turned back into information which can be tacked back. It is the ideal of data point become automatic reference points for continuaed data collection. So the audited date set can grow in detail automatically as a nested set of the grow.

Host: I couldn’t agree more. I must start defining and implementing that. I will contact you for help.

GNS: What tracking software are you using in your facility?

Host: It is AirMed (Cannabis seed-to-sale- software)

GNS: In what medium are you cultivating? Do you have a personal favorite as a grower?

Host: We are using soil based medium and I must admit that unfortunately, I personally have not had vast practical experience with other growing media. We had a trial with Rockwool and we will have a trial soon with aeroponics. I hope that I have better useful practical information in the near future.

GN Member: I’m shocked as you add a whole different set of problems in production when you use true soils. I would have thought one of the composted pine bark-based peat products for nurseries and greenhouses would give you more consistent product. Cycle over cycle.

Lot of great research between soil and soilless in container production. First 25% difference in dry weight of most short day cut flowers. Soilless A C Bunt “modern potting composts” university of Oxford press 1976 is still a good book. Bunt, also published papers with a Dutch professor, on switching to soilless mixes to improve space performance in cut flowers. Real groundbreaking work for the day.

GNS: I have never grown with pine bark. I would be curious to know if other master growers or grow-op owners have any experience with this medium?

GN Member: Composted pine bark. The best thing since soilless composts were first invented. It contains peat moss and everything else in Pro-mix Bx, plus composted pine bark and some wood ash.

GN Member: We mix pine bark and perlite with our Sungro mix #6 peat moss. We use about 25 semi loads of peat per year. Since we are already experienced with that medium, it’s what we use in our cannabis as well. I’m not an expert on everything else, but I’m pretty sure it’s the least expensive medium to grow in. Heck, it has to be as we grow several million pansies & petunias in it every year and make a few cents on them.

GN Member: Try this for a mix or the courser nursery mix. MetroMix 510

We use to crop right in the bag for cut flowers and other things. Used Netafim for irrigation. 8 emitters per bag works very nicely. We cut drain hole in the bag with a home made tool that created 14 slashes in the bottom of the bag. We laid the bags flat and could crop for 8 months. When we changed a crop we changed the bag. So snaps got changed more often than Ranunculus.

It was made by W R Grace at the time we used it. We actually used a blend with some wood ash also called MetroMix 520 We purchased about semi load in August and another in February. It was the most cost effective way for us. I don’t remember the price but you know me we costed the stuff down to the gnat's ass.

We used 820 in pots over 10 inches tall or 2.5 gallons, because of the drainage characteristics we needed.

The pumas beds where steam cleaned each season to prep for the winter grow. I would us lab grade puffed glass today because you can calculate the total available surface area of the growing container, High surface area to air ratio in the container. Great for a hydro substrate. It is also very easy to clean.

GNS: Is your license vertically integrated? Does your facility process for extraction?

Host: I must explain on that. We are waiting to receive our production licence from Health Canada. The experience that we have gained are from cultivation under personal ACMPR licences. The products will be used for the personal health treatment of licence holders. After we receive our cultivation licence, we plan to apply for processing licence, which allows for extraction.

GNS: Have you had many hurdles overcoming the new licensing laws in Canada? What has been the biggest challenge?

Host: It is a new business, so many issues are being revealed after trials and errors. Health Canada is doing a great job in making policies and they are communicating with the industry routinely; however, there are still many details and policies that need to be revised. The main bottleneck is that the legal industry is so young and there have not been enough data and statistics to create a solid basis for many policies.

Just as an example, right now, the same microbial and pesticides criteria applies to both indoor and outdoor, which is very questionable. I trust that policymakers are fully aware of that but until there is not enough data that define the basis of each category, it is to expect well defined criteria.

GN Member: This has always been true in horticulture scince so many group have input.

For example elemental sulfur should not have limitation except in the final product and emissions. Same is true for any Cu.8H2O. Ir135 and IR 138? All of these are old fungiced and plant essential nutrient? How do they derermine good use or bad? Painted with Ca hydrate H2O plus Cu.8H2O. Think combination of old fashioned white wash plus bourdox mix. Kill slugs better than most slug baits and does not kill you unless you have a fetish of licking greenhouse walls. Mo-bot still uses it in there operation. And they have the longest continually operated greenhouse. That where the white wash is in the cemillia house.

GN Member: The biggest challenge in HC regulations is the latitude given to the inspector and the total lack of Horticultural common sense that are in the regulations. LP’s are terrified of their inspectors and never try to let common sense prevail, so we end up with ever growing non sense.

As an example, everyone wants to do organic, yet HC doesn’t want to see any kind of bacteria, microbes, fungi etc. Therefore most organically grown buds need to be irradiated (or pasteurized) giving an end product of lesser quality.

Another hurdle comes from the inspectors which apply the regulation differently in different areas. Some LP’s barely ever contact me, other are on a daily basis requiring all kind of new certificates to satisfy the nutbar sent by HC to their facility. Of course there are also QA managers who ignore horticulture which is also a big problem, as a bud will never be as evenly produced as a Tylenol can, yet they wont settle for anything less.

GN Member: Hi. I love the conversation. What can you say about lab testing for THC? It’s very popular for dispensaries to advertise the percentage of THC in their product, but I feel like the testing can be misleading. The focus is getting a high THC percentage over anything else. Do you see any standardisation in lab testing coming into market?

Host: The lab results on potency [...] unfortunately can be misleading. On the grower sides, due to the marketing value of THC/CBD, the sampling can be done biasedly. On the laboratory sides, unfortunately many labs are not doing a great job in validating their methods and I am not aware of any lab that participate in proficiency testing program, which is a must.

In Canada, the federal legalization is paving the road to standardization and I know that some labs are starting proficiency testing. So hopefully, we will see less paradox in lab results of the same sample. In addition, because of the price of the cannabis, usually a fair amount of product is not sampled. Just to mention some of the reasons why there are many misleading lab results…

In addition, you are right, cannabis is more than THC and CBD, and hopefully with customer awareness, the other tests such terpenes are becoming more important.

GNS: Where do you purchase all your scientific testing supplies?

Host: Supra THC (with the current name of Valens lab) is the “Centre of Excellence in Plant-Based Science” with Thermo Fisher Scientific. So mostly work with Thermo.

GNS: If you could offer one key piece of guidance to young people trying to break into the cannabis industry, especially young women, what might that guidance be?

Host: The timing is perfect because the opportunities are endless. So much to explore and learn. At the same time, it can be overwhelming and there are unfortunately many claims and false directions. It took me some time to learn how to avoid unnecessary noises and misleading directions. So maybe my advice is to do a good research on everything that comes on your way. I hope it makes sense

The other thing is to expand your network, do not be shy to reach out experts and ask for help and at the end of the day, try to make your decision only based on facts.

GN Member: What are your thoughts on patents and their role in your work? What do you think can be done to make patenting and data usage more ethical in the cannabis space, where there’s definitely a lot of innovation happening in labs and, still, a lot of information still underground?

Host: There is a great space for patents in both horticulture part and technology and you are right, many information are hidden underground. Due to the speed of the industry and the profitable aspects, many are working individually and I think that will not benefit anyone at the end. If the industry was more established, it would make it much easier for innovations that find their ways to the commercial stage. I hope I answered your question. I apologize if not.

GN Member: May I paraphrase. There are no secrets in horticulture. There are good and bad practices. The most important thing you know you learned in kindergarten. Share, be kind, cover your mouth with you elbow when sneezing and caughing, don’t talk with a full mouth and washer your hand to ABC song twice before leave. Everything else you learn is details and as the first part says SHARE.

GNS: What has been your biggest mistake as a grower? What did you learn from that mistake?

Host: My biggest mistake was probably trying to incorporate pieces of information from any sources. Now, I have learned to refer to plant physiology and only carefully apply things that nicely fit in my protocols.

GN Member: Is there a lot of weed consumed in Iran? We don’t really get good information about Iran here in the US, and I wonder if marijuana popular there.

Host: The status is illegal, but like many countries it is popular regardless

GN Member: I was wondering, what your thought[s] are on CBD only vs “entourage effect?”

Host: There are some proven facts on [the] health benefits on CBD alone, but I am not a fan of isolated cannabinoids. I prefer to retain other important components such as micro cannabinoids and terpenes in the final product as well. But CBD has been very well studied and it offer many health benefits by itself.

GNS: Where do you see the legal cannabis industry in the USA by 2023?

Host: I think it will be federally legal by then and that will open up a whole different spectrum.

GNS: This has been a great AMA! Thanks so much for taking the time to be here with us today, and thanks for being an important forum GN Member and a voice for the industry!

As always, thanks to everyone who participated and made this a great and successful first AMA of 2019!

Cheers!

Host: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate the network and all the support from all the GN Members.

Happy 2019 all. Wish you all a wonderful year.

Post-Script

If you’ve made it this far, I’m sure you’ve found the subject matter quite interesting and engaging. If you haven’t joined our community already, I highly recommend you Join Now! We’d love to have your voice chime in!

Enjoyed the article? Want to continue the conversation?

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December 7, 2022

Developing and Optimizing a Cannabis Cultivation System

December 14, 2021

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December 10, 2020

Your Guide to Sleep and CBD

December 7, 2020

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About the Author

Hunter Wilson is a community builder with Growers Network. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 with a Masters in Teaching and in 2007 with a Bachelors in Biology.

After the Fall: Coping with a Legalized World – Part 1

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In this series of contributor articles, Pacifico Soldati describes the process of cannabis legalization after legislation such as the STATES Act passes. The war is not over when the first battle is won.

Disclaimer

As with many human endeavors worth doing, the drive towards cannabis legalization has been long and difficult. Though it seems that we are on the precipice of federal legalization in the US, little attention has been paid to what legalization will look like after the STATES Act or similar legislation is enacted.

Fortunately for us, we have examples to look at. Several pioneering states have served as laboratories for decriminalization and legalization over the past two decades, and the lessons learned can provide a road map for best practices moving forward. In future articles, we’ll also explore second, third, and n-order effects of legalization, various challenges or surprises that may arise, as well as potential solutions to minimize harm and maximize public benefit and profitability.

Medicine First, Recreation Second.

Once federal legalization passes, we will see states without systems currently in place scrambling to develop new legal regimes in response. These states will likely be left wholly unprepared for this new world, and the first major question for these states will be whether to create a unified legal cannabis regime for both medical and recreational markets, or to keep them separate.

In several markets, we have seen the negative effects for medical patients when medical markets and recreational markets are united. When recreational inventories sold out in Canada and the US, medical users were hurt. It is one thing for a recreational customer if their favorite dispensary is sold out, but for a medical cannabis patient, an undersupply can create much bigger problems. Additionally, with recreational legalization, retailers spend more time on recreational customers while cancer patients or disabled veterans must wait in line before they can access their trusted cannabis products and be on their way.

Respecting cannabis as a medical solution for patients means that it is imperative that separate medical regimes be created in every state alongside recreational ones. This can safeguard patients rights (and wallets!). States that forego creating medical regimes after federal legalization will risk alienating medical cannabis patients which in turn could significantly impact local revenues. In a subsequent part of this series I will address how this phenomenon will help drive sales online.

Designing and Implementing a Medical Cannabis System

Medical cannabis regimes should be designed out of respect for the interests of medical cannabis patients, and there should be be benefits for enrolling in the medical program. Tax benefits are an obvious, simple differentiator that could lower the cost for medical patients, but are not the only way that medical cannabis could be differentiated. Legislators could take advantage of other unique solutions such as allowing longer operating hours for customer-facing cannabis businesses that serve medical patients.

Some states or cities may opt to make access to cannabis more difficult. We will likely see this behavior in parts of the South or other conservative regions with the implementation of blue laws to forbid cannabis sales on Sundays before noon, or Sundays at all. We have even seen similar laws even in liberal states such as California where fewer than one in three cities allow any kind of cannabis business within city limits.

Conservative states and jurisdictions will likely look to these examples to see ways in which they could restrict the effects of legalization and curb the development of cannabis as much as possible. Protections at the state and federal level will be necessary to safeguard the rights of medical cannabis patients. Medical programs ought to be exempt from these kinds of rules so that the underprivileged may still be able to access their necessary medicine without needing to move or drive hundreds of miles.

Conclusion

Federal legalization may seem like the end of a long journey, but it’s really just the beginning of a whole new world of possibilities. In order to maximize the potential of this new world, we should first act to safeguard the rights of medical cannabis patients to start the post-prohibition era off on the right foot.

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Pacifico Soldati is a veteran paratrooper, award-winning Army chef, and CEO of Ganjiverse, a cannabis services organization helping entrepreneurs take legal cannabis worldwide.

How to Grow Cannabis 242 – Annuals and Lighting

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Today on How-to-Grow Cannabis, Growers Network explains why different lights or lighting setups are better during certain stages of the cannabis life cycle.

In our last How-to-Grow Cannabis article, we explained how plants use visible wavelengths of light for photosynthesis, and briefly touched upon how different colors are ideal for different stages of cannabis’ life cycle. Specifically, cannabis plants in propagation or vegetative state prefer bluish-white light, and cannabis plants in flowering state prefer warmer, orange and yellow light.

To accommodate for this change in preference during the plants’ life cycle, many growers will change the color settings of their LED light, or swap out their HID bulbs for a different type.

But why do we do this? Why do cannabis plants prefer different color temperatures?

Annuals

Anybody who pays attention to gardening has heard about annuals. Annuals are plants whose natural life cycle lasts about a year. They grow from a seed, mature, reproduce, and die within a year. Annual plants are differentiated from biennial plants (lives 2 years) and perennial plants (lives longer than 2 years).

Cannabis is considered an annual plant because it will follow the annual cycle under normal conditions. And like many annual plants, cannabis will switch between different stages of its life cycle depending on the lighting conditions.
In the wild, cannabis will grow from seed in late winter/early spring, enter vegetative state in late spring, maintain vegetative state through summer, and enter flowering state in fall before dying in late fall/early winter.

Spring light is generally bluish-white.
Summer light is generally white.
Fall light is generally red/yellow.

Cannabis has evolved to respond to these color temperatures most, which explains why these lighting conditions are ideal. Some growers I have spoken to also inject extra blue and UV light during the final stages of flowering for a last push before the plant expires.

With all that said, many growers still choose to stick to a single lighting regimen for their plants. Since photoperiod and scotoperiod determine the transition points for cannabis, growers will often elect to buy the bulbs that exhibit the highest PPFD numbers and simply change lighting schedules. Large scale grows will often choose this method for practical reasons. This method works, but is less efficient than a gradual transition in color temperature.

Picking Lights Appropriate For Your Needs

In our How-to-Grow Cannabis 112 article, we briefly explained different lights and their utility. Today, we’re going to go further into depth and help you decide what lights might best suit your needs.

Lighting Type	Pros	Cons	Price Range
Fluorescent Bulbs	Energy Efficient Easily Replaced, Generally Cheap Heat production low Great for small plants	Low PPFD output (this can be good for seedlings/cuttings, not so good for veg or flower) Low light penetration Must be suspended close to plant	$35-$250 per fixture
Induction Lamp	Long Life (approx 2 years) Energy Efficient Heat production low	Heavy Take up large amounts of space PPFD output diminishes over time	$100-$250 per fixture
Metal Halide (MH)	Lifespan of about a year to a year and a half White spectrum Fixtures take up minimal space	Higher Heat Output Older HID lighting technology Less electrically efficient Contains mercury RF Interference from Ballast	$60-$120 per bulb $100-$250 per ballast $30-$250 per reflector
Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) / Light Emitting Ceramic (LEC)	Moderate heat production Newer HID lighting technology Blue-White spectrum Fixtures take up minimal space	Contains mercury RF Interference from Ballast	$50-$110 per bulb $100-$250 per ballast $30-$250 per reflector $200-$500 for a complete fixture
High Pressure Sodium (HPS)	High PPFD output Orange spectrum Fixtures take up minimal space	High Heat Production High electrical demand Contains mercury RF Interference from Ballast	$30-$100 per bulb $100-$250 per ballast $30-$250 per reflector $200-$500 for a complete fixture
LEDs	Energy Efficient Heat Production Low Long Life (approx 2-5 years) Can produce output in UV spectrum Most models allow variable spectrums	PPFD output diminishes over time Tend to be expensive	$350-$2000 per fixture
Plasma Lights / Light Emitting Plasma (LEP)	Spectrum very similar to sun High PPFD output Energy Efficient	High heat production Tend to be expensive	$400-$1000 per fixture

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Urban Legends About Weed – Part 1

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We thought we might deviate from our normal fare and explore some of the more interesting aspects of cannabis culture. Let’s go over some urban legends and see if there’s any truth to them!

We wanted to start a series on some of the funny or strange urban legends you might have heard around cannabis. Is there any truth to these legends? Or are they simply myths and somebody’s blowing smoke?

Let’s dive in!

Bird Seed = Weed?

There are some strange claims out there, and one of them might seem pretty strange. This legend goes that if you spread birdseed on your lawn, you might get a cannabis plant growing from the seeds.

And this one is actually true. One pensioner in England had a rude shock when a marijuana plant started growing underneath her bird feeder. Turns out, some of the seeds had fallen out of the feeder and started to grow.

The cannabis plant itself was harmless, because it was actually hemp. Hemp is very low in THC, and can sometimes be found in bird seed. Normally these seeds are sterilized, but every now and then some unsterilized seeds get through. Because you can’t grow cannabis or hemp in England without a license, the pensioner had to destroy the plant, but the story is pretty funny.

Halloween Candy Edibles

This one’s been running around for quite a while. Parents, ever worried about their children, hear stories of razor blades in Halloween candy, or drugs injected into their kid’s candy. But what if the candy itself was the drug? Enter this urban legend.

Here’s what we know:

Kids can and do eat marijuana edibles made to look like candy. They often get sent to the hospital for it.
Edibles made to look like candies can be mistaken for real candy. This is the reason that most companies that produce edibles are required to place them in childproof packaging.
Several reported cases of children eating THC-laced candy from Halloween exist, but these cases are disputed by others.

This urban legend seems plausible, but the evidence is questionable. However, if you consume cannabis edibles, use your common sense. Keep them well away from the prying hands of children, and don’t buy the varieties that look like candy if you know there are children around.

The Government Has a Patent for Weed

You’ll hear conspiracy theories out there about how the government secretly controls weed for… nefarious reasons? Keeping it out of people’s hands, maybe?

Well, this legend goes that the US government holds the patent for cannabis, or at least cannabinoids. They specifically point to US Patent 6630507, a very real patent that was issued to the US Health and Human Services in 2001. You can read the text yourself, but the most interesting part is the second sentence:

“This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.”

Pr0hbted did an excellent piece on 6630507, but essentially the National Institute of Health was laying claim for research on specific cannabinoids that showed efficacy in specific conditions. They weren’t claiming a patent on the entirety of cannabis, only claim on certain cannabinoids such as CBD, and a royalty on any licensees for the patent. The patent will expire in April of 2019 (this year!).

Now, you should still be pretty angry with the US Government for a patent like this -- this means that they have been well aware that cannabis has medical benefits, and known about them for decades. But, this patent will likely have very limited effects, and any attempts to get it reissued would likely see court challenges.

That’s the first part of our Urban Legends on Cannabis. We’ve got a few more up our sleeves for the next article, but if there’s anything you’d like to see, please let us know in the survey or on the forums!

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Hunter Wilson is a community builder with Growers Network. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 with a Masters in Teaching and in 2007 with a Bachelors in Biology.