Industrial Hemp Production Overview

Industrial Hemp Production

• Scientific Name: Cannabis sativa (varieties include sativa, indica, and ruderalis)
• Common Name: Industrial hemp
• Family: Cannabaceae

Production Environments

• Greenhouses:
  • Advantage: Free photosynthetic light (sun).
  • Disadvantages: Less predictable growing environment, potential security concerns, and older greenhouses are relatively inexpensive.
• Indoor Production:
  • Advantage: Greatest control over environmental conditions, highly secure.
  • Disadvantages: High investment costs for lighting and electricity, expensive facilities not always retrofittable.

Propagation

• Sexual and Asexual Propagation: Industrial hemp can be propagated both sexually (seeds) and asexually (cuttings).
• Vegetative Propagation (Clones):
  • Stem tip cuttings are the most popular method.
  • "Clones" are identical to the parent plant.
• Dioecious: Hemp is dioecious ("two houses"): male and female plants.
  • Male & Female: Male flowers pollinate female flowers; this is acceptable for fiber and seed production but not for flower production.
• Cutting Propagation:
  • Stem-tip cuttings are best for preventing branch development,
  • Dipping cuttings into rooting hormone to stimulate root growth.
  • Warm substrate temperatures promote root growth.
• Seed Propagation:
  • Seed is typically less expensive than clones, especially "feminized seed"
  • "Feminized seed" ensures offspring (99% probability) are female since no "X" chromosome necessary for female.

Production Systems

• Hydroponic Systems: Ebb-and-flood hydroponic systems, using rockwool or LECA (lightweight expanded clay aggregates).
• Soilless Substrates: Nursery containers filled with peat or coconut coir.

Cannabis Fertilization

• Variable Fertilizer Rates : Fertilizer solution strength changes throughout the plant's lifecycle.
• Nutrient Requirements By Stage: A table was provided detailing fertilizer rates (ppm N) and electrical conductivity (EC) for vegetative and flowering stages.

Canopy Development & Flowering

• Pinching: To increase the number of flowers per plant, pinching occurs before flowering, a technique similar to "bifurcating" tomato plants. This technique increases yields without more plants per unit space
• Photoperiodic Flowering:
  • Cannabis is a photoperiodic plant. Its flowering is triggered by short days.
  • Plants need less than 12-14 hours of light to initiate the flowering process.

Managing Photoperiod

• Natural Day Length: Day length varies according to seasons.
• Creating Short Days: Black cloth can be used to truncate the days.
• Creating Long Days: Day extension lighting, night interruption lighting (interruptions to darkness).

Cannabis Harvest

• Harvest Time: Ideal to harvest later in the day when THC levels are highest.
• Post-Harvest Considerations: Remove dead leaves from buds to preserve quality before drying.

Key Points

• Controlled-environment hydroponic cannabis culture is a method of producing high-quality, high-yield CBD cannabis.
• Optimal female plant selection and high light levels are necessary for maximization of yields.