The entire production cycle of marijuana for consumption
HOW TO GROW CANNABIS?
Cannabis is produced with these 5 steps:
- Put at least one cannabis seed in watered ground or inside a cup with water and cotton
- Wait and see if it starts growing.
- If it does, transplant the seed inside the cup to a bigger pot with earth and tend to it. Or, if you used the ground, leave it there and just tend to it
- Keep taking care of that plant, it will take between 6~12 months of pure love
- Cut the bigger stems, separate the buds from the not so useful material, dry them, cure them.
WHAT ARE MODERN TECHNIQUES FOR GROWING CANNABIS?
Modern cannabis operations are in stark contrast to the image of an illicit farm hidden in the woods. Most are entirely indoors, with identical growing rooms on many floors. Plants are propagated by cloning, rather than grown from seed, so the crop’s genetic identity remains the same from generation to generation. The growers track and log all growing parameters, and then tweak them as needed to maintain consistency. These operations are a ‘manufacturing facility’, rather than a garden or a greenhouse and there are quality checks like you would see in any facility, whether it was producing food or cars.
A large-scale, controlled environment enables producers to conduct systematic, controlled trials and to produce huge amounts of data — with 5 cycles of growth per year in each of the growing rooms, it can generate more than 250 generations’ worth of growing data each year. A company can use that data to determine what works best for the plants, and then replicate those conditions at scale.
Furthermore, cannabis producers should consider the following:
- Security and traceability
- Employee training and compliance standards
- Removal of waste products
- Transportation and logistics for retail, packaging, and processing
- Testing capabilities and protocols
- Accurate description of grow facility, operations planning, and production process (including equipment, soil, and fertilizers to be used)
WHATS BEST, INDOOR OR OUTDOOR GROWN CANNABIS?
Indoor warehouses are able to control lighting, temperature, humidity, and CO2 production, which creates a more standardized, mass-market product. Indoor cannabis is generally known to be more cosmetically attractive and consistent, much the same way that apples at large-chain supermarkets are relatively large, shiny, and uniform.
Because sungrown plants are grown outdoors and thus are subject to the elements, harvests have more variety and less consistency than indoor flower. Rather than artificial light, sungrown plants utilize the sun’s photosynthesis and their harvest is dependent on the length of days and nights. Sungrown harvests are akin to wine harvests, which happen in the fall after warm summer days that help plants mature into robust, larger plants.
Greenhouse-grown flower harness the power of the sun while providing protection from the elements. The light dep technique provides the full-spectrum of light to the plant and has a much smaller footprint than indoor cultivation because it still utilizes the sun instead of lights, thereby reducing energy usage. At the same time, creating a more controlled environment results in greater consistency and protection from the elements while still resembling a natural ecosystem.
