Cannabis Cultivation

On one hand I thinking it's so cool that a bee is checking out a thing I made, on the other I'm thinking get your pollen cooties away from my plants.

With sales of legal cannabis expected to more than double by 2030, producers of the nation's sixth-most valuable crop have a problem: Cannabis has a substantial environmental footprint.

Growing cannabis requires massive water and energy resources while contributing to air, land and water pollution and soil damage.

Indoor grow houses allow farmers to govern the lifecycle of cannabis using artificial lighting and climate control, which enables rapid turnaround for sometimes dozens of harvests each year.

For some growers, the cutting edge of sustainability in cannabis has moved toward energy generation.

To survive the second decade of recreational legalization, cannabis farmers will have to be as resilient as the plants they cultivate.

Natural split on the main stem, this is a first for me 😎

Three freshly chopped males settling into their future life as compost. I had some suspicions about 2 of them and this morning it was obvious that they were males. Into the bin they go!

Got my girlies moved in to the greenhouse after I installed the solar fan. It feels much cooler in there when I walk in from outside.

Grasshoppers and rodents are awful outside right now so we moved some spinach in there also.

It will be crowded in there in a few weeks and is really like to try finishing at least one of these fully outdoors. Need to find a way to deal with the predators.

(previously)

Six plants, about 5 weeks, strain is (deep breath) “Vintage Pakistani x 88g13/hp (deep line alchemy II)” from Bodhi Seeds, currently in 5-gallon cloth pots.

I’d like to get them out of the wind and into my tiny greenhouse while they’re still small enough to be in there, but it’s too hot in there. For now they seem to be handling mid-100s temperatures and a decent amount of wind well enough (with an improvised windbreak that I’m constantly moving around).

I’m installing a solar exhaust fan tomorrow to help bring the temps down in the greenhouse. I’m hoping to be able to keep the plants in there for at least a couple of weeks until I can build a windbreak around our garden. Once that’s done, it’s back into the full sun and eventually some larger pots.

They're between 6-7ft tall now. The next layer of trellis will be going on today after a bit of defoliation. There's about 300 plants in here.

Blue Dream Auto. I'm growing outdoors in an old ZooMed ReptiBreeze XL I had sitting around from when we raised a spiny tail iguana. It's kept the bugs out but let all the sun and rain in. I mixed the soil myself - mostly peat, sphagnum, perlite, and some earthworm castings - planted in a 5 gal grow bag, and have been just tossing liquid fertilizer in as we get breaks in the rain. Honestly this has been one of the easiest things to grow since I'm accustomed to indoor vivarium plants in the presence of large animals. It's been really rewarding to see daily growth and even more impressive to consider it was in seed only three weeks ago. I was going to mulch the top a month in, but at this point I'm failing to see a reason to do so.

Growing cannabis plants alone leaves them exposed to pests and the elements, and it can leave the soil depleted as well. If you grow companion plants nearby, though, you'll not only be able to fend off pests, but bring in beneficial insects and introduce key nutrients to the soil as well. Here, we'll be discussing how they work in close detail.

I found that infographics like this were helpful to me when I was first learning

It seems like there are quite a few experienced growers on here. Could you share your insights for any newcomers? (e.g. me)

Also they just look really great growing together

The nettles are supposed to help naturally boost terpene production. We really like them because they help keep rodents away, and they make a great living mulch.

Hey all!

When I started growing weed I was put off by the sheer amount of misinformation on the internet and started reading scientific articles after a good introduction from Dr. Bruce Bugbee's videos on Youtube.

Now I'm not only interested in cannabis but also plants in general and have been having fun learning about them.

I'm currently growing some "royal gorilla" that's on week 2 of flowering and will post pics once they start blasting.

I am not affiliated with this company. However I have very much enjoyed this podcast over the last several years.

I'm happy to see this community start up and I hope it takes off. I have never grown personally, but may occasionally have some content to share anyway. Regardless, I definitely would love to grow when I can so I'll be lurking. I'll also try to contribute when I have something to add, but no promises. One of my dream jobs would definitely be in the cannabis cultivation field so hopefully one day I'll be able to share some good pics and info :)