CO2 & Your Cannabis Garden In order to compensate for plant CO2 consumption inside the greenhouse and to boost the levels to beyond outdoor ambient to create higher yield, a lot of study has gone into the benefits and risks of adding this gas to greenhouse crops. Most growers already have interest in providing more CO2 for their crops but may not quite understand what’s going on inside the plant. Knowing this can make a world of difference in how successful a response you get from doing this. To pursue an investigation into options for CO2 enhancement, a bit of background on just how CO2 gets into the plant would be useful. Primarily, carbon dioxide enters a plant through the specialized cells that make up the stomata. These are located on the underside of the leaves for most plants. After entering the plant tissue, the CO2 becomes useful through a process called diffusion. Stomata are kind of like tiny little mouths that open and close, and when open they allow a transfer of gas and moisture. This is where transpiration occurs; the release of moisture, as well as the exchange of ‘oxygen out and carbon dioxide in.’ The greater uptake of carbon dioxide by the plant the better its photosynthesis process will be and from this, plant vigor improves. So, with more CO2 we have a greater yield, but to get this vital nutrient into our crop it must both be available and the plant must have active or open stomata.
There is no value in raising the ambient CO2 level in the greenhouse or tent when it is dark. The same is true when a plant is in drought stress because the plant is trying to conserve water. The stomata are closed in order to reduce moisture loss. Save your time and resources in either of these cases. When CO2 is finally absorbed into a plant it must be diffused into the spongy mesophyll cells. The distance that any gas must diffuse into even a large plant is not far, as every living cell is located close to the surface. Interior cells (used for structure) are no longer living. The gas exchange happens in the spongy mesophyll tissue of the leaf. These cells are covered with moisture and loosely packed, making gaseous movement easier. These aspects help make carbon dioxide diffuse into the spongy mesophyll cells while allowing oxygen to transfer out. Stomata openings are typically less than 20×10 microns. So, getting the crop to grow more vigorously by adding CO2 requires that we do this in such a way and time that the stomata are open. High photosynthesis is often occurring during the heat and so the plant may be in a drought condition. In this event, through photosynthesis is very active the stomata are closed or mostly closed and added CO2 is not benefiting them. Early in the light cycle would seem to be an optimum time for added CO2. The plant’s photosynthesis is completely active and its tissues are still filled with water moisture. Later in the lifecycle, this moisture aspect may no longer be true. How Does CO2 Help Produce Vigor?
Growth Increase from a 100% Increase in the Level of CO2 Plant Type Growth Increase C3 41% C4 22% About 95% of all plants are type C3, while C4 make up less than 2%. So, it is likely that the crop being grown by the reader is C3 and will likely experience a 41% increase in growth with a 100% increase in available CO2. The benefits would seem to be insurmountably obvious. Again, a major influence and aspect of how much-added growth is going to be related to the amount of time during daylight that the stomata are open. Drought tolerant plants (C4) are prone to reduced periods of open stomata and this is why they handle drought better but would be less affected by increased CO2. Enhanced CO2 also has the effect of narrowing the stomata and so will help (due to a narrow aperture) reduce the pollutants that can get into the plant. Another benefit! Though photosynthesis is vital to utilize the CO2 diffusedinto the plant, the presence of enhanced CO2 for plants grown in lower light levels is greater than for plants grown in higher light levels. This is because the CO2 itself will assist in boosting photosynthesis. The evidence of winning this debate is found in that many greenhouse growers increase the level of CO2 to three times what is found in the atmosphere. The benefits from enhanced CO2 are many and mostly without much debate within the industry. Most every grower wants to provide more of this vital molecule to their cannabis crop and is looking for ways to do this; safely and economically. Using CO2 for Foliar Feeding
A carbonated liquid nutrient is one way to provide nutrient and CO2 at the same time. Carbonation is simply CO2 added and diffused into the liquid. As this carbonated liquid is opened to ambient air, bubbles will be seen coming off from the liquid and this is the release of CO2 into the air. Within the liquid nutrient there are millions of tiny bubbles of CO2 gas, and when exposed to low atmospheric pressure, these tiny bubbles group together, float to the surface and reunite with the atmosphere. For this reason, the grower using this type of carbonated nutrient will want to keep the lid on the nutrient container or bottle as much as possible in order to keep the level of carbon dioxide as high as is possible for as long as possible. When a carbonated liquid nutrient (containing carbon dioxide) is applied to living plant tissue both the liquid nutrient and the dissolved CO2 gas are taken into the plant and then diffuse into the various cells. With a single function performed by the grower, both the CO2 and nutrient needs of the plant have been satisfied. Two birds, one stone! The complication with trying to use a pump sprayer pressurized by CO2 (taking the place of an air hand pump) is that the gas sits atop of the liquid and is not diffused with the nutrient spray when released from the sprayer. The gas needs to be mixed, either in the chamber of the sprayer or through aspiration at the outlet. Hose end sprayers do aspirate the nutrient but use water force, not gas to propel the mixture out of the sprayer and onto the plant. A sprayer that aspirates with gas pressure would work, but I do not know where to obtain these. Nonetheless, it is a very convenient technique to combine the function of foliar nutrient with CO2 application however one may accomplish this. Remember; photosynthesis makes the diffusion process possible, so make the application at the right time. Because photosynthesis itself is boosted through the enhanced availability of CO2, this in effect will reduce the requirement of light energy to gain the same amount of growth. Obviously, this can be very cost effective. Not only is maximum yield our goal, but optimum economy to go along with this added yield. So, added CO2 can help save on your energy bill. CO2 and Your Safety
Consider that 5,000 PPM is only 0.5%. If one adds 4 cubic feet of CO2 gas to a room the size of 8 x 10 x 10 feet the total CO2 concentration would be increased by 4%. That is not that much gas yet our CO2 level is now borderline dangerous.
Obviously, you will want to use a good quality CO2 regulator if you intend to provide this vital boost to your crop. Regulators will assure that the gas is applied at the right rate. They generally have built-in timers so that you can avoid feeding CO2 beyond the quantity desired. Another important piece of equipment is going to be a good monitor with built-in alarm. The monitor senses the concentration of CO2 fed at any time. The best monitor/controllers will turn on and shut off when programmed levels are reached as well as shut off when programmed. You will definitely want this monitor to audibly and visually let you know if the levels have exceeded safetyor exceeded the levels that you want. As far as the expense of a regulator and monitor, I would ask you to consider how much your personal health and crop is worth as well as the size of your electric bill. As CO2 can add 40% or more to growth, it can just as well cut your energy costs considerably. Adding carbon dioxide is an investment much more than an expense. Let us know what you think.
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Cannabis extracts are all the rage these days, from oils and wax to budder and shatter. The cannabis plant, however, is still classified as an illegal drug by the United States federal government and this makes it difficult for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate pesticides contained in cannabis extracts. A toxic insecticide called imidacloprid has been labeled ‘moderately hazardous’ by the World Health Organization (WHO). Insecticides like abamectin and spiromesifen may also be present in some types of cannabis. Are Pesticides Harmful to Human Health? Pesticides will plague the bloodstream when contaminated cannabis is ingested or inhaled. Evidence suggests that pesticide exposure could trigger neurological problems, fetal death, birth defects, and neurodevelopmental disorder. It is the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency to register labels that inform buyers countrywide of what they are consuming. Do Concentrates Pose a Problem for Pesticide Contamination?Hash oil concentrates pose a major concern for cannabis consumers. Pesticides and cannabinoids share alike chemical properties, therefore, when cannabis is being extracted, pesticides are concentrated along with the cannabinoids. A study conducted by the Cannabis Safety Institute saw how concentrates can be 10x more potent in pesticides than the cannabis flower. In an attempt to make sure botanical products adhere to safety guidelines, American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) has issued a cannabis monograph. How Pesticides Are Removed During Cannabis Extraction Process Making a pesticide-free isolate or concentrate is significantly easier if you target the ideal compound you wish to extract, such as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) or CBD (cannabidiol). Albeit economical, this option is not always possible. This is where Flash Chromatography comes in handy. For decades, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries have relied on this pesticide removal technique. When an impurity is insoluble in a solvent that the desired compound has restricted solubility in, a Soxhlet extraction may be used.
Nevertheless, Flash Chromatography is an effective way to de-toxify cannabis concentrates of pesticides, depending on the compound polarity. Let us know what you think. Do You Combat Racism in the Cannabis Industry? Marijuana companies may be asking themselves, too, how their cannabis industry workplaces can be more welcoming to people of color, whether job applicants, employees, customers or vendors. One day of training likely won’t have much impact. That is the tactic the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking in the discrimination cases it wins against employers. In July 2017, for example, Bass Pro Outdoor World agreed to make good-faith efforts to increase its diversity in addition to paying $10.5 million to members of a class-action lawsuitinvolving hiring discrimination against black and Hispanic job applicants. The company is to participate in job fairs in communities with large minority populations, reach out to minority colleges and technical schools, and post job openings in publications popular among people in black and Hispanic areas. Hiring Practices Changing hiring processes is one way to alter the makeup of an organization’s ‘in-group‘ and to change the perception that underrepresented groups are outsiders. She recommended blind screening of resumes and using structured interviews so that all job candidates are asked the same questions. A lack of structure may make it difficult to compare and rank applicants because they are not asked the same questions. Organizations that use blind screening by asking job candidates to omit information that includes their name and the names of their schools when they submit cover letters and resumes. It also has expanded its recruitment to include diversity-specific job boards. “Ban the box” is another change some are pressing for so that employers no longer ask job candidates about their criminal histories on an employment application form. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) says this is especially important for black job seekers, who make up 14 percent of the U.S. population but 40 percent of the nation’s incarcerated population. Inquiring into criminal history can wait until a face-to-face interview is scheduled or after a conditional job offer is made.
When an employee approaches HR about an incident – such as after hearing racist comments – suggested asking'”What else?‘ three times to get a full picture of what occurred. HR can use such information to alert company leaders to behavior that does not align with company values. This awareness gives leaders a jumping-off point for a conversation with employees, and HR can help them with talking points. It’s a big call to action for HR professionals to empower leaders to have conversations that 15 years ago went straight to HR. Use Scenario-Based Training It’s critical for Starbucks to start talking about this issue so employees have a common understanding, and an awareness, of unconscious bias and how it can negatively affect their decisions. And there must be repeated opportunities for active learning, reflection, and practice. One training strategy is to use scenario-based videos or role-playing. Scenarios enable someone to ‘walk a mile in my shoes‘ and create emotional connections. If you can display unconscious bias by playing it out…that’s how people will remember the negative effect unconscious bias can have and how it can innocently crop up” in the workplace. “It’s very hard to do that through other instructional strategies.
While there probably is not a lot of overt racism in dispensary workplaces, unconscious bias occurs frequently in decisions affecting promotions, performance reviews and other work-related interactions. And breaking down that unconscious bias doesn’t happen overnight. You have to change the culture of the organization, and that takes time, and that’s hard work. Dispensary managers and leaders have to be the role models here…they’re the ones who can drive cultural change. Let us know what you think. Grow Cannabis Like Mother Nature When growing in the wild, plants undergo a continuous variation in their photoperiod from June to September don’t have the same amount of daylight, so they have a difference in their photoperiod and it changes slightly each day. Plants are acutely aware of these changes and they know when the photoperiod increased in daylight, it’s spring. When it begins to wane, fall has onset. They control their growth in synchronicity with this changein photoperiod over the course of a year. For cannabis plants, the alteration of the photoperiod in the wild is what keeps them in their vegetative state and then encourages them to produce their sticky flowers. As the amount of daylight decreases from summer into autumn, cannabis shifts from its vegetative state of growing stalk and leaves into its flowering state where it forms its buds. From 18 hours of daylight each day, down to 12 hours or less, cannabis plants finish up their flowering in autumn when growing outdoors. Should I Follow Mother Earth Exactly? When growing your cannabis indoors, it’s important to mimic Mother Nature in her approach to growing flowers, but it doesn’t need to be exact. The cannabis plants grown these days are highly specialized and modified from their wild-growing counterparts. However, that doesn’t mean they have drifted so far off course that they don’t respond in the same way to cycles of light – with the exception of auto-flowering cultivars. When growing indoors, 18 hours of light is generally used for the vegetative state and it’s dropped to 12 hours of light when forcing the plant to flower, for maximum cannabinoid production. Some people gradually decrease the photoperiod over time, others drop it in one day. Whichever the method, growing cannabis is more than just giving them liquid nutrients. While each grower may have their own technique for a cultivar, it’s important to do what Mother Nature does to grow Cannabis correctly.
Feeding plants with lots of sunlight when they are first growing is key to letting them know it’s spring – it’s time to grow. Once they are strong, healthy plants ready to support the weight of their dense flowers, coaxing them into thinking it is autumn by decreasing their photoperiod is critical. Let us know what you think. HVAC Humidity Control for Cannabis Cultivation Let’s examined the functions of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems and we would like to look at another important effect of HVAC system – humidity reduction. Cannabis plants are constantly transpiring – water is being pumped by the cannabis plant from the roots and out through leaves and upper plant parts, transporting nutrients and facilitating growth processes.
You should be aware what your facility’s requirement for dehumidification is; often an HVAC system is insufficient for humidity regulation around growing cannabis plants, and more dehumidification tools will likely need to be implemented to reach optimal levels. You want to set up your cannabis cultivation facility to work jointly with HVAC systems to dehumidify and control the climate inside the growing room. During lights-on times – when plants transpire a significant quantity of water, humidity is regulated, factoring in the humidity reduction capabilities that HVAC contributes.
If you’re a grower, you should look for the right combination of effectiveness, efficiency, and costs to control the climate optimally in their growing facility. Let us know what you think. |
authorLilly, the gardener. Archives
September 2019
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