Great things on the horizon
Hello from Joel at Hayes Park Hydroponics. It’s now late 2018, and we’re coming close to midterm elections here in the U.S. This usually brings high drama from all sides of the political arena, often drowning out smaller topics on the national stage. Knowing this, everyone in the cannabis industry needs to be aware of and focused on the coming votes in each of our states. We’ve been growing, but we need to do what we can to support pro-cannabis legislators and initiatives.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing here on numerous topics concerning our industry. Expect discussions on new research, grow methodology, <add another category?>, and what’s on the horizon for us politically. Some of the topics will need a bit of a primer to help with vocabulary attached to different scientific and manufacturing fields, and the more complex topics may take a little longer to get through. However, I’ll do my best to keep it manageable and interesting without losing what’s important. Here’s a peek at some topics you’ll likely see:
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CBD and research results linking it to non anecdotal medical results in humans
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Unwrapping the mystery surrounding humate
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Maintaining long and short term focus and how this can greatly affect your grow
My goal is for readers to walk away each week with small but applicable bits of information that can improve their knowledge base. With so much information out there it’s become increasingly difficult to be able to decipher what is credible science backed information in contrast to speculative research. I want to what I can to lift the curtain on these issues. A perfect example of how confusing our industry can be starts with the seemingly simple subject of names, of strains or even of C. Sativa itself.
Taxonomically speaking what we call cannabis is the species Sativa, in the genus Cannabis, and the family Cannabaceae. The differences we note when looking at strains are at the “variety” or even “form” level, so well below the species ranking. The issue of truly identifying a strain begins to rear its ugly head when we take a look at the consumer experience, and ask the question “how do we know the girl scout cookie is really the strain?” In this case we tend to take the budtender at their word, but the hard question is: is this a healthy practice for the industry? When state regulations requires that batches be segregated by strain, how exactly does the state define a strain? What testing and protocols are in place to enforce the laws? The scary truth is it depends on what state you’re in, and the definitions may be absurdly vague. This leeds back to the true difference between cannabis strains coming down to slight genetic differences that can only be illuminated with the proper testing.
To add to this already muddy topic, even if testing can identify traits, that's only one part. The next question is whether the plant is a stable variety in terms of the traits it displays, such as cannabinoid content, color, taste, etc. A single high-producing mutant doesn’t make a strain, but what then defines a stable strain? How do we track and Identify this when dealing with the vast number of cultivators and states they grow in? And why does any of this matter? Ultimately, understanding these factors helps cultivators ensure healthy genetics moving forward. Inbreeding and non-diverse populations can be very dangerous and costly, mainly because a single type of outbreak, be it pest or other vector could completely wipe out a grow.
Stay Tuned to the next installment of Friday Finisher