Medical Cannabis

Cannabis is a seasonal dioecious plant. Its life span is only one season—it blossoms, bears seeds and dies. The female plants are the ones that are cultivated, and their flowers are the parts that are used for recreational and medicinal cannabis. The crop goes through several distinct stages before fully-grown female plants are produced in late bloom.

Each of these stages is critical and must be monitored carefully and precisely.

Continue reading at   “Irrigation solutions” to learn about the differents stages and the irrigation solutions NaanDanJain is recomening for each of them for optimal results.

The Cannabis goes through several distinct stages before fully-grown female plants are produced in late bloom. Each of these stages is critical and must be monitored carefully and precisely. There are several ways of doing so:

PLANT TISSUE (MOTHERS)

Most of the propagation and manufacturing of young plants has traditionally been done using ‘cuttings’.

When propagating with cuttings or any other form of cloning, the genetic identity of the original plant is preserved. Therefore, the genotype of the mother plants or their source, needs to be carefully chosen. Growing the mother plants, from which the cuttings are produced, is the first and crucial stage. Mother plants are grown in relatively large containers or growing bags, and are kept under specific conditions. Temperature, moisture, nutrition and even day length are carefully monitored.

These mother plants are provided with the optimal conditions to stay juvenile and vigorous and to never go into bloom. Long days and a specific fertilizer regime are maintained. There have been innovations in the field of propagation. Tissue culture is a very efficient way of producing new and identical plants. Even seed companies are now producing genetically engineered varieties that go into bloom independently of day length. Regardless of the method of propagation, the source needs to be well-maintained and looked after.

 When it comes to irrigation, we recommend using 2 ClickTif HD with 2 outlet connectors each, all together providing 4 labyrinth stakes for each mother plant.

VEGETATIVE STAGE

The vegetative stage is characterized by a long day (18 hours of light a day) and a vigorous growth rate. Ideally, this stage should last no longer than one month. There is more than one way of achieving that. If smaller pots (or growing bags) are used at this stage, it’s possible to cultivate a larger number of plants per meter. It can be advantageous to separate the vegetative stage from the reproductive stage. In this case, the vegetative plants are kept in a designated growing chamber and are only moved to the blooming chamber when they reach the desired size.Both stages require specific growing conditions.

If you choose to grow the young plants in their final pots and location—namely, in the same place where the next stages of the cycle will take place—the use of a drip system is recommended. In this case, the same drip system is used for the rest of the growing period, up until harvest.

OUR RECOMMENDATION: When using smaller pots, use one ClickTif HD dripper with two outlets per pot. When using bigger pots, use two ClickTif HD drippers with two different outlets per pot. Using two different drippers ensures constant water supply for the plant, even if one of the drippers malfunctions.

 As in any high precision cultivation, the cannabis plant requires specific environmental conditions. In the vegetative stage, as in any growing stage, the growing chamber itself is equipped with climate control systems that regulate all the factors required for optimal growth. These include wet pads and/or foggers to reduce temperature, screens to darken the chamber, and specific lighting to simulate either shorter days or longer days. NaanDanJain provides all of the above and more, tailor made for any environmental conditions.

BLOOMING

The blooming stage is the final and longest stage. During this stage, the grower needs to be most precise and attentive. The transition from the vegetative stage to the blooming stage is induced by a short day (12 hours of light). From this point on, until the end of the growth cycle, short 12-hour days are maintained.

Both artificial darkening and a specific fertilization regime are implemented. These two are essential to ensure that the crop successfully reaches its full potential. For this reason, in addition to the customized irrigation system, we also provide a very strict and sophisticated monitoring and control system. All growth factors need to be optimized and carefully adjusted to meet the specific needs of the crop, with an instant response time. These factors include: temperature, relative humidity, day length, irrigation and nutrition.

Ideally, the blooming stage takes no more than two months (60 days, depending on the variety). After this, the plants are harvested and go through post-harvest treatment. NaanDanJain has an inhouse monitoring and control system, Gavish, which is one of the most advanced and sophisticated control systems in the world today.

Only a Gavish unit can oversee, monitor, control, report on and log all of the parameters or factors mentioned above. The Gavish system also provides a specific mixture of fertilizers and is able to simultaneously deliver multiple kinds and ratios of fertilizers to each growing unit. Every sensor installed in the greenhouse can be read and logged by the system. At any given time, the grower is informed of the EC and pH of the irrigation solution and the drain water. All of the parameters are continuously monitored and an alert is sent if they do not reach optimal levels. In short, a system like Gavish is essential for this kind of cultivation. Reaching the required standard in this field is impossible without it.

LIGHTING

As mentioned before, each physiological stage of the Cannabis requires a specific light setting. NaanDanJain characterises, supply, consults and offers a full package when it comes to lighting. We provide solutions for all photoperiodic lighting, photosynthetic lighting, custom made for any intensity and spectrum required by the grower. As a full project or as a specific sulution.

NAANDANJAIN NUTRI-CARE FERTIGATION MACHINES

Gavish produces fertigation machines made of PVC, assembled on an aluminum frame. There are three types: In-line, By pass and Mixer machines. All three machines ensure correct proportions between the amount of water and fertilizer required for the crop. The irrigation controllers ensure accuracy and set points defined by the user.

NAANDANJAIN NUTRI-CARE MIXER MACHINE

• Water flow:10 to 75 m3/h Polyethylene mixing tank
• Stainless steel booster pump
• 3 to 5 Venturi Pumps
• Fertilizer flow: 160-350 l/h
• Fertilizer visual flow meters for each injector
• Fertilizer counters for each injector, optional

The cannabis-growing process is very complex and requires a lot of knowledge. When dealing with the production of a clinical end product, no shortcuts can be taken and the highest quality must be maintained.

LEGAL WARNING:

THE LAWS REGARDING CANNABIS CULTIVATION, SALE, POSSESSION ANDUSE, INCLUDING FOR SOLELY MEDICINAL PURPOSES, ARE DIFFERENT IN EACH COUNTRY. For thisreason, please always seek current professional legal counselling regarding the applicable laws, regulations and licensing procedures in your country/state.