Science amp; Tech|Cannabis research on the evolving science behind its effects and the latest technology news. Science amp; Tech The Greenhouse Revolution: How Old-School Structures Are Changing Cannabis Cultivation Tobias Coughlin-Bogue 0 Its no secret that the cannabis industry has an energy problem. A 2011 study by Dr. Evan Mills a senior energy scientist at UC Berkeley estimated that cannabis production consumed 1 percent of the nations total energy and that was before recreational legalization and the resulting explosion of cannabis cultivation. Total production at the time produced about the same amount of greenhouse gas as 3 million cars. Yikes. Though there were negative environmental consequences associated with outdoor growing Mills report found that the bulk of the blame lay with indoor cultivation. Current indoor cannabis production and distribution practices result in prodigious energy use costs and unchecked greenhouse gas pollution he wrote. Years after Mills report however indoor cultivation still reigns supreme. Among licensed producers in Washington state for example there are 933 indoor grow operations 432 outdoor 378 indoor/outdoor and 29 greenhouses according to data from the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board. On the retail side indoor-grown cannabis accounts for a whopping 75 percent of sales according to data supplied by FrontRunner Business Intelligence Solutions a firm that tracks the Washington cannabis industry. Outdoor- and greenhouse-grown cannabis make up 16 percent and 8 percent respectively. Why arent more people growing under the sun? Outdoor cannabis is naturally preferable from a sustainability standpoint and its a whole lot cheaper to grow. But as Mills noted in 2011 it suffers from an image problem. A common perception is that the potency of cannabis produced indoors exceeds that of that produced outdoors he wrote leading consumers to demand cannabis produced indoors. Old habits die hard apparently. Criticisms of outdoor cannabis are often valid as crops are subjected to the various whims of Mother Nature: cloudy days hailstorms intense wind harsh UVB light and so on. One of the chief complaints about outdoor cannabis is that it looks beaten up. If only there were a way to marry the precise climate control of indoor growing with the low energy cost of an outdoor grow right? Turns out there is and the simplicity of it may surprise you. Enter the humble greenhouse. Young cannabis plants Greenhouses arent exactly new technology obviously. They are relatively new to cannabis though. Indoor growing has been the norm in large part because it allowed illegal growers to operate out of sight. Now with growers in legal states generally free to use whatever cultivation method they please many greenhouse early adopters are swearing by the old-school tech. The terpene profiles are in the 2- to 4-percent range which some of our retail stores are just saying is fabulous said Mark Olson who owns Washingtons Quincy Green farms. And every time we come out with another crop from the greenhouse our yield is getting better because were just getting better at it. Olson owns a pretty snazzy greenhouse from a California company called Forever Flowering but aside from the retractable roof and climate-monitoring system its still relatively simple technology. Its just a steel building made of pipe he laughs. Its not complicated. The chief advantage offered by a greenhouse is protection from the elements though growers have also benefitted from a number of recent technological advances. Automation for one has made the grunt work of greenhouse growing a far sight easier. Most greenhouse growers to achieve multiple harvests use light-deprivation techniques at some point in the grow cycle. That can be a pain to do by hand as it involves hauling blackout sheeting over the structure at a specific time every day. Olsons kitted-out greenhouse on the other hand has computer-controlled light-deprivation curtains that roll out and retract on their own. Theyre on a set timer but if Olson did want to change up the sequence he could do it from his laptop in Seattle. So too with climate control. Automation and connectivity aside it turns out even the curtains themselves are a something of an innovation. One of the keys to successful greenhouse cultivation said Eric Brandstad one of Forever Flowerings directors is the use of proper light-diffusion fabric as opposed to the traditional clear panes of glass. You cant use too clear a cover [because it] transmits too much light/heat he explained. By using the diffused greenhouse cover were actually splitting light particles in half scattering infrared and blocking out UVB. Its taking away the suns intensity but generating more light at the same time. That translates to a lower surface temp. Its not shading it by any means but the diffusion process is really cool. Cannabis especially loves it more than any other plant. The test results prove it he said pointing to results from California-based testing lab Pure Analytics. Theyre finding higher THC higher CBD and higher terpenes in greenhouse samples than outdoor or indoor right now Brandstad said. But growing in a greenhouse doesnt guarantee a top-shelf product he cautioned. Success is more about technique than tech. Theres a real learning curve for a lot of indoor growers he said noting that many fail to run their greenhouses efficiently and end up using environmentally and financially costly climate-control systems to compensate. They have to get all these accessories to cool the greenhouse down evacuate the air and maybe even turn on a dehumidifier he said. It doesnt need to be that intensive. We dont necessarily have to control the environment so much as support the plant Brandstad explained. The use of passive ventilation light-diffusing fabric a different ground-sheeting color and light-colored grow bags are often more than sufficient to reduce summer heat and eliminate the need for energy-intensive climate control. Private gardens like this one in Washington state have long used greenhouses to help grow in inclement weather.Now commercial growers are beginning to warm tothe low-tech solution. Jeremy Moberg president of the Washington Sungrowers Industry Association (WSIA) and owner of CannaSol farms said he doesnt describe his operation as a greenhouse because its an obtuse term. It can mean a lot of things he said. It can mean energy efficient it can mean energy non-efficient. A strong proponent of sun-grown cannabis Moberg took issue with growers who supplement their greenhouses with artificial lights. Not all sun-grown advocates are such purists. Brandstad noted that because greenhouses need only a fraction of the supplemental lighting that an indoor grow does greenhouse growers who use artificial lights could expect to harvest five times a year like indoor growers do at a fraction of the cost. Youre still going to be using the sun as much as possible he said. Youre always going to be less [costly] than indoor. Derek Peterson CEO of Terra Tech an agricultural company that also owns dispensaries in California and Nevada said the savings offered by greenhouses make even less-expensive crops financially feasible. We cant afford a huge carbon footprint growing basil [at] $1.25 a plant he explained. That savings translates to cannabis: Peterson estimated that a pound of indoor-grown pot costs about $600 to $800 to produce whereas the price tag for sun-grown cannabis is closer to $100. Gene Hill and Robert Heldt directors of Monroe Wash. cannabis producer Red Frog said they initially were planning an indoor grow in Seattles SoDo neighborhood the citys unofficial green light district but the numbers simply didnt run. Instead they opted for a rural greenhouse-only operation. Given Seattles energy codes the costs were really astronomical said Hill. Looking at that it was the epiphany that the value of the crop was going to eventually come down energy costs were going to be what they were or greater and plants like being out in the sun. They saw some tangible benefits in production switching the sun cut the veg time for their plants in half they said but their primary motivator was financial. Growing indoors you can get great plants growing outdoors you can get great plants said Hill. But economically it just makes sense as a farmer to invest in greenhouses. Its just survivability. Despite the smattering of other farmers jumping on the greenhouse train its still slow to leave the station. According to Moberg thats all due to the pesky issue of perception. Consumer preference has to drive us toward sustainability he said noting that only two of the top 20 producers in Washington are outdoor operations. The lower cost of production he added doesnt seem to be enough to change the equation: We have low cost of production they have high cost of production and theyre killing it and were not. Olson for his part predicted that consumer behavior in cannabis will mirror whats being seen in the auto industry where buyers are more and more interested in cars with low price tags and high fuel economy. Theyre going to pick their cannabis in the same way he said and greenhouse-grown cannabis fits that niche perfectly marrying low costs with high quality. Thats the big message that cannabis can bring to the world Olson said. Many in industry still think its impossible to be both sustainable and make a profit. I do believe that cannabis can show the way and say Yes it is possible. growinglightstechnology More Science amp; Tech Is This the Medical Marijuana Vaporizer of Tomorrow? Dosing Homemade Cannabis Edibles: Why Its Nearly Impossible to Calculate Potency Cannabis Science 101: The Complex Chemistry of the Bong Industry Cheap Pot!: Whats the Deal with the $6 Gram? Industry Just Add Weed: How Brand Licensing Allows Cannabis Companies to Expand Across State Lines Politics Where Can I Smoke Legally in a Legal State? Politics Federal Court Bars Justice Department From Prosecuting Medical Cannabis The post The Greenhouse Revolution: How Old-School Structures Are Changing Cannabis Cultivation appeared first on Leafly. by Tobias Coughlin-Bogue at Leafly