Cannabis News

Timing is tricky business in hemp and cannabis field farming. Plant too early, and farmers risk losing their crops to frost. Plant too late, and growers chance early maturation with suboptimal yields. 

It’s the reason The Hemp Mine, a hemp genetics and cannabidiol (CBD) company, created a virtual planting map to help growers make informed decisions about planting, testing and harvesting.

The map includes data points on average frost potential and daylength at different dates for nearly every county throughout the U.S. With this simple data, hemp and cannabis growers can not only make informed decisions about when to plant, which genetics to choose and when to start testing—they can also track their production schedule nearly down to the day.

But before delving into the map, it’s important for growers to understand photoperiodism.

READ MORE: How the Justice Family Transitioned Into Hemp

Photoperiod Primer

Cannabis and hemp are traditionally photoperiodic, meaning a certain amount of time in darkness will trigger them to flower. The number of hours needed in darkness, otherwise called a flowering response time, varies among different varieties. (This is not the case for autoflowering varieties, which will flower after a certain amount of time regardless of day and night length.)

Travis Higginbotham, an owner of The Hemp Mine, explains that cannabis falls into the short-day plant category, meaning it flowers when the night lengths meet or exceed its flowering response time—in other words, it needs long days followed by short days.

“This transition from a long day to a short day initiates flowering and causes the plant to go from vegetative growth to reproductive growth,” Higginbotham says.

Each breeder should provide the specific flowering response time of a variety down to the minute. (If not, Higginbotham suggests asking. This information is crucial.)

A variety’s flowering response time comes into play heavily when looking at The Hemp Mine’s data map.

Using The Map to Decide When to Plant

Using data from The Hemp Mine’s map, farmers can decide the best time to plant based on their genetics. This consists of a delicate balancing act between frost dates, daylength and how long growers want their crop to remain in a vegetative state.

“In the field, you don’t have the ability to manipulate lighting like you do in a greenhouse or an indoor environment, so you have to strategically plan your production outdoors so that you maximize the environment at the location where you are,” Higginbotham says.

First, farmers should look at frost potential. (This is indicated on The Hemp Mine’s map as DATEPERCENTAGE: For example, DATE10% on 5/22 would mean there is a 10% chance of frost on May 22.)

Farmers need to keep this in mind as they then examine day length. (This is indicated on the map in relation to frost potential as DLPERCENTAGE: For example, DL10% of 14.68 would mean on the same date that the frost potential is 10%, the day length is 14.68 hours.)

Higginbotham explains that farmers should only plant when potential for frost is low and when daylength is above that flowering response time. This protects the plant while allowing it to remain in a vegetative state in its early stages so it can bulk up and ultimately prepare to burst with buds. 

Farmers should look at one more data point before they decide when to plant, Higginbotham says: the date when the day length does meet that flowering response time. (This information is not available on the map but is easily found through an online search.) This will determine how long the crop remains in a vegetative state and exactly when it will begin to flower. The longer a hemp or cannabis crop remains in its vegetative state, the more yield it will ultimately produce.

As an example, The Hemp Mine’s Southern Cat Daddy cultivar has a flowering response time of 14 hours. This means farmers growing that variety should choose to plant it when the day length is longer than 14 hours. Also, farmers working with that variety should examine when the day length dips beneath 14 hours to know when it will start flowering.

Other Uses

Using these data points on frost potential and daylength, farmers can determine a plethora of other key factors to drive decisions. 

This information can help farmers choose genetics, as day lengths vary throughout the country. To maximize yield, farmers should choose genetics that allow their crop to stay in a vegetative state long enough to bulk the plant to the yields they’re aiming for. This can ultimately be determined through trial and error, but several weeks in a vegetative state serves as a rough benchmark for beginner growers. 

“Ultimately what dictates the yield per plant outdoors is the length of vegetative growth and light accumulation during flowering,” Higginbotham says.

Frost potential and day length can also help farmers determine when to begin testing their crop, as they can pinpoint the exact day the crop will start flowering. Higginbotham recommends hemp growers specifically test their crops several times throughout the flowering stage to remain in compliance with the 0.3% THC limit, which will also ultimately determine when they harvest.

And, while much of this data focuses on hemp flowering, Higginbotham says this data can also be useful to hemp farmers growing photoperiodic grain and fiber varieties as well. 

“This little piece of data is really something that can help any [cannabis] grower or breeder,” Higginbotham says. “It truly allows you to put a day-by-day schedule on paper.” 

The Hemp Mine has a video further detailing photoperiodism and how to use the map here.

Earlier this week, the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) published its recommendations for improving environmental sustainability in the cannabis industry. The report, titled Environmental Sustainability in the Cannabis Industry: Impacts, Best Management Practices, and Policy Considerations, was developed by their Policy Council along with experts in the field of environmental sustainability.

The 58-page report is quite comprehensive and covers things like land use, soil health, water, energy, air quality, waste and the negative effects of an unregulated market. While the report goes into great detail on specific environmental policy considerations, like recycling, water usage, energy efficiency and more, it makes a handful of overarching policy recommendations that impact environmental sustainability on a much more macro level.

The report mentions developing a platform for sharing information in the national cannabis industry. The idea here is that information sharing on a national scale for things like energy use can be used as a communication tool for regulators as well as a tool for companies to collaborate and share ideas.

The second more overarching policy recommendation the NCIA makes in this report is “to incorporate environmental best practices and regulatory requirements into existing marijuana licensing and testing processes.” This would help streamline and unify regulations already in place and keeps sustainability in the discussion from the very start.

The last major policy recommendation they make is for incentive programs. They say that governments should incentivize cannabis businesses to operate more sustainably and “prioritize funds provided to businesses where barriers exist to entering the market, such as small- or minority-owned businesses.” The report adds that this could essentially kill two birds with one stone by promoting environmental sustainability and diversity at the same time.

Kaitlin Urso is the lead author of the report and executive project and engagement manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. She says that these policy recommendations were designed to benefit everyone. “A successful, socially responsible cannabis industry will require best practices for environmental sustainability. This paper is a vital first step in that effort,” says Urso. “This is important, ongoing work that will benefit everyone. The NCIA’s paper on environmental sustainability is going to inform how we approach important questions related to the future of the cannabis industry.”

To read the report in its entirety, click here.

New Jersey, despite its left-leaning politics and proximity to one of the world’s largest urban centers, has lagged behind in cannabis. As the 11th-largest state in the country by population, New Jersey has fewer than 14 medical cannabis dispensaries serving close to 100,000 patients. Possession of marijuana was just decriminalized there last year.

Garden State cannabis also has a racial equity problem. Black residents are between two and three times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana despite relatively equal rates of use across races. In some counties, Black people are arrested over 30 times more frequently for cannabis, according to a 2020 report from the ACLU of New Jersey.

New Jersey passed legalization in November’s election by a landslide—more than two in three voters approved. But state cannabis advocates are now calling out serious shortcomings in the proposed A-21/S-21 bill, saying it doesn’t do enough to address the harsh repercussions of the drug war and will keep minority and disadvantaged small businesses from participating in the upcoming industry. 

What’s in (and not in) A-21/S-21?

“[The bill] has been introduced as the most progressive cannabis legislation in the country yet it falls short of substantive social equity provisions seen in other states,” said Jessica Gonzalez, General Counsel for Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM), in an email to Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.

“The bill is riddled with vague language and predatory programs aimed at minority communities while increasing the barriers to entry,” said Gonzalez. Specifically, she identified five points where it falls short:

• Lack of allocation of cannabis tax revenue to communities harmed by prohibition. For contrast, consider Illinois, where the Restore, Reinvest, and Renew program (R3) uses 25% of state cannabis tax revenue to provide community grants. 

• Limited definitions of “impact zones.” These are defined as cities or towns with 120,000 or more residents who rank in the top 40% of cities with the most arrests for possession. Dispensaries will open in these areas first, and some lawmakers have suggested allocating tax revenue from cannabis to impact zone grants.

• Specifically earmarking tax revenue for law enforcement training. The bill includes language that would use cannabis tax money to train designated police officers as “Drug Recognition Experts,” who will serve to “detect, identify, and apprehend drug-impaired motor vehicle operators.”  

There are other issues. Brandon McKoy, president and chief executive at the New Jersey Policy Perspective, recently wrote that the bill’s proposal to allow just 28 state cultivation licenses would “undermine racial equality and privilege larger corporations at the expense of other applications.”

Gonzalez urged the state to go further in defining qualifications for social equity. “The statute must explicitly outline the requirements for a ‘social equity applicant’ and statutorily mandate the Cannabis Regulatory Commission to create a social equity program to assist these communities in the areas of technical assistance, financial assistance, education, etc.

“In the same vein, the statute must also mandate that a portion of the tax revenue collected be specifically earmarked for the funding of equity programming within the Office of Minorities, Disabled Veterans and Womens Cannabis Development,” she added.

“New Jersey lawmakers have shown they have not really looked at the failures and shortfalls of other states’ attempts to provide reconciliation and equity to those harmed by the war on drugs,” said Tauhid Chappell, executive board member at the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and founder of the CannAtlantic cannabis conference.

Chappell also pointed out the legislation’s optional Social Equity Excise Fee, a sliding scale in which the fee goes up as the price goes down, an appetizing condition for large MSOs with the corporate cash reserves to absorb these taxes. 

What happens next?

The situation is still developing. According to NBC Philadelphia, New Jersey’s State Assembly and Senate both canceled meetings scheduled for Monday, Nov. 23, that were partially devoted to ironing out these issues. The next scheduled legislative meeting is Dec. 7.

In the meantime, those working to provide fair access to everyone in the state are seeking help. 

“I am asking them [New Jersey residents] once again to use their voice to speak up against the lack of social equity initiatives in the proposed legislation,” said Gonzalez. “There will be additional Senate and Assembly Committee meetings in the upcoming weeks where folks will have the opportunity to provide oral or written testimony.”

“We need a lot of help and support here,” agreed Chappell. “The window is limited.” He encouraged residents in existing recreational cannabis markets to provide testimony to help lawmakers in New Jersey avoid making the same social equity mistakes made in their state.

“This is not the time to kick back and wait for legalization to come,” advised Gonzalez. “This is the time to get louder with our demands to ensure legalization is equitable. … I highly recommend reviewing the video of the Assembly Committee meeting that took place on November 9th available on the state legislative website. It’s time we all step into the arena.