What's new
  • ICMag with help from Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest in November! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!

Dutch pilot experiment: LEGALLY growing organic female hemp flowers high in CBD

oldchuck

Active member
Veteran
I think there are quite a lot of people in the US and EU doing exactly that, Sant. However, due to the desire to make as much money as possible they are keeping their secrets. Our friend, Dutch, for example. He grew a nice crop and I imagine he has had it thoroughly tested by this time but he seems unwilling to share his results.
 

Santalum

Member
OC It is legal to grow hemp here in Australia and let me tell you from a farmers perspective which is my primary craft, only needing to grow a crop until it is 3/4s done for a top third harvest and CBD extraction on an industrial scale instead of to full maturity for seed is very appealing. For a start you can go for a dry land grow as you don't need as much rainfall. And if you are 'marginal' for hemp with your rainfall, you simply fallow (don't plant a crop, control weeds and build water credits) the year before and then plant.

Trouble is in Australia you have to pay $25/hr for labourers if you wanted some male weeding done. Whoever can master sensimilla grow on a broad acre scale will be king. Cheap labour the key unless someone developed a technique to 'silence' the males chemically or maybe could switch them to female.
 
The problem in Europe is the low/zero THC craze and as the enzyme CBDA synthase produces for whatever reason between 5 and 10% THC, all approved varieties are unfavourably low in CBD as well and without a 'miracle' plant or gene technology there's for now no way around this pothole ;( .

Very interesting, thanks OO! Please post the literature reference for this! I'd like to read more on this subject.
 

Santalum

Member
Yes OC the sharks are circling indeed. The first pot stock on the ASX listed about a month ago and went from an issue price of 20c to a high of 92c. Phytotech - Focussing their growing Uruguay, product formulation in the US so a complicated model. I have a friend who is doing a reverse takeover similarly as in this article of yours to list the first hemp company. I 'm yet to see the prospectus but this appeals to me because hemp is legal though still regulated in Australia.

There are many problems with the cannabinoid market - CBD levels on the low side in hemp (need better varieties), male plants, lack of diversity in cannabinoid products (have yet to see acidic and decarbed products eg THCA and CBD for epilepsy), industrialisation of growing/ harvesting/ processing etc, mastering dry land production techniques etc etc. all challenges that if solved will deliver handsome profits to the innovator/s. All this whilst navigating legal and bureaucratic loopholes. There'll be lots of cowboys who ride this for the quick bucks and won't contribute a thing, but some will crack the real problems and produce wealth from health.
 

oldchuck

Active member
Veteran
As OO points out, "better" plants (defined as higher percentages of other useful cannabinoids) will probably require higher THC content than EU (and others) limits allow. My own solution is screw the hemp limitations and grow F1 hybrids. There are limitless crosses possible. No need for anything more ambitious than F1s. The politics will straighten out eventually. If you legalize smoking weed what sense is there to the hemp restrictions?
 

Santalum

Member
Its an interesting point OC. Hybrids particularly interspecific (although this seems to be debunked now but not at a governmental level) may well fall in murky regulatory waters. Never knock back a bit of hybrid vigour either. Its a wonder this point hasn't been discussed and explored more in medicinal blogs.
 

oldchuck

Active member
Veteran
I don't know about your government but mine (US) treats Cannabis as a single species. It's all evil weed according to the DEA. There were court cases, I think in the early 70s, where some people who got busted tried to plead innocence because they were smoking Cannabis indica rather than sativa. Didn't work. They were convicted and official federal single species designation remains in force. Recently there have been some modifications but the species tangle remains.
 

ECtraveler

Active member
Veteran
But in all seriousness, sensimilla hemp is the game.

I understand the need for it now but I personally don't see this as the future. Why grow hemp for medicine once the laws change? Wouldn't it be better to sow your field with plants that yield 20% CBD instead of 3% and leave hemp for food, fiber & fuel?
 

ECtraveler

Active member
Veteran
By this time next year CBD varieties will be legal to grow in the states and once the laws change here the rest of the world will follow like a tidal wave. Could even happen as early as this summer.
 

oldchuck

Active member
Veteran
By this time next year CBD varieties will be legal to grow in the states and once the laws change here the rest of the world will follow like a tidal wave. Could even happen as early as this summer.

And then the market will be flooded and the price will crash. If only... So how come you can buy a gram of weed on the street in Portland for $5 while across the river in Vancouver, WA a gram of "recreational" goes for $20?
 

ECtraveler

Active member
Veteran
Didn't say anything about price. Just that that the legal environment is changing and it's happening at an ever accelerating pace.
 

Santalum

Member
Hard to imagine the laws ever changing everywhere. More likely regulation will continue to stifle free market forces and artificially inflate prices of CBD globally for many years to come. Plant breeding is largely occurring illegally ATM for increased CBD varieties, trade is largely 'illegal' (we are in breach of the local laws importing hemp paste for our daughters epilepsy in Australia), because of perceived lack of trial work regulation could impact at the prescription level for years after any liberalization, there is less regulation in hemp than cannabis as a general rule etc etc. So sensimilla hemp is the safest play for CBD dependants as a general rule. You just need to consider learning where the closest local hemp farm is going to likely to be. The next wave of hot stocks will be hemp focused IMO
 

ECtraveler

Active member
Veteran
I didn't mean to imply hemp doesn't have a bright future because it does. It's bio-fuel and fiber potential is well proven. But concerning CBD's legal status in the United States CBD isn't officially listed anywhere in our Controlled Substance Act and is only illegal by interpretation. Legislation has been introduced to address the omission and officially de-schedule it. When that happens there will be no distinction between CBD from hemp and CBD from Cannabis.
 

Santalum

Member
There will be companies looking to produce CBD sythetically via transgenic modification of yeast etc, particularly if the legal impediments remain. I know in the area of sandalwood, which is one of my industries, a French company called Firmenich has uncovered the synthesis pathway for some of the aromatic sesquiterpenes (ie alpha santalol) which give the timber its insane value, and they are now looking to manufacture these compounds in such a manner.

But for parents paying the CBD piper, if you don't like Colorado or Washington State or even the US for that matter, hemp fields are far more abundant than high CBD cannabis ones. Or you move to rural areas, get a license and devote the backyard to producing your own medicine, legally. When you consider everyone will need to likely use CBD at one point in their life to enhance life expectancy, don't underestimate the lengths people will to for health. I just know what my own family has contemplated with our daughter.
 

ECtraveler

Active member
Veteran
But for parents paying the CBD piper, if you don't like Colorado or Washington State or even the US for that matter, hemp fields are far more abundant than high CBD cannabis ones.

For the majority of the 23 states where medicinal marijuana is currently legal that simply is not true. Nor will it be true on a national level(US) by the time election season rolls around next year.

Hemp will get the job done and for the short term that may be the only option for some people but those days are changing. And when they do why use a fork to cut a steak if there's knife sitting next it? Use the best tool for the job.
 
The problem in Europe is the low/zero THC craze and as the enzyme CBDA synthase produces for whatever reason between 5 and 10% THC, all approved varieties are unfavourably low in CBD as well and without a 'miracle' plant or gene technology there's for now no way around this pothole ;( .

@Only Ornamental: I'd like the reference to the literature on this one! Sounds interesting.

Interesting discussion. Yes, there's a lot happening in the world of hemp. Just look at the coming 12 th EIHA conference. They have 9 speakers on CBD! Including dr. Melamide! http://www.eiha-conference.org/programme

Here's an interesting video of DunAgro hemp processer in the Netherlands who started a company Sanahemp that sells CBDA juice. They proces inmature hemflowers and leaves by pressjuicing into a waterbased CBDA 30 mL shot. The CBDA content is relativly low, 54 mg per 100 mL of juice. One box contains 30 sachets of 30 ml juice (900 mL total). One box is 120 euro's. So that that roughly makes it:

CBD m% = 0,054%
Total CBD content = 486 mg
Price per mg CBD = € 0,247

Cool processing line and awesome harvesting technique, though I doubt that plain water is a good choice for a CBD(A) carrier.

LINKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGoms2B4dy8
http://sanahempjuice.com/en/
 
Top