sam's thunk:
Works every time.
Works every time.
the study on cloning is part of a monograph entitled:
Propagation and Root Zone Management for Controlled Environment Cannabis Production
Author: Caplan, Deron M.
https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/14249
ABSTRACT
Cannabis producers lack reliable information on the horticultural management of their crops. This thesis research was designed to improve horticultural practices for controlled environment cannabis production; topics included propagation, growing substrates, fertilization, and irrigation. To optimize the procedures for taking vegetative stem cuttings in cannabis, several factors were evaluated on how they affect rooting success and quality (Chapter Two). These included number of leaves, leaf tip removal, basal/apical position of cutting on the stock plant, and type of rooting hormone. Removing leaf tips reduced rooting success and cuttings with three fully-expanded leaves had higher rooting success and quality than those with two. Also, a 0.2% indole-3-butyric gel was more effective than a 0.2% willow extract gel to stimulate rooting and cutting position had no effect on rooting. Coir-based substrates with different physical properties were evaluated during the vegetative and flowering stage of cannabis production; optimal organic fertilizer rates were established for each substrate (Chapters Three and Four). During the vegetative stage, cannabis performed well in both tested substrates despite the ≈11% difference in container capacity (CC) between them. During the flowering stage, the substrate with lower CC increased floral dry weight (yield) and the concentration and/or yield of some cannabinoids, including THC, compared to the substrate with higher CC. The optimal organic fertilizer rate varied by substrate during the flowering stage but not during the vegetative stage; higher fertilizer rate during the flowering stage increased growth and yield but diluted some cannabinoids. Finally, the effects of controlled drought stress timing and frequency during the flowering stage were explored on floral dry weight and secondary metabolism (Chapters Five and Six). When drought was applied during week seven of the flowering stage, through gradual substrate drying over eleven days, floral concentration and content per unit growing area of major cannabinoids were increased. When drought was applied over a period of ≈8 days during week seven, cannabinoid content was similar to a well-watered control; though, dependent on drought timing, the content of some terpenoids varied. This research provided evidence-based information that can help growers improve the quality and yield of their cannabis crops.
Presentation:
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Interesting because I always get 100 percent strikes cutting leaves and leaving less than 3 sets of leaves on. Still good to see an actual study but I’ll happily stick with another technique that always yields 100 percent strike rates and healthy clones.
That was my initial reaction, it's unimpressive they're only getting a 70% success rate but then I stepped back and realised it'd be foolish to dismiss it just because it doesn't match my experience.
Since changing I've had quicker success and more importantly better root formation (not measured, purely observed). If you've created the right environment for 100% success, trying their way will probably just speed it up or give you denser roots.
I run a perpetual garden, so I'm always snipping clones and it was easy to test side by side. It's worth challenging your assumptions as it's improved my grow.
two subjects here now.. Nice to here about experiments had something say about cloning but forgot it after the drought subject came up..
Drought will effect the potency level ? Cacit works like that and some other herbs I think.. Espescially the plants that like sandy soil. Cannabis is natually sandy loam. Riverbanks I believe I have heard about.
container cap. what substrat? Bigger but looser?
Yep they have just confirmed what hippies believed in the 60's. If you subject a plant to stress of any kind it produces more resin as part of the defense to this stress. Nothing new here but it is great to see that science is now confirming very old beliefs and practices that a lot of more advanced growers use to maximise quality. I'm really looking forward to seeing more on this type of thing. E.g. light colour spectrum and quality etc.
If you read the full paper it's really looking at optimal irrigation strategies for keeping costs down, testing the cannabinoids was just to see if quality suffered more then testing if it specifucally raised them. So while properly irrigated crops produced slightly more then those that experienced water stress the difference was negligible and they achieved a 47% water reduction with draught. So for the slight yield increase it doesn't justify the added expense, especially as I believe the draught crops produced as much or more cannabinoids.
It also looked at flushing and found there was no reduction of nutrients in the plant matter comparing the flushed vs control crops. Challenging another long held assumption in the community.
https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/12125
I'm also looking forward to seeing what their research discovers, it's a local university that's focused on Ag and is currently building a plant lab specifically to study pot. Exciting times to be alive, I hope they study things like defoliation to show one way or the other if it's effective.
Interesting. But how does drought differ from a wet dry cycle. Typically you don’t water until the pot dries out. You generally wait until it’s light but not so much you’ll hurt the roots.
Are we talking literally let the pot sit dry for an extended period. 1 hour...6 hours...
On the drought stress - conclusion was
Drought increased the concentration of major cannabinoids tetrahydrocannabinol acid (THCA) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) by 12% and 13%, respectively, compared to the control. Further, yield per unit growing area of THCA was 43% higher than the control, CBDA yield was 47% higher, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) yield was 50% higher and cannabidiol (CBD) yield was 67% higher. Controlled drought stress may therefore be an effective horticultural management technique to maximize both floral weight and cannabinoid yield in cannabis, although results may differ with cannabis cultivar or chemotype.
Are we talking literally let the pot sit dry for an extended period. 1 hour...6 hours...
Were those results consistent? I thought the results varied and they concluded the effect was in relation to pot size.
The paper I linked conpared 3 crops; 2 saw a reduction in cannabinoids & 1 increased, the yields were slightly lower in 2 but the same (possibly slightly higher) in the 3rd. Which is what I was basing my comment on, the results don't seem to be conclusive but they have consistently found the difference to be negligible compared to the water savings. Sorry if I wasn't clear and seemed to be contradicting you instead of elaborating on the one studies results.
I have been testing coco DTW plants with dry-ish medium conditions
the last weeks of flower and will agree that flowering plants in coco with
moist vs wet is yielding better smoking yields.
Your mileage will vary, natch.
No, if you read the full paper their creating and controlling the water stress by measuring VPD and other metrics to gauge 2 different levels of water availability. Essentially it's just a much more controlled version of maintaining a good wet dry cycle. It's worth reading the whole paper and looking at the data, but at this point it seems to reinforce both arguments; optimal watering usually yields a bit more but from a purely economic viewpoint slight water stress is more cost effective at large scale.