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SPS-IMG-1315

February 11, 2019
Sustainable Plant Solutions

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Sustainable Plant News

We believe knowledge is the fundamental source of efficiency in growing.

Not only do we bring you decades of experience in turf and growth media, SPS stays current on the latest thought in growth media, nutrients, and ecology for growing cannabis and other crops.

We are happy to share both essential and new thinking on agronomy.

Always give your plants a proper diagnosis before you write them a prescription!

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Sustainable Plant Solutions is an independent, science-based soil-analyzing agency in Northeast Ohio. We have a dedication to educating our customers and helping them improve outcomes through science.

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How deep are your roots? Happy Fact Friday, every

How deep are your roots?

Happy Fact Friday, everyone! This week, we’re talking about ROOTS. Cannabis plants have taproots, meaning there is one main, larger root that grows straight down with many smaller roots branching from it.

Roots are of course vital to plants as they absorb water and nutrients. One major indicator of root health is root diameter, as thicker roots can dig deep, even through compact soil. Another indicator of root health is root mass. A plant with lots of healthy roots is more likely to thrive!

The article we have for you this week is from a study that examined samples of hemp roots. After one year of growing plants in sandy loam, the researchers sampled roots, then amended the soil to become more of a silty clay loam, and plants grew in those conditions for another year. The result was that in both years, half of the plants’ roots were at 1.6 feet (50 cm) or above, and the deepest roots were at 5.2 feet in year one and 6.5 feet in year two (Zatta et al., 2008). Have you noticed any issues with your roots? Ask us a question in the comments!

Source: Amaducci, S., Zatta, A., Raffanini, M. et al. Characterisation of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) roots under different growing conditions. Plant Soil 313, 227 (2008). https://doi-org.proxy.library.kent.edu/10.1007/s11104-008-9695-0

#cannabisroots #soilgrown #notill #marijuanascience

How much stress is good? Happy #FactFriday, all!

How much stress is good?

Happy #FactFriday, all! Let’s talk about drought stress. Usually we think of stress as something that’s bad for plants. However, there’s an interesting thing that happens with plants that produce oils.

Cannabis, like other oil-producing plants such as rosemary and sage, produces oily substances as a defense mechanism. Interestingly, it has been shown in research that the production of these substances actually increases when a plant is stressed. It makes sense: the plant produces some oils to defend itself, and when it’s stressed, it must be under attack from something, so it produces more oils for more defense.

#CannabisGrowers can use this to their advantage. An element we easily control when growing plants is their water intake, so we can cause stress by simulating a drought (reducing water). If you want to read more about it, we found a cool paper this week by Dixon and Zheng (2019). They found that after 11 days of drought stress during a flowering phase, the dry flower weight and cannabinoid content was increased compared to a non-stressed control group.

The drought took plants to their wilting point at around 5% soil moisture or -1.5 MPa of pressure, where leaves were visibly wilting, then harvested the flowers and went through a typical drying/extraction process to measure THC and CBD.

Have you tried using drought stress? How did it work out? Let us know in the comments!

Source:
Caplan, D., Dixon, M., & Zheng, Y. (2019). Increasing Inflorescence Dry Weight and Cannabinoid Content in Medical Cannabis Using Controlled Drought Stress. HortScience, 54(5), 964-969.

#sustainablecannabis #sustainablehemp #cannabisfacts #cannabisscience #cannabiseducation #growyourownweed #cannabisgrow #cannabisgrower

NSFW pics of your plants on Valentine’s Day 😜

NSFW pics of your plants on Valentine’s Day 😜

Happy #FactFriday, all! Love is in the air! Or is it just pollen?

We wanted to give you a few pollination facts for Fact Friday and also show some neat scanning electron photographs of plant reproductive parts that were taken at a research site in India.

For lots of agriculture, pollination is great! It allows plants to produce fruit. However in cannabis cultivation, pollination is the enemy. Female plants produce flowers, and when they’re pollinated by male plants, they stop growing and begin to produce seeds. That’s why most cultivators avoid male plants at all costs in order to keep female flowers growing as large as possible. After all, that’s the good part! To get around this, many commercial growers opt to keep up the number of female plants stable by creating clones from pieces of the plant rather than generating new seeds through pollination.

The image today shows some close-ups of both male and female plants. From the authors, here is the caption included in the research paper: “a. Dehisced anther with a slit(slt) releasing large number of pollen grains (pg). Bar=10 μm. b. Single triporate pollen with a distinct germ pore (arrow). Bar=1 ìm. c. Single pistil with ‘v’ shaped papillate stigma and small ovary (ov) at the base. Bar=300 μm. d. Papillate stigma with pollen grains (pg). The papillae (p) are unicellular and compactly arranged. Bar=30 μm. e. Dorsal surface of tepal showing unicellular trichomes (ut) with swollen base and peltate scales. Bar=30 μm. f. Light microscopic photograph of the papillate (p) stigma with pollen grains (lpl). 720X”

Image source: Rana, A., & Choudhary, N. (2010). Floral biology and pollination biology of Cannabis sativa L. JIPRB, 2, 191-195.

#sustainablecannabis #sustainablehemp #cannabisfacts #cannabisscience #cannabiseducation #growyourownweed #cannabisgrow #cannabisgrowers #cannabisgrower #plantlove

Feeling moist? Happy #FactFriday! This week, we a

Feeling moist?

Happy #FactFriday! This week, we are talking about soil water content. As we know, air water content (humidity) has a huge impact on plant health, and the amount of water in the soil is even more important.

Our infographic today shows the continuum from fully saturated to fully dry soil. We’re also hitting you with a chart adapted from a NRSC training document on soil water content.

Plants take up water through roots like we take up drinks through a straw: this action is impossible without some suction behind the straw. Plants accomplish this through the physical forces of capillary action, which is also how water is held in the soil. Soil is full of pores of various sizes, and as moisture drains from the soil, larger pores begin to shrink as they dry out. The dryer the soil gets, the fewer large pores hold water. Soil moisture tension increases, and less suction is possible. At about 3% soil moisture, the soil reaches equilibrium with the air moisture, and the surface tension reaches 31 bars. Plants need the tension to be between 1-14 bars to take up water.

So on our continuum, plants can uptake water from 100% saturation to about 6-16% saturation, depending on soil type. Dryer than that, plants can’t get enough water, and they will wilt.

Hydroponic grows take advantage of 100% saturation; in soil, there must be a balance of air pockets in order for the right microbial activity to take place. Overly saturated soil eventually leads to rot and will kill off roots, unless of course it’s in a managed setting like a hydro grow.

Soil moisture can be measured by feel, in a lab setting or with probes that can be used on site. What are you thoughts on soil moisture? Let us know!

Source: Northcott, William. “Introduction to the Soil-Water-Plant Environment” (2010). Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_024178.pdf
#sustainablecannabis #sustainablehemp #soilscience #soilwatercontent #cannabisfacts #cannabisscience #cannabiseducation #growyourownweed #cannabisgrow #cannabisgrowers #cannabisgrower

Happy #FactFriday! This week, we are continuing ou

Happy #FactFriday! This week, we are continuing our nutrient exploration series #KnowYourNutes with calcium (Ca).
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One of its key functions is building parts of cell walls, and it is also a messenger within cells. Without it, plant cells not only lose their structural integrity but also cannot perform vital activities like metabolism and signaling. If we're comparing nutrients to a deck of cards N, P and K might be considered the King, Queen, and Jack, but Calcium is the Ace. Cannabis has some of the highest tissue calcium numbers of any plant. Maintaining a good calcium reserve in the soil/solution and having consistently available is very important.
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WHY: Calcium deficiencies damage crops at growing points, such as leaf tips and flowers, and also make stems brittle. We have noticed in cannabis, plants use up more calcium during their flowering stage. Because transpiration is the way calcium moves in plants, maintaining consistent soil and plant moisture are very important, as is keeping the plant’s growing environment conducive to transpiration (avoid high humidity). Calcium is immobile in the plant though, meaning once the plant places the calcium at a point in its structure, it can't take it back out of there and move it to somewhere else it would need it.
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WHERE: Calcium is plentiful in most soils, and in fact, too much calcium can contribute to rot, as it can overfeed soil bacteria and throw off the balance of soil microbes.
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PARTNERS: Plants need adequate boron levels in order to take up calcium. Deficient boron, similar to a too-narrow-straw, can mean plants aren’t getting enough calcium, even though it’s plentiful in the growing medium.
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ENEMIES: Excess phosphorus pushes against calcium and so does excessive potassium, excess calcium pushes against phosphorus, magnesium.
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CALCIUM SOURCES:
Gypsum – source needs to be calcium sulfate dihydrate not anhydrate, and comes with the added sulfur which is almost always needed (18-21% Ca)
Calcium nitrate – 15-0-0-19%Ca, fairly common in use because of its solubility, availability, and growth stimulus.
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Potassium: what does it do? Happy #FactFriday! Th

Potassium: what does it do?

Happy #FactFriday! This week, we are continuing our nutrient exploration series #KnowYourNutes with potassium (K). Potassium is a macronutrient that is taken up in large quantities by plants. We can think of it as a “trigger” in plant processes: it activates enzymes that are essential to creating structures and converting energy, and it also assists with the opening and closing of stomata, the pores on leaves that assist in respiration.

WHY: Potassium deficiencies make crops smaller, less productive and more prone to disease.

WHERE: Potassium is plentiful in the soil, but most of it is in a mineral form that is not useful to plants. Usable potassium is created very slowly by the weathering of minerals.

HOW: In agriculture, we often push plants to produce faster than usable potassium is created, so potassium needs to be supplemented. Natural sources of potassium include some composts, some rock powders, Jersey green sand and glauconite.

PARTNERS: Plants need adequate amounts of magnesium in order to fully use potassium.

#sustainablecannabis #sustainablehemp #cannabisgrow #cannabisgrowers #growyourownweed #cannabisfacts #cannabisscience #cannabisnutrients

Source: https://extension.umn.edu/phosphorus-and-potassium/potassium-crop-production

Do you know how plants use phosphorus? Happy #Fac

Do you know how plants use phosphorus?

Happy #FactFriday, all! We’re continuing our #KnowYourNutes series with another essential macronutrient, phosphorus (P). Like nitrogen, our star of the series last week, this element can be found in many plant tissues. However, three of the most essential molecules made from phosphorus are DNA, RNA and ATP. Of course, plants cannot survive without genetic material, but ATP is just as essential. It is what plants use to transport energy that has been captured from the sun.

WHY: Plants that lack phosphorus will eventually die, but other phosphorus deficiencies can mean lower growth and lower reproduction rates, which is especially bad for crop growers.

WHERE: Phosphorus can be found in living things as well as inorganic materials (rocks). Traditionally, extra phosphorus was provided to plants as bone meal. Plants depend on microbes to break unusable forms of phosphorus into usable forms such as phosphates (HPO4(2-)). HOW: Although there is a lot of phosphorus in most soils, most of it is usually in forms plants cannot use. Additionally, plants need lots of phosphorus throughout a growing season, so a single crop will quickly deplete soil phosphorus levels, then when you harvest the plants, boom, all of the phosphorus is gone. Using slow-release fertilizers can help, and also nurturing microbial life with balanced soil nutrients are both ways to increase the amount of phosphorus available to your plants.

#sustainablecannabis #sustainablehemp #cannabisgrow #cannabisgrowers #growyourownweed #cannabisfacts #cannabisscience #cannabisnutrients

Sources:
https://extension.psu.edu/programs/nutrient-management/educational/soil-fertility/managing-phosphorus-for-crop-production
http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/publications/factsheets/factsheet12.pdf

What do you know about nitrogen? Hey all! Happy #

What do you know about nitrogen?

Hey all! Happy #FactFriday. To kick off 2020, we are introducing the first part of a multi-week exploration of essential plant nutrients, so you can #KnowYourNutes. Share our hashtag and feel free to repost to all of your plant-loving pals. We’ll go through each nutrient’s importance, including why it matters, where it comes from and ways to improve your plants’ health based on this nutrient.

This week’s nutrient is nitrogen (N). Nitrogen is the most abundant element in the air and also one of the most abundant elements in plant tissues, coming in at number four, just behind carbon, oxygen and hydrogen.

WHY: Nitrogen is an essential building block in plants, including proteins like chlorophyll and the structures that form roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruit. Without it, plants cannot live. When it is lacking, it limits growth and reproduction.

WHERE: Nitrogen comes from the air and is present in living things. Microbes in the soil help capture atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to plants, and microbes also break down dead things to return nitrogen to the soil as part of the nitrogen cycle.

HOW: Nitrogen is often a major limiting factor for plant growth, especially in agriculture. A key issue with nitrogen fertilizers (available as solids, liquids and as a gas) is that they are quickly washed away or evaporate, so one of the most long-lasting solutions to fostering sustainable, nitrogen-rich soil can be achieved by building up organic content through natural processes such as using grazing animals and manure.

#sustainablecannabis #sustainablehemp #cannabisgrow #cannabisgrowers #growyourownweed #cannabisfacts #cannabisscience #cannabisnutrients

Sources: https://extension.umn.edu/nitrogen/understanding-nitrogen-soils#organic-n-sources-760712
https://extension2.missouri.edu/wq259

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