Published on November 6th, 2020 | by Bibhuranjan

How Did Technology Change The Cannabis Cultivation?

The industry of cannabis has been going through some major changes during the past decade. What once started as a completely simple and natural growth process has now turned into an advanced process, including new gadgets and technology to monitor the plant’s entire lifecycle.

Yes, we particularly refer to indoor grow rooms, where cultivators can reach the optimal growing conditions for their marijuana plants by combining some commonly seen growing tools for cannabis such as a pH reader and an environment thermometer.

However, this doesn’t mean that outdoor cannabis plantations haven’t evolved as well. Now outdoor cultivators can also make the most out of these technologies to keep track of their plants and make sure that they’re receiving the right amounts of nutrients, the new nutrients available in the market being quite an innovation themselves too.

Ever since these new tools started popping up, the whole cannabis growing tradition sort of changed. What in the old days started as a simple seed planting on the ground and taking care of it as it grew, now turned into an elaborate and controlled process in which the cultivator tries all his efforts to get premium quality results.

Technological Changes adopted in cannabis cultivation

Perhaps you’ve previously heard of cannabis grow tents? Grow tents became one of the latest trends when it comes to growing marijuana. With a growing tent, cultivators can create the most perfect growing environment for their plant, achieving full control of the temperature and humidity their plants get. Besides, what started off in a small or normal sized indoor grow room was now transported to a compact tent that’s easy to build, can be carried anywhere and doesn’t need much space to be settled. Cannabis grow tents are also great for those who would like to grow but due to external factors, such as neighbors, family members or landlords, can’t get permission to do so. Tents are so discreet and they come in personalized sizes so that you can place them hidden anywhere without anyone noticing, for example inside a closet or cupboard.

One of the biggest changes in cannabis cultivation after technology walked into the field was the introduction of artificial lights as the plants’ main light source. Nowadays, there’s a vast amount of options of lights to choose from as you grow your cannabis plants. For example, most cultivators who are growing marijuana indoors are now fully aware that their plants must follow certain light schedules along the growing process. For example, depending on the light cycle they receive, photoperiodic marijuana plants will switch from the vegetative stage (the one where they grow their structure and build to be able to hold the buds later) to the flowering stage (where the flowers start to grow and achieve their full potential). Therefore, cultivators have the ability to manipulate the plant during the first part of the growing process to practice different styles of plant training, and as soon as they’re happy with the results, changing their light cycle will trigger the flowering stage.

Autoflowering plants on the other hand, are quite different from photoperiodic on this light cycle aspect: they don’t depend on the light cycle to get into their flowering stage, instead, they do this automatically, as their name indicates, once they have reached a certain age, normally between 6 to 8 weeks. Nowadays there are even companies, such as Fast Buds, that only sell autoflowering seeds because these rarely fail to grow. Normally, autoflowering cannabis plants are grown indoors, because they tend to be quite smaller in size.

When it comes to light, most growers grow autoflowers with LED lights. LED lights are the latest and best artificial light alternative, that is because LEDs are smaller and you can fit up to 2 or 3 in a grow tent, while light fixtures are normally bigger. At the same time, LEDs don’t generate as many costs as other light settings. Bulb fixtures cost initially less than LEDs but there will be a visible increase in your light bill by the end of the month. LED’s on the other hand, will likely cost you more but their energy consumption is so low that you won’t see any major differences at the end of the month.

Conclusion

In conclusion, what we are trying to illustrate is that as the world of cannabis cultivation changes, so do the growing techniques. Therefore, stay up-to-date on the latest growing tips to get high-quality results which you thought you’d only see in photos.

Photo by Esteban Lopez on Unsplash

Tags: cannabis, drugs, marijuana

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.