Art and Science

While growing and manufacturing cannabis may seem relatively straightforward, there’s a lot of ways that it can go wrong, resulting in a sub-par product. Our cultivators have an extremely important – and precise – job to do to ensure you’re getting the best product. Part art, and clearly part science, cannabis cultivation has come a long way since people started growing this plant, however the basic process still remains. Follow along as we guide you through the journey of taking cannabis flower from seed to shelf.

Germination: 1-1.5 Weeks

The first step to starting a grow is to germinate the seed. This is where a cultivator will first begin the lifecycle of the cannabis plant. While many cultivators, once they have an ideal plant, will opt to clone instead of starting from a seed, we’re going to start all the way from the beginning. To germinate the seed, it’s placed in a wet environment, such as a cup of water, and exposed to light.

After a few days, a single root will begin to emerge from the bottom of the seed, and two small leaves will sprout from the top. The seed, at this point, is put in soil so that it can begin to take hold. These leaves begin the process of obtaining nutrients from the sun to help spur along further stages of growth.

Seedling: 2-4 Weeks

The seedling stage follows germination relatively quickly. This is where the plant actually starts to resemble a cannabis plant with a pair of serrated, finger-like leaves growing out from the stem across from each other. During this stage of growth, the cannabis plant requires a substantial amount of light, enough to ensure it’s able to produce enough nutrients to fuel rapid growth with few leaves. This typically means 18 hours of light for indoor plants, and at least 6 hours of unobstructed sunlight for outdoor plants.

While sunlight is required in droves, the plant does not require much water. Due to its small, undeveloped root system, overwatering the plant can easily overwhelm and kill it, or leave it susceptible to mold.

As the stem continues to grow, leaves begin to accompany it with an increasing number of fans on each. From 3, to 5, to 7 or more the plant begins to look like a true cannabis plant. At this stage, the plant will have a bright, vibrant green color that is indicative of a healthy plant. Once it starts possessing a full, bushy set of leaves with a full number of fans, the plant is moving out of the seedling stage and into the vegetative stage.

Vegetative Stage: 3-16 weeks

The vegetative stage is the part of the lifecycle where the plant really starts taking shape and growing to its full potential size. This stage requires similar light to the prior stages: 18 hours for indoor grows and 6 for outdoor.

In order to allow this stage to take hold, the first thing needed is a larger pot. This allows the roots to expand to handle the increasing size and water needs of the plant as it starts experiencing rapid growth.

Once transplanted, the cannabis plant begins to really take off growth-wise. The stem continues on an upward trajectory, with many more branches and leaves coming in and filling out the plant’s profile. It’s important to ensure the plant is getting more water in this phase than the previous because of the added biomass.

In this stage, cultivators will begin topping and training the plant.

Topping refers to the process of cutting off the top portion of a cannabis plant as it grows. It may seem counterintuitive, but doing so is necessary to ensure the plant grows in a way that provides the most flower when time to harvest. Un-topped plants direct their energy into growing the central stem, which results in a tall plant with one large flower, called the cola, at the top of the plant. When a plant is topped during the vegetative stage, the plant directs more energy to the branches below the cut, resulting in a bushier plant with more flower throughout.

Training a cannabis plant generally involves the use of two processes: trellising and scrogging. Trellising is the process of providing support to the cannabis plant and ensuring it grows in a direction that does not interfere with the other plants growing next to it. This generally looks like a grid of string placed over the entire planter set, with each plant being placed in the center of one square in the grid. This helps the plants from growing toward each other and blocking the light out, allowing all plants to have an equal amount of space and support to grow.

Scrogging is a term that comes from the words “screen of green”. While trellising is done to ensure the proper vertical growth, scrogging is done to ensure proper horizontal growth. This is also accomplished with a grid of netting (or, sometimes, wire) placed around each cannabis plant. The branches are then stretched out onto the grid to ensure each branch is evenly distributed. A good way to imagine this is to think of how a plant’s branches may bunch up in some areas or be standalone in others. Scrogging ensures each branch has equal access to sunlight, and forms a dense canopy between plants, hence the sea of green.

Both of these processes are done to ensure the plant directs the most amount of energy it can into flower production. Because each plant has its own “zone” and each branch is stretched out to get the most sunlight possible, the plant should form a dense canopy of flowers not just at the top, but also on the full branches.

Pre-Flowering: 1-2 weeks

Once the plant has reached optimal height and canopy, farmers begin to induce flowering. This is done by reducing the amount of light the plant is receiving. For outdoor harvests, this occurs naturally as the seasons change and daylight hours shorten. For indoor grow, this occurs when the amount of light is reduced from the 18 hours in earlier stages to only around 10-12 hours a day. This induces the first flowering stage: pre flowering.

Pre-flowering is where the plants start to develop their reproductive organs. For female plants, this usually looks like a few white strings or hairs protruding from a tear-shaped bract. For males, this presents as round shaped flower pods. During this time, it’s imperative for cultivators to remove the male plants to ensure the female plants do not get pollinated. If they do, all energy is directed toward growing seeds, rather than cannabinoid-rich flowers.

Flowering: 6-9 weeks

Once all male plants are removed, the plants are then left untouched throughout the flowering process. During this process, the flowers, or buds, will begin to form all over the plant. They will become sticky and resinous, and become larger and heavier toward the end of the flowering stage. Once the pistils on the flower turn from white to orange-red, the cultivator knows it’s time to harvest the flower.

Harvesting

Because cannabis plants are annuals, they only flower once, so it’s not necessary to attempt to keep the plant healthy while harvesting the flower. Instead, the entire plant is cut down and separated into branches to hang and dry.

Drying

Once harvested, the cannabis is not ready for consumption yet. Although it is rich with cannabinoids and terpenes here, it will not be an enjoyable experience and the flower will not last long. By removing moisture, two things are accomplished. First, the plant is preserved. Once dry, the flower is essentially primed for storage, and greatly reduces the risk that mold will take hold and ruin the flower. Additionally, dried flower is much more enjoyable to consume than fresh. If the flower is not properly dried and the process is rushed, then the consumer will notice that the cannabis is difficult to light or stay lit, and has a harsh, acrid taste.

The drying process is accomplished by hanging the cannabis branches in a dark room at around 50%-60% humidity for about a week or so.

Trimming

Once the buds have been dried, they are them trimmed. First, the flower is cut away from the larger branch. After that, smaller scissors are used to shape up the bud by trimming off any remaining leaves or stems.

Curing

Once dried, there is one more process required to ensure the cannabis is in an optimal state for consumption known as curing. To cure flower, trimmed buds are placed into airtight containers (usually mason jars for small growers, tubs for larger operations). Humidity should again be somewhere around the 50%-60% range. During this process, moisture is drawn out from the inside of the bud to somewhat continue the drying process. In addition to this, the process also removes excess chlorophyl from the bud, giving it a smoother, less vegetal flavor.

Although the curing process helps continue to dry the plant, it does so at a slower rate to ensure the flower does not get over-dried. Even so, moisture still needs to escape the container. For the first week, the container is “burped” once a day by opening the lid, releasing the moisture, and allowing fresh oxygen back in. After the first week, they can be burped every couple of days. After around a month, the bud should be properly cured and ready for storage, processing into pre-rolls, or packaging for sale.

Once cured, the cannabis can be properly stored for up to a couple of years without losing potency. Proper storage requires an air-tight, light-proof container kept at around 55% humidity. Humidity can be controlled with packs like Boveda that manage to keep a precise level of humidity via absorbing it when too high, and releasing it when too low.

The End Product

All in all, the process above takes around 8 months start to finish. For outdoor grows, the process is seasonal which limits the year to one harvest. Providing the proper care and following the correct processes is crucial for cultivators, both commercial and private, to ensure a quality product is produced.

Next time you take a puff on your favorite strain, take some time to think about the lengthy, amazing process it took to get to you. And next time you see a cultivator, make sure to say thank you!

Farm to Jar