Summer is already here and we’re sure that many of you already have a beautiful outdoor garden with plants in full growth. Perhaps you started growing from seeds, or maybe you keep mother plants and moved some clones outside in the last few weeks. However you start, outdoor cannabis cultivation in summer is usually relatively simple, as the weather is good and the plants develop splendidly as long as they have the correct nutrients and irrigation they need.

However, and those of you who keep mother plants indoors while you move clones outside you will know this well, growing indoors in summer can be a real nightmare! This is mainly due to the elevated temperatures that indoor grow rooms and tents can reach, which can not only get so high as to be incompatible with proper plant growth but can also increase pest pressure and other problems. Today we’d like to tell you a few tricks that will allow your indoor mother plants to spend the summer in comfort and be ready to provide all the clones you need once the indoor growing season begins.

Avoid heat stress in cannabis plants

We’ll start from a situation where we need to keep a few mother plants growing indoors during the summer and, of course, without using an air conditioning unit, which would make it really easy for us to maintain them correctly at constant temperatures of 24ºC! So, we find ourselves in the same situation as many growers, using a small basic room or grow tent without air conditioning, where we must keep our mother plants in the best possible conditions to be able to start the first indoor crop of the season once the cooler weather of late summer allows us to.

We’ll go over the various cultivation parameters to see what we can do to improve the state of the plants in each case and allow them to spend the summer in much less stressful conditions than if we carried on cultivating in exactly the same way that we would, for example, in winter. It’s worth remembering that we probably won’t achieve the same growth rate as in spring or autumn, but we will have healthy plants at the end of summer. After all, it’s much better to be able to get 10 good clones from a healthy plant than 15 from one in poor condition!

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Light and heat in indoor cultivation

As we know, aside from the ambient temperature, the main source of heat that indoor plants receive comes from the lighting system. If we grow with LED panels this probably won’t be an issue, but in the case of using discharge lamps such as metal halide (HM), sodium vapor (HPS) or ceramic halide (CMH), the heat emitted by these can become a real headache. If we have an electronic ballast that allows us to regulate the power of the lamp, it’s a good idea to set it to 50-60% of its capacity.

Of course, if our budget allows it, we can use LEDs in summer and discharge lamps during the rest of the year. We can opt for professional panels such as the Lumatek Zeus, or if we have a tighter budget, use the Slim LED by Farming Monkey for growth or the TLED bars from Secret Jardin. The latter are particularly useful, as they always spread the light very well and can be used as supplementary lighting on the sides of the grow space, or for seedlings and clones.

In short, the trick is either to replace our discharge lamps with LED panels or to lower their power output using an electronic ballast. In this second case, LEDs can often also be used as supplementary lighting if you don’t want to reduce the rate of growth and ensure that the plants receive more light. Finally, and in relation to lighting, we can lose a couple of hours of daily light without a problem by using a 16/8 photoperiod; the plants will continue in vegetative growth and won’t go into flower, and we’ll have two hours less with the lights on every day. It ought to go without saying, but we should always try to have the lights switched on at night and during the cooler hours of the morning or afternoon, always avoiding the hottest time of day outside (midday). These are only small details, but as you’ll see at the end of the post, everything adds up eventually!

Ventilation in the grow space

Ventilation plays an important role indoors, both evacuating the hot air from the grow to the outside and bringing fresh air inside. In addition, during summer, air-cooled Cooltube reflectors can be used for the lamps, which are connected to the extraction system and help to lower the temperature within the room or tent by a few degrees. The extraction can be left constantly connected and at full power, if a potentiometer or a climate control unit is available, especially during the hottest time inside the grow space.

Regarding the fresh air intake, we must try to take air from the coolest place possible, which might not be from outside the building but from another room. Indeed, and depending on the location of the grow space and how the air intake system is set up, it may be more recommendable to take air from inside a home than from outside. Keep in mind that a flow of hot air entering the grow space is the last thing we want!

When positioning the fans that move air around inside the growing space, it’s important to place them so that the air does not blow directly onto the plants, which would cause excess transpiration. It is far better to focus them on the lamp and towards the air extraction intake, ensuring that the pocket of hot air that forms in the upper part of the room or tent is expelled more efficiently by the extractor.

Vapour Pressure Deficit – humidity and heat in the grow room

As you can see in much more depth in our article on temperature and humidity in cannabis cultivation, vapour pressure deficit or VPD is a key factor for the plants’ development, which also takes on special importance during the hottest months of the year. Broadly speaking, what we need to do is adjust the temperature and humidity to achieve the best possible development, which can be achieved by following the chart in the linked article at the end of this section.

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To give you a general idea, what we must do when temperatures skyrocket (as well as trying to lower them in other ways) is to balance humidity levels according to the temperature. In most cases, during the summer, we will have to increase the humidity inside the growing space so that the plants can cope with the high temperatures much better than if they were in a low-humidity environment.

However, since the high temperatures mean that we are unable to stop the extractor to raise the humidity, the best way to achieve this is by means of a humidifier, which we can connect to the same timer as the lamp so that it starts up whenever the lights come on. Depending on the size of the room or grow tent, a humidifier with a larger water tank will be needed (to allow it to run for at least 16-18 hours at a time).

Vapour pressure deficit (VPD) in cannabis cultivation

Irrigating cannabis in high temperatures

Logically, the higher the ambient temperature, the more irrigation our plants will need, since both their water consumption and their evaporation will be greater. It is therefore normal that we must water more frequently to prevent our plants from wilting. To give an example, the same mother plants grown in the same-sized container can require more than twice as much water on a hot summer’s day as they would on a winter one. As we can see, factors such as environmental temperature and humidity have a direct effect on the amount of water our plants consume.

If we have adjusted the VPD correctly, we will probably have fairly high humidity levels, so our plants won’t need as much water as if we weren’t using humidifiers to reach the VPD range we’re aiming for. If we don’t have the correct VPD, our plant will need watering more frequently, as the humidity will be lower and the plants will have less water in the environment.

Another important factor in summer is the water temperature. We must avoid at all costs watering with water that’s too warm! The ideal temperature of the irrigation water is always around 20ºC; with higher temperatures, the water loses oxygen rapidly, which can have a serious impact on the development of plants. At lower temperatures, certain nutrients cannot be assimilated, although we’re fairly sure that this won’t be a problem in summer!

Preventing pests in summer

Summer is usually the worst time of the year for the appearance of insect pest problems. Depending on your area, not all of them may appear, although we recommend that you don’t lower your guard and continue taking preventive measures against pests such as spider mites, thrips, or whiteflies. On the one hand, reducing the heat and increasing the humidity within the grow space will help us greatly, although using preventives such as potassium soap or neem oil on a regular basis is just as important.

Feeding cannabis plants in summer

Once again, we have two possible scenarios: if we’ve regulated the temperature and humidity to achieve an acceptable VPD range, our plants can continue to receive the same amount of nutrients that they would normally receive in, for example,  spring or autumn. We shouldn’t have any problems with salt buildup in the substrate since the irrigations will be relatively infrequent and the plants will have time to absorb most of the nutrients.

On the other hand, if we don’t have the VPD dialed in, our plants will require more irrigation, meaning that we should reduce the dose of nutrients provided in each watering. In this case, we’ll feed the plants using approximately 60% of the fertiliser dose used in spring, keeping a close eye on the plants to check for any nutrient deficiencies. If this is the case, we can slightly increase the amount of fertiliser added to the nutrient solution.

Products to reduce heat stress in plants

Finally, we’d like to recommend some of the products currently on the market that can help to protect your plants from high temperatures. As you can see, in many cases these additives are rich in silicon, a crucial element in the development of plant cell structure. These are some of the most commonly used today:

• Vitalink Chill
• Elycitor from Biotechnology
• X-Force from BioGreen
• Pro-Silicate by Grotek
• Silica Blast by Botanicare
• Barrier by Top Crop

We hope that these simple tricks will mean that your indoor plants can spend a comfortable and stress-free summer without suffering too much from the high temperatures. Please don’t hesitate to share any tips of your own, as well as any questions or doubts that may arise… We’ll be happy to answer you, as always!

Happy growing!

The post Indoor cultivation during summer appeared first on Alchimia blog.

If you’ve ever dreamed of an indoor grow that manages itself—no cables, no nasty surprises, and no spending half your life adjusting fans—the solution has a name: AC Infinity. With its Controller 69 PRO and the Cloudline PRO T4 extractor, the American climate control brand puts smart technology in your hands that automates the climate in your room or grow closet with both elegance and efficiency.

Because growing indoors doesn’t have to be complicated. All it takes is the right equipment to make it a much simpler and more manageable activity. Today, we’re introducing you to these two magnificent devices, which, as you’ll see, will make your life much easier.

The importance of proper climate management

You may have the best seeds on the market, the most fertile substrate, and LED lighting that would make a TV studio pale…but if you don’t properly control your growing climate, you’re likely to end up with problems that will translate into stress for your plants, and for you too.

Temperature, humidity, and the famous VPD (vapor pressure deficit) are the invisible variables that determine success or failure. Too much humidity during flowering and goodbye buds; poorly managed temperatures and pests can take over your crop. The plant speaks to its environment, and if you don’t provide the atmosphere it needs, it will make it clear with twisted leaves, poor development, and a yield that leaves much to be desired.

This is where systems like AC Infinity make a world of difference. Because it’s not just about extracting air: it’s about creating a stable, dynamic microclimate adapted to each phase of the growing process. An environment where plants grow safely, comfortably, and with everything in their favor to show you their true potential.

Managing the climate well isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity that, if properly addressed, will pay off at harvest time. And if you do it automatically, precisely, and remotely…that’s what proper farming is all about!

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Controller 69 PRO: the brain of your crop

Imagine the situation: your indoor grow is going great, but you spend half your life adjusting fans, controlling the temperature, increasing the humidity…until you realize you need a brain to take care of it for you. Well, this is what the AC Infinity Controller 69 PRO does: a small device that centralizes the climate control of your grow room or cabinet, turning this tedious and delicate task into child’s play.

Thanks to its Wi-Fi connectivity and mobile app, you can control everything from your smartphone: humidity, temperature, fan speed, light intensity…even program routines based on the growing phase. Entering flowering? Change the profile with a click. Detect excessive humidity in the readings? Adjust the fan from your bed or sofa. No cables, no complications. A real luxury!

And we’re not talking about a simple ON/OFF button: we’re talking about VPD-based automations, threshold exceedance alerts, downloadable climate histories, and even control of up to four devices in the UIS ecosystem: from extractors to lights, fans, and humidifiers. And all of this is orchestrated with a backlit touchscreen LCD that’s also very intuitive and easy to use.

Cloudline PRO T4: a smart air extractor

If the controller is the brain, the Cloudline PRO T4 would be the muscle. But beware, it’s not that raw muscle that makes noise and consumes like a stove. Here we’re talking about a silent, efficient, and intelligent extractor, designed to keep up with you cycle after cycle with a consistency that some humans would dream of.

Equipped with a mixed-flow EC motor and PWM control, this air extractor automatically adjusts its speed—and therefore the extracted air flow—based on the climate parameters it receives from the Controller 69 PRO. This means it doesn’t just ventilate: it adapts its speed to your plants’ needs at any given time, maintaining a stable environment without you having to intervene.

And while doing all this, it barely generates 28 dBA of noise, making it the best friend of discreet growers and sensitive neighbors. The best part? Its installation is completely plug & play: no fancy tools or hassle. Plug it in, set it up, and it’s ready to go. As if all this weren’t enough, its robust design and IP44 certification also make it ideal for technical spaces such as AV rooms, racks, servers, or, of course, indoor grows or small greenhouses. In short: a professional extractor that doesn’t flinch even in the most demanding environments.

AC Infinity Complete Kits: Grow with everything from the very first minute

Are you one of those who want to set up a serious grow shop without having to complete a master’s degree in lighting, ventilation, and odor filtration? Then AC Infinity’s complete grow kits are your entry ticket to the world of professional indoor growing…without the hassle or headaches.

Available in two versions —60x60x180 cm and 120x60x180 cm—these systems come ready to assemble, connect, and start growing with surgical precision. They include everything you need: a robust cabinet, Samsung LM301H LED light, ultra-quiet ventilation, an odor filter, a smart controller, and all the accessories to ensure you can forget about improvisations.

With the Controller 69 PRO as your command center, you can control temperature, humidity, lighting, and ventilation from your phone, set up customized routines, and receive notifications if anything goes wrong. And all with the peace of mind of knowing your growing environment is optimized down to the last detail.

As for lighting, there are no cheap bulbs or mediocre lamps here: each kit includes an IonBoard panel with Samsung LM301H LEDs, guaranteed to deliver efficiency, a suitable spectrum, and true light penetration. 115W for the small model and 200W EVO for the large one.

Cloudline ventilation, along with activated carbon filters and CloudRay oscillating fans, renew the air, eliminate odors, and simulate a natural environment, all while remaining very quiet. And the CloudLab cabinet wraps it all up with its thick canvas, steel tubes, and Diamond-type reflective Mylar: strength and reflection in a single combo.

Oh, and don’t forget: they also come with geotextile pots, SCROG mesh, scissors, conduit, clamps, and heat tape. Because when AC Infinity says “complete kit,” they mean it.

In short, if you’re looking for a professional, silent, automated system with no room for error, these kits are like stepping into the grand scheme of indoor growing. Whether you’re starting your first plants or taking your grow to the next level, you’ll find everything you need here… and not a single screw is missing.

Grow without stress…or cables

Without a doubt, one of the biggest challenges of indoor growing is constant climate management. You’re constantly checking the fan, whether the humidity rises above 70%, whether the temperature spikes, or even whether the lights have turned on or not… a constant headache for every grower, who always has that anxiety looming over them if they’re not looking at their work—that is, their plants.

This is where AC Infinity makes the difference; once installed, the system operates automatically, connected via Wi-Fi and orchestrated from your mobile app. From germination to flowering, you define the profiles and the controller executes: no distractions, no adjustments, no drama.

Going on a trip? You control everything from your phone. The temperature spikes in the middle of August? You get a notification. Want to compare your last OG Kush grow with this one with Gelato? Export the weather data, and you’re ready to compare. Just don’t think that having the app installed means you’re compromising your security…no data will leave your phone, so do not worry!

Growing without being tied to a closet is now a reality. And we assure you, once you try it, there’s no turning back.

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Technology is within everyone’s reach

It’s not just that it’s modern. It’s that it works, and it works wonderfully. The AC Infinity app is clear, fast, and stable, something that in the world of cannabis gadgets is almost miraculous. No hidden menus, cryptic icons, or unreliable Bluetooth connections.

From the app, you can create schedules, program according to growing phases, view historical weather data with precise graphics, receive real-time alerts, and centrally control all UIS devices. Yes, it’s like one of those modern home automation systems, but for your plants.

And all this with a modern, clean, and intuitive interface that doesn’t exactly look like something straight out of a poorly translated technical manual from the 1990s. And the best part is that this smart connectivity doesn’t require a master’s degree in agricultural engineering: it’s designed for real growers, with real needs and limited time.

If you want to take a step forward as a grower, automate your climate management system, and, in the process, save yourself work and achieve better results, don’t hesitate: AC Infinity can become your best ally. If you’re interested in the technical specifications of these devices, don’t hesitate to check them out on our website; you’ll find them in their product descriptions.

Happy harvest!

 

The post AC Infinity: Automate your crop’s climate appeared first on Alchimia blog.

We know. There’s nothing like watching your plants grow in the sun, with the breeze caressing their leaves and that wild aroma that makes you feel part of nature. Yes, we admit it, outdoor growing would be like a hippie-country dream come true. But between treacherous storms, nosy neighbors, pests, and harvests that seem straight out of Russian roulette… maybe it’s time for you to discover another growing method that, we assure you, can bring you great joy: indoor growing.

And no, we’re not saying you should give up on your outdoor adventures. On the contrary. Today, we want to suggest something even better: complement them.  Because growing indoors isn’t just an alternative. It’s, with the sun’s permission, the smartest way to ensure your harvests and achieve high-quality buds all year round. We’ll explain it in detail below.

Indoor Growing: Your Own Cannabis World

Growing indoors is like having your personalized microclimate, a bubble where you’re in charge and don’t have to worry about the whims of the weather. Want 18 hours of light a day? You’ve got it. Want 50% humidity and not a single bug around? You got it, too. It’s like going from the Amazon rainforest to a laboratory clean room, but with cannabis plants as the centerpiece.

Setting up an indoor grow room isn’t as complex or expensive as it seemed a few years ago. There are complete grow tents at reasonable prices, efficient LED lighting, and control systems that allow you to have everything ready with just a couple of clicks. In fact, if you take a look at this blog, you’ll find many articles that will help you better understand this method of growing, and above all, how to do it correctly.

The best part? You don’t need acres of land or to attract the attention of neighbors, police, or thieves… With a small space in a corner of your home or garage, you can get a more than decent harvest without anyone noticing and with the advantage of being able to harvest high-quality buds several times a year. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and move on to the main advantages of indoor growing, especially when it comes to cannabis plants.

10 easy-to-avoid errors in your first indoor grow

Security: No one will know you have cannabis plants

Do you have neighbors with the hearing of a bat and the nose of a bloodhound? Do you live in an area where having a plant in the garden is equivalent to summoning the local police or the typical lowlife who prefers stealing rather than growing his weed? Indoor growing is the solution. Hidden behind four walls, no one sees, no one smells, no one suspects. With a good activated carbon filter and a closed cabinet, you won’t even realize how good it smells inside. Plus, if you’ve ever had to deal with someone “borrowing” your outdoor plants, you’ll know what we’re talking about. Indoors, the only hands that touch your flowers are yours. Period.

As if that weren’t enough, indoor growing allows you to spread your production over several harvests per year, eliminating the classic risk faced by outdoor growers who must provide enough buds for an entire year with a single harvest, and are therefore forced to manage a relatively high production… Why go through the hassle of growing more than a kilo of weed to be self-sufficient when, during the year, you can make several harvests of, for example, 300 grams? You can be sure… anyone who has been to court and knows what the matter is about will always prefer to answer for 300g of weed than for a kilo!

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Independence: neither climate nor seasons stop you

Any outdoor grower knows that they depend heavily on the solar calendar and the weather forecast. Indoors, you depend on your desire to improve the environment for your plants, as you can provide them with the ideal conditions for their development. And when we say ideal, we mean it literally. Temperature and humidity, CO2 levels, ventilation, daily light hours… all of these are parameters over which you can have complete control in your indoor grow, which translates into perfect conditions for growth and flowering, with the excellent results that this brings.

All of this also means you can harvest three, even four crops a year. Regardless of whether it’s snowing, pouring, or there’s a biblical plague of locusts. You control the three fundamental aspects of the crop: photoperiod, temperature, and humidity. There are no pauses, no waiting. No storms, no unsuitable temperatures. Want to plant in January? You can. Want to harvest in April and plant again in May? You can.

And this is where outdoor growers often say timidly: “Hey, this indoor growing stuff doesn’t sound that bad…” Well, let’s keep giving them something to think about!

Growing clones instead of seeds: savings and strategy

This is where the strategic factor comes in. By growing indoors, you can maintain mother plants and create clones, which means a considerable saving on seeds. But you can also use those clones for outdoor cultivation. In other words, you can prepare your arsenal indoors and then go out into the field with a head start. Indeed, many growers keep clones of their best plants in their indoor grow rooms until June (Northern Hemisphere), when they can take them outside without fear of flowering. The result? By the end of summer, they have an outdoor garden with selected, top-quality plants, uniform in size, quality, and harvest time, with all the advantages this entails.

This way, if you like how a particular strain performs, you can reproduce it indefinitely, both indoors and outdoors. No genetic surprises or plants that go their way. Here, everything depends on your planning. Many growers keep their mother plants throughout the year to supply their indoor crop with cuttings, and take them out to the outdoor garden when daylight hours allow. Thus, they begin their outdoor crop with plants of a considerable size, while during the summer, they maintain clones of these plants indoors that will, in turn, become new mother plants. The circle closes, and the bud jars are filled to the brim with excellent genetics. What more could you ask for?

Growing cannabis cuttings

Pests and diseases: goodbye botrytis, goodbye dramas

If you have to dance to the Gods every October to prevent botrytis from wiping out your buds… You need to grow indoors. Outdoors, pests and fungi are part of the landscape. Indoors, if you maintain clean and stable conditions, most won’t even make a splash in your grow. Whether we’re talking about small insects like whiteflies or thrips, fungi like botrytis or downy mildew, or animals like wild boars, moles, or cats (why do cats love vegging cannabis plants so much??), you can forget about the vast majority of them if you grow indoors.

Thrips? Spider mites? Sure, they can appear. But here you have complete control over eradicating them before they can do their thing, plus you can prevent them much more easily than outdoors. And best of all, you don’t have to rely on harsh chemical treatments or praying to the patron saint of plants. If you do things right, these pests won’t be a big problem, and they certainly won’t threaten your annual bud production and compromise your smoking reserves for the next 12 months.

By maintaining hygiene in your indoor grow and using a few preventative measures to help you control pests, you can forget that feeling that plagues many outdoor growers every night: Will my plants be okay tomorrow morning? Yes, they’ll be fine, just relax and keep calm.

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Appearance of buds: density and resin

Yes, we know, beauty isn’t everything. But let’s face it: When you see a rock-solid bud, perfectly trimmed and covered in glistening trichomes, a smile comes to your face. The controlled conditions indoors favor that catalog-ready look we love so much. And, as a bonus, they tend to have more potency and, in many cases, better flavor. It’s not just a pretty face.

Indoors, you won’t experience cloudy days, harsh rain, or having your flowers covered with dust, mud, or pet hair. They’ll have had perfect conditions for their development every day of the grow, and this is evident in both their appearance (bag appeal) and their potency.

Ideal for breeding: make your hybrids

If you’re a breeder at heart or curious about playing with phenotypes and homemade crosses, the indoor environment is the perfect laboratory for you. In this environment, you can fully control pollination, isolate male and female specimens, and preserve genetics uninterruptedly. Plus, an indoor grow allows you to perform countless tests without compromising your bud supply, which, for outdoor growers, must last a year. Can you imagine having to smoke half-pollinated weed or a cross you didn’t like in terms of flavor or effect for 12 months? More than a pleasure, it feels like a punishment!

Material for extractions: when you want to play in the top division

Resin extraction has gone from being a hobby or a way to take advantage of sugar leaves to almost an art form. And if you’re looking to extract top-quality BHO, Rosin, or hash, the indoor material makes all the difference. More resinous buds, fewer impurities, and much higher yields.

With outdoor material, you can easily extract your plants, although the plants often produce slightly less resin and, of course, are much more likely to get dirty and produce lower-quality concentrates (with more impurities) if you’re not careful and don’t wash the plant material before extracting. But if you want to compete in the resin concentrate championship, it will be much easier to do so with indoor flowers.

You see? Growing indoors isn’t about giving up the charm of outdoor cultivation. It’s about giving continuity, depth, and greater control to your passion. It’s like taking another step in your evolution as a grower, a step that also opens up dozens of possible paths.

Do you dare to turn on the lights?

The post Why grow cannabis indoors? The biggest advantages of this method appeared first on Alchimia blog.

The idea of growing plants in space is probably as old as the idea of visiting this harsh environment. In fact, since the beginning of the space race, in the middle of the Cold War between the US and the USSR, scientists and engineers had in mind the idea of growing crops in spaceships with which the crew could feed themselves and, therefore, open the door to further space travel. However, Kennedy’s bet to reach the Moon before the end of the 1960s meant setting aside many projects to focus on a single objective: that an American astronaut land on the moon before a Russian cosmonaut.

However, as you will see in this article, many trials have been carried out in recent decades in the field of growing vegetables in environments with microgravity, or what comes to the same thing, growing in space. From the first tests with control plants to the space lettuce salad eaten a few years ago by astronauts on the International Space Station, things have evolved a lot. They have even started experiments with cannabis…didn’t you know? Keep reading…

Let’s start at the beginning: what is considered outer space?

If you’ve been following the news about space travel in recent years, you’ll probably remember some controversy with a group of space tourists who were considered astronauts by some, while such “status” was denied by others. The main question was about the height of the flight, and that is that there is no single criterion to designate where outer space begins; Although for NASA it begins at 80km above sea level, for the International Aeronautical Federation it begins right on the so-called Kármán line, at 100km above sea level. Since the title of astronaut is only given to someone who has passed that point, controversy is served.

What does seem clear and in which there is unanimity is that, below 80km in height, a flight is still considered in terrestrial airspace and therefore could not be classified as space. As far as aeronautics is concerned, designing a ship for aerial flights within the Troposphere (10km high) has little to do with designing a spacecraft for outer space.

First plants grown in space

As we have mentioned, the idea of growing plants in spaceships is something basic if you intend to undertake space travel of considerable duration/distance. Of course, farming on other planets also seems like something indispensable if you have the idea of colonizing or terraforming other celestial bodies someday. This is something that was already clear in the 40s, before the start of the space race, and when the Americans launched into space (134 km high) in 1946 the first living organisms to reach such a height: seeds of plants that traveled inside a V2 rocket – a ballistic missile in fact – which were never recovered. However, on July 30 of the same year, the following seeds sent into space were recovered, in this case, corn. The objective of these first tests carried out between Harvard University and the Naval Research Laboratory was to evaluate the impact of radiation on plant tissues.

Years later, in 1966, the first seeds were germinated in space inside the Soviet ship Kosmos 110, and also with surprising results. While some of the seeds germinated poorly, others – like Chinese wild cabbage or lettuce – did even better than their control plants on Earth. If we talk about the first plant to flower and produce seeds in space, this merit belongs to Arabidopsis Thaliana, which did so during a mission by the Soviet spacecraft Salyut 7 in 1982.

The tests continued for decades on the MIR Space Station first and, later and currently, on the International Space Station (ISS). The next great milestone regarding cultivation in space came in 2015 when the members of Expedition 44 to the ISS consumed for the first time a vegetable grown in space, some red romaine lettuce leaves grown with the cultivation system developed by Orbital Technologies Corp. (ORBITEC) and called the Vegetable Production System, “Veggie” to folks. Today, and since 2017, Veggie coexists on the ISS with another new cultivation system that requires less intervention by the crew, the Advanced Plant Habitat, once again designed in collaboration between NASA and ORBITEC.

Crops on the Moon…Are you kidding?

Well no. What a few years ago might have seemed as utopian as a ride in a lunar rover for Jules Verne, is now a reality thanks to China’s Lunar Exploration Program. Indeed, on January 3, 2019, the Chang’e 4 lander landed on the far side of the Moon, in the Von Kármán crater. Among many other instruments, it carried a valuable cargo inside: a small “biosphere” weighing 3 kilograms where seeds of various plants (tomatoes, lettuce, and our well-known Arabidopsis Thaliana) were housed, as well as Bombyx Mori eggs, which you surely know by their aliases, silkworms.

The idea? Worms and vegetables should establish a symbiosis within the cultivation system, where the worms provide carbon dioxide and the vegetables do the same with the valuable oxygen. The first cultivation on the Moon is already underway, and… who knows? If the worms reproduce, we could be facing the first case of extraterrestrial silkworms in history!

NASA’s policy regarding cannabis

Unfortunately, and as you probably suspect, NASA’s policy is not exactly cannabis-friendly, especially when it comes to having engineers and astronauts getting high with the newest weed in the USA. In fact, this policy dates back to the days of Ronald Reagan, a character who, as we saw in another article on this Blog, professed such hatred for the plant that he would not exactly be considered “Captain Cannabis” by the green community.

Cannabis in the 80s, the Dutch revolution

Since 1986, and thanks to an executive order signed by the aforementioned character, NASA is a completely drug-free workspace, in which its use among employees is strictly prohibited, whether during working hours or outside of them. In addition to a strict pre-employment screening for traces of substances such as cannabis, cocaine, or amphetamines (among others), astronauts undergo periodic and random drug testing to ensure compliance with federal law.

Although NASA has been carrying out cannabis tests for years due to the characteristics of the plant, it must be said that they are always hemp plants, with a negligible content of Tetrahydrocannabinol; At no time do you think that NASA intends to have coffee shops in outer space, or that it is going to let its astronauts enjoy a good joint of Kush watching the Earth from the Moon… can you imagine?

Will we ever see cannabis growing in space?

Although we already know NASA’s opinion on high-THC cannabis, today the space “monopoly” no longer belongs to the American and Russian space agencies, as it did in the days of the Cold War. On the contrary, at present, there are many companies dedicated to space matters, from aerospace engineering or scientific research to the launch of satellites, nanosatellites, or capricious millionaires.

Within the field that interests us, we have, for example, the case of Chris Hadfield and the company BioHarvest, for which this retired astronaut of Canadian origin is a consultant. Well, it turns out that Mr. Hadfield – the protagonist of one of the biggest hoaxes regarding cannabis and space, as you will see later – and BioHarvest, specialized in the production of nutrients for astronauts and plant cell culture, would have been working on the idea of cannabis crops in space. To give you an idea, these people are capable of growing trichomes (trichomes, not plants) in bioreactors…simply astounding!

We have another example with the Space Tango company, which has two culture units called CubeLabs installed on the ISS. About the size of a microwave, microgravity cultivation experiments are carried out in these units, and one of the plants chosen for such trials is cannabis, although again cannabis with a low THC content. There is a lot of curiosity to see how the cannabis plant will develop in an environment without gravity, eliminating a large part of the sources of stress. Its main objective: to study the cultivation of fibers for use in the formulation of medical compounds.

Elon Musk and cannabis in space

A truly controversial character, Elon Musk has recently been the protagonist, and for several reasons, of various news related to cannabis and space. Current partner of NASA and Front Range Biosciences, Musk founded the aerospace company SpaceX as early as 2002; Almost 20 years later, in March 2020, a SpaceX Dragon capsule docked with the ISS with some curious content: among the 3 tons of material transported to the Station, there were almost 500 hemp plant tissues from Front Range Biosciences that would be grown in zero gravity for 30 days before being returned to Earth.

Curiously, in 2018 Elon Musk (already a NASA partner) starred in an unforgettable moment when he smoked a joint on a podcast, something that his Space Agency partners did not like at all. In fact, NASA’s director Jim Bridenstine made a statement “condemning” Musk’s attitude in what, according to him, was not “the most appropriate image.” However, this did not stop SpaceX and NASA from continuing to collaborate, although since that day you have not seen Elon Musk smoking cannabis in public again, that’s for sure.

On top of all this… Does cannabis get you high in space?

While the question of whether or not cannabis gets you high into space may seem like a concern more for a stoner caught up in his daydreams than for scientists at agencies like NASA, it’s no-nonsense. The thing is that like THC, other non-psychoactive cannabinoids with enormous medicinal potential such as CBD act in your body thanks to your body’s endocannabinoid system, which is why, in effect, studies have been carried out on the impact of zero gravity conditions on cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system, studies aimed at answering the big question: Does our endocannabinoid system work the same in these exceptional conditions? Will our body react in the same way?

What is the endocannabinoid system? (ECS)

Well, according to a study published by Brain Structure & Function, the effects of cannabis could be inhibited in case of prolonged exposure to protons and radiation, as CB1 receptors are affected. This study, carried out among others by Stanford neuroscientist Ivan Soltesz, concludes that the cannabinoid neuroreceptors present in areas of the hippocampus did not function under these conditions. In other words…it may not be possible to get high on cannabis in space!

Hoaxes and curiosities

To write this article we have found several curious facts and some hoaxes that surfed the Net at the time. Here are some of them:

SeedHub

On June 1, 2013, and for the first time, a joint, several buds and a marijuana plant traveled into space thanks to a balloon such as those used for meteorological measurements. Those responsible for such a feat were SeedHub, who managed to get their “package” to reach a height of 29km above sea level. Not bad for a project carried out by amateurs!

Herban Planet

After a few years (2017), it was the Herban Planet company, together with its partners from Sent Into Space, who managed to send half a kilo of buds 35km high, buds that were later sold exclusively in a dispensary in Arizona. What we don’t know is at what price…

Chris Hadfield with weed on the ISS?

Perhaps you have seen a photo of an ISS astronaut holding a bag full of buds around…it was a hoax, a fake, bullshit! What the bag Chris Hadfield was holding actually contained were Easter eggs for the ship’s crew.

THC in meteorite fragments

We hardly need to tell you…it’s about another fake that circulated years ago on the web, according to which THC was found in a meteorite that crashed into the Nevada desert in 2010.

Planet Weed

We go back to 2015 when NASA astronomers reported a unique discovery thanks to the Kepler space telescope: Planet X637Z-43 had been found, which appeared completely covered with marijuana plants. Of course, it was another hoax but…did anyone really believe it?

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References:

• Hardware validation of the Advanced Plant Habitat on ISS: Canopy photosynthesis in reduced gravity. Monje OA, Richards JT, Carver JA, Dimapilis DI, Levine HG, Dufour NF, Onate BG
• Neurophysiology of space travel: energetic solar particles cause cell type-specific plasticity of neurotransmission. Sang-Hun Lee, Barna Dudok, Vipan K. Parihar, Kwang-Mook Jung, Miklós Zöldi, Young-Jin Kang, Mattia Maroso, Allyson L. Alexander, Gregory A. Nelson, Daniele Piomelli, István Katona, Charles L. Limoli & Ivan Soltesz
• Plants Grown in Space, astrobotany.com
• Meals Ready to Eat, nasa.gov
• Plants in Space, Flint Wild

The post Cannabis in space: An increasingly closer reality? appeared first on Alchimia blog.

Whether we are talking from a medical or recreational cannabis context, the cannabinoid content becomes more important with each passing season. From users who only want to consume flowers or products rich in CBD but without THC, to the most fanatical fans of strains with high THC content (and, therefore, highly psychoactive/medicinal), as time goes by consumers are gaining experience and are increasingly demanding in terms of knowing the amount of cannabinoids in the seeds or flowers they buy.

Without a doubt, one of the most demanded cannabinoids today is THC. Logically, for a company that markets products with THC or isolated THC, it will be much better to start with plant matter that is very rich in this compound, so varieties that already have a high THC content will be chosen. But how can the total THC production in a cannabis crop be increased? What can be done to increase the THC production of a plant? Today we will tell you about several key aspects to take into account to get as much of this cannabinoid as possible.

Choice of genetics to grow

The first step to getting as much THC as possible is, of course, starting with seeds of varieties with a high THC content. Yes, it is true that in this article we will see how to get more THC from a cannabis plant, from anyone, but the fundamental thing if you want to obtain high levels of this substance will be a careful choice of the genetics that you are going to cultivate. Mainly because today you can find varieties with THC percentages close to 30%, something that would have been incredible just a few years ago.

If you are a professional, apart from the production in grams of THC per square meter of cultivation, you should also look at other important aspects to get the most out of your installation, such as flowering speed, resistance to pests, or nutritional needs. In the event that you are a home grower, paying attention to these traits is also interesting, although we recommend that you give more importance to aspects such as the aroma or taste of the flowers. And, in case you already have some seeds of a variety that you want to grow and you are simply looking to get the maximum THC production that this genetic can give you, keep reading…

Top 10 highest-THC cannabis strains of 2022

Overall plant health

If what you want is for your plants to offer everything they are capable of offering, you cannot forget any detail. Now that you are clear about the genetics you are going to grow, you need to refine each parameter of your grow to avoid any source of stress to your plants that could cause a problem in their development. It will be useless to have the best lamps, air conditioning equipment or CO2 generators if your plants are going to suffer from nutrient deficiencies or are going to be watered excessively, for example.

You are going to try to get your plants to their full potential, much like an athlete during the Olympics…you have to give them everything they need to do it, or else it will be impossible! Keep a close eye on the temperature and humidity of the crop, the type of light you are going to use, the nutrition, the state of the roots, the pH, EC, and temperature of the irrigation water… everything will help your plants become true champions!

Temperature and humidity

These two factors are always of crucial importance for a crop to turn out as it should. As you already know from our article on temperature and humidity in cannabis cultivation, where we talk about the vapor pressure deficit and the relationship between these two values, adjusting them properly becomes the difference between success and failure. Consult the tables attached to that article to be sure which humidity value corresponds to each temperature value.

In the case of THC, our biggest enemy in cultivation will be high temperatures. In fact, unless we are using a CO2 generator, temperatures of 30ºC or higher will only facilitate greater evaporation of terpenes and less production of cannabinoids, so they should be avoided. If what you want is for your plant to reach its THC peak while preserving its organoleptic qualities to the maximum, the temperatures inside your grow room or tent should not exceed 25ºC.

During the final phase of flowering, you can try lowering the humidity a bit compared to the value that would correspond to it in the table; many varieties respond to lower humidity with increased resin and cannabinoid production, which works in both ambient (relative humidity) and irrigation (substrate moisture). Of course, it is not about torturing the plants until they are almost killed, but simply reducing the relative humidity in the environment a little and the frequency or amount of irrigation.

Lightning

Choosing a good grow light kit is extremely important if you want to achieve the maximum potential in terms of the amount of THC produced by your plants. For this, the classic HPS or high pressure sodium equipment can work correctly, although in recent years professionals have opted for CMH or ceramic halide lamps or, directly, full-spectrum LED lamps. This last aspect is important, because as we will see in the next point, the broader the spectrum of light that plants receive, the more cannabinoids they will produce.

In many cases, about 600W per square meter of cultivation is being used, enough for the plants to express their maximum potential if the rest of the crop parameters are correctly optimized. In the case of using LEDs, you can opt for a little less power, although many modern LED equipment designed for 1.2 x 1.2 meters is 600W (dimmable in the vast majority of cases). Of course, and in case you want to save on the electricity bill, dimmable electronic ballasts can also be used with discharge lamps such as HPS or CMH.

UV rays

The use of UV lamps in indoor cultivation has become more and more widespread as more and more evidence (mostly testimonials) seems to show that it increases both the production of glandular trichomes and the total THC content in them. There are not a few scholars who believe that the main reason why the cannabis plant produces trichomes (and, in them, hundreds of substances such as cannabinoids, terpenes, or flavonoids) is to protect itself from exposure to sunlight, more specifically as a method of defense against ultraviolet rays; Thus, it could be thought (and this is actually the case) that if exposure to UV rays is increased, the plant’s response will be greater, producing more resin and more THC.

In a study, a curious experiment was carried out: some plants were exposed to UV rays, while others were caused a plague of insects. Another of the theories about why the plant produces THC is to protect itself against insects, so in this study both theories were investigated and compared. The result was overwhelming: the plants with pests did not show any increase in THC production (if anything the opposite), while those exposed to UV rays did increase the production of both resin and THC.

However, be careful with this topic: for the writing of this article, for example, we have found 3 studies on the increase in the amount of THC and the performance of plants with conflicting conclusions. In one of them, an increase in the yield of the plants (dry weight of the flowers) was observed, but not in the cannabinoid content. In another, it is said that it does not work in either of the two cases, while in the third an increase in THC was observed in narcotic cannabis plants, although this was not the case in hemp plants. Without a doubt, we need more data to be able to reach a conclusion, and also the chances that some of these studies are not entirely reliable are, in fact, quite high; not in vain, we doubt that Nature is rolling dice!

There is controversy about the increase in THC or yield with the use of UV: while some studies support this theory, others strongly deny it.

In any case, prudence: if you decide to try UV light in your room or grow tent, keep in mind that only UVB lamps will work, you should not try it with UVA lamps. In addition, it is a light that can cause skin cancer and serious damage to the eyes, so schedule everything so that the UV lights are never on if you are visiting the grow.

Optimum harvest point

As you probably already know, the substances secreted inside the trichomes are produced and stored during flowering. Thus, as flowering progresses, the amount of cannabinoids, terpenes, and the rest of the compounds present in the trichomes increases, reaching its peak at the moment known as plant maturity. Growers, therefore, tend to be very vigilant during this period and monitor the state and color of the trichomes on a daily basis in order to establish the best time to harvest, precisely when the THC peak (we should say THCA) has been reached and before it starts deteriorating.

Indeed, the THC content of a plant increases during flowering up to a certain point, from which point the THC begins to degrade and, therefore, the amount of total THC begins to decrease. Many growers will wait for most of the glandular heads of the trichomes to be milky in color before harvesting, as it is during this phase that the peak THC content within the heads is reached. In our article on how to harvest based on trichomes, we tell you everything in more detail.

Here is our summary of techniques that you can use to try to increase the production of THC by your plants, we will be very attentive to the comments section in case you decide to share your tricks or ask your questions.

Happy harvest!

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References:

• Postharvest Operations of Cannabis and Their Effect on Cannabinoid Content: A Review. Pabitra Chandra Das , Alec Roger Vista, Lope G. Tabil, Oon-Doo Baik
• The Effect of Harvest Date on Temporal Cannabinoid and Biomass Production in the Floral Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivars BaOx and Cherry Wine. Eric R. Linder, Sierra Young, Xu Li, Shannon Henriquez Inoa, David H Suchoff
• Cannabis Inflorescence Yield and Cannabinoid Concentration Are Not Improved with Long-Term Exposure to Short-Wavelength Ultraviolet-B Radiation. Victoria Rodriguez-Morrison, David Llewellyn, Youbin Zheng
• Cannabis Yield Increased Proportionally With Light Intensity, but Additional Ultraviolet Radiation Did Not Affect Yield or Cannabinoid Content. David Llewellyn, Scott Golem, Elizabeth Foley, Steve Dinka
• UV-B radiation effects on photosynthesis, growth and cannabinoid production of two Cannabis sativa chemotypes. J. Lydon, A. H. Teramura, C. B. Coffman

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