Growing

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the fiscal year 2018 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill which includes the Industrial Hemp Water Rights Act. This measure would allow federally-controlled water to be used for hemp cultivation, according to a Westword report. Currently, the Bureau of Reclamation prohibits the use of water under its jurisdiction from being used for hemp-growing purposes. The measure was introduced by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner in an effort to clear up the water-use issue for legal hemp programs. The 2014 Farm Bill allows state departments of agriculture to license farmers to conduct research programs, along with institutes of higher education; however, it did not address the water issue. “This is a step in …

Over the last decade, LED lighting has gained quite a bit of popularity among indoor cannabis growers. Though LEDs (light emitting diodes) have been around since the early 1960s, they were not able to produce the wide spectrum of color they’re now known for until later on. LEDs were also very expensive, making them an unreasonable option for grow lights compared to HID (high intensity discharge). With today’s demand for energy-efficient lighting, however, LEDs have dropped in price and increased in quality. Now you might be wondering if LEDs are right for your indoor grow; here are some of the benefits to consider. Browse Cannabis Grow Lights What’s Changed in LED Light Technology Up until the past few years, LEDs …

More Americans are coming out of the shadows and owning up to their past marijuana use than ever before, according to a new report from highly respected research firm Gallup. Not only are more people saying they’ve lit up in the past, but the new poll also suggests that legal weed and relaxing attitudes across the country have led to the highest percentage of current cannabis users since researchers began collecting data almost 50 years ago. The poll, conducted earlier this month with over 1,000 respondents from all 50 states, found that 45% of American adults said that they had tried marijuana at some point in their lives, while 12% said that they are current users. Despite threats from the …

Arizona-based medical cannabis operator Harvest has merged with cannabis cultivator and supplier Modern Flower, making Harvest the largest medical cannabis operator in the state by giving them more cultivation facilities and dispensary licenses than anyone else in Arizona. Steve White, Harvest CEO, said the deal “allows Harvest to meet the demand from an increasing number of seriously ill patients who are turning to medicinal cannabis to confront a variety of illnesses.” “What I find particularly exciting about this merger is the growth of our Harvest team,” White said in a press release. “We have an incredibly engaged group of team members who are passionately committed to the care of our patients. You can easily see that energy, that genuine desire to improve …

Times are changing. In decades past, for individuals operating a home-based cannabis cultivation operation, the prospect of including this experience on a resume and subsequent job search has been a fantasy, afterthought, or impossibility. Nevertheless, cannabis growing is rapidly transforming from a secretive enterprise into a legitimate and respected profession. As evidenced by the voice of the American people in the November 2016 elections, the era of the professional modern grower has arrived. Most importantly, knowledgeable, disciplined, and versatile cannabis growers have become highly pursued assets in the contemporary business world. For those cannabis cultivators ready to make the transition into the professional hydroponics and cannabis industries, a resume will be required. In the modern age of progressive drug reform, …

It’s not often we get to hear members of Congress talk openly and at length about cannabis. For years, the topic was a dangerous one, seen by most elected officials as more of a political liability than a way to win votes. But as popular support grows for legalization—or, at the very least, letting states chart their own course on cannabis—more and more officeholders are wading into the debate. On Tuesday, four Congressional representatives—who represent both Democrats and Republicans and who hail from four states with drastically different cannabis laws—sat down for what was billed as an “open conversation about marijuana policy.” Over the course of about half an hour, they discussed the growing support for legalization, the threat of …

What Is Larf Cannabis? “Larf,” while a fun word to say, is a term some cannabis consumers may not have heard before. It’s a slang word that refers to smaller, immature buds that didn’t quite reach their full potential. Usually these buds are wispy or fluffy little flowers found on the lower branches of cannabis plants. Generally, their immaturity is attributed to lack of light penetration due to living in the shadows of the bigger, topmost flowers (called “colas”), but other environmental factors can cause similar results. What Is “Delarfing”? Many growers use practices to minimize larf and allow plants to focus their energy towards producing exceptional flower within the canopy. Delarfing is just that! By pruning, training, and removing …

In 2015, Chile legalized medical marijuana and now residents of the country are increasingly growing cannabis for medical purposes as the nation begins to loosen prohibition during the implementation process.  Advocates of the cannabis plant are working hard to ensure Chileans with chronic pain have the skills and understanding about how to grow marijuana, even though doing so is still a legal gray area. Movimental, or “The Movement”, is a non profit organization who is an autonomous, democratic, participative and self-funded organization that includes both users and non-users of cannabis, and their principal objective is to end the prohibitionist policies that have not provided any positive results in recent history.  According to the organization, the past and current policies have generated more problems than solutions, incarcerating …

Warren “Smokey” Thomas, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union, has a reputation as a strong leader and a man of conviction, so when he told colleagues he thought the union should consider providing coverage of medical cannabis for employees, they took heed. “It was discussed at a few meetings and nobody disagreed with him,” Ilana Goodman, administrator of employee relations at OPSEU, told Leafly. “Everyone thought it was a great thing to do.” Last month, OSEU began rolling out a new benefit providing medical cannabis coverage for its roughly 300 employees. The union, which represents 130,000 public sector employees in Ontario, is among a growing number of employers providing coverage of medical cannabis in response to heightened demand and …

Just two years ago, the idea of the premier of the Australian state of Victoria sharing a video on Facebook of his cannabis crop—or just about anything cannabis-related—would have been unthinkable. But today it’s a political homerun, netting Aussie politician Daniel Andrews more than half a million views and tens of thousands of positive reactions, comments, and shares. The video, posted to Facebook last month, offers a glimpse inside the Victorian government’s secret cannabis facility. Workers in protective clothing tend cannabis plants as they grow, then harvest and process the plants into extract. The Victorian government was the first entity to be granted a research license for medical cannabis. It harvested the first crop in February. Due to security concerns, …