Best Practices For Commercial Cannabis Propagation
Greenhouse Grower takes a look at planting optimal stock
The establishment of optimal planting stock in cannabis enables the continuous developmental momentum of the crop, from propagation to harvest. Although it may be preferable for cultivators to outsource propagation to specialist nurseries in some cases, many commercial facilities prefer to retain critical cultivation processes in-house. Fortunately, cannabis is easy to propagate through seed germination, or asexually through cloning or liner production.
Cannabis is dioecious, meaning that pistillate and staminate (female and male) reproductive organs occur on distinct individuals within most populations. This reproductive feature results in genetic recombination at each generation, and a greater phenotypic diversity relative to self-pollinating plant species. Dioecy further complicates seed propagation of cannabis at commercial scale, as only pistillate plants are desirable from a cannabinoid production perspective.
Best Practices for Cuttings
Currently, most commercial cannabis cultivars for the cured flower market are propagated through clonal reproduction, or cuttings. Totipotency, the cellular plasticity of plants, enables the asexual reproduction of many genetically identical clones from a mother plant. This type of propagation enables the production of crops that are consistent for all traits, including cannabinoid and terpene synthesis, vigor, and pest resistance.
To Read The Rest Of This Article On Greenhouse Grower, Click Here
