Photo Story: Cannabis Greenhouse Farm in California
A starting point in the life of every cannabis entrepreneur should definitely be a visit to a professional cannabis farm. It doesn't matter if you plan a small craft cannabis grow or whether you want to shake up the entire market: Once you dive into such a green realm, you will feel like in seventh heaven. Standing in a sun flooded greenhouse, surrounded by thousands of plants, makes you high by not even smoking them. You will feel the necessities of these wonderful plants immidiately. Growers will recognice all the exciting technologies used, nutrients and greenhouse management frameworks.
Some may even be disappointed by too rudimentary use of technology. For example, you'll miss lights on the average cannabis farm in California - that's what the sun is for. But pictures are worth a thousand words at this point - so enjoy our never-ending photo gallery of Paul's Farm, the Cannafornia cannabis greenhouse farm complex near Salinas in Central California.
Let's start with an overview of the cannabis greenhouse farm
At the beginning of the approximately three-month creation process of terpy cannabis buds, countless clones of even more countless strains and varieties have to be cut.
Meter-long shelves full of clone trays line up in the attic of this cliché-esque farmhouse. Here, under artificial light illumination, priceless values grow into clones about ten centimeters height.
Once the grower has settled on a variety, it's on to the vegetation stage greenhouse at the cannabis farm.
In the vegetation area, the cuttings slowly but surely grow into more root-rich, side-shoot-forming plants. Under 18 hours of light per day, the juvenile plants intentionally do not form flowers yet and can devote all their energy to side branches, leaves and height-oriented growth. In California, the juveniles grow naturally with plenty of sunlight, but especially in winter, artificial light must be used to help out in order to achieve the 18 hours of light every day. If this were not ensured, the plants would produce flowers much sooner and develop fewer side shoots. The yield, however, is much higher if the plant is first given adequate height and side growth under 18 daily hours of sunlight - after all, this way we get exponentially more leaf axils in which juicy flowers will later settle when we switch to the flowering cycle. But first, let's raise the curtain on the "veggie phase," as the growth phase is colloquially known - not just on American farms.
Now we finally get to the cannabis farm's flowering greenhouse!
After about a month of vegetative stage, the cannabis plants move from the vegetation greenhouses to the flowering area. But why can't the plants just finish growing in their vegetative environment? It's because at these huge scales, factoring in labor costs, land costs, and yield, a plant's cycle is most economically kept when the growing phase is about a month and the flowering phase is about 2 months. As we need different requirements for vegetative and flowering environments, at least 18h of light vs. 12h, two separate areas are the most economically way to go. One also have to consider that the plant doubles its height during the flowering phase. The end result is that at least twice as much area is needed for the flowering phase as for the growing phase. After all, plants in vegetative stage take up significantly less floor space at the beginning of their growth than they do in flowering. So it makes sense to move plants during their life cycle for best use of existing infrastructure and resources.
Budporn.
And what happens to the plants after harvesting?
After harvesting, the plants are first chopped up quite roughly, i.e. only freed from the fan leaves, and hung up in full length to dry. This is done quite easily by means of hangers. After a certain time in the ventilated room on the hangers and one or the other intermediate step, the plants then end up with the trimmers, who shred the flowers exactly the way we like it best. Afterwards a bright green plastic box is labeled and the way to the distributor can begin.
So. And now the most important question: How does the weed from Cannafornia Farm taste?
We received two packs of Raspberry Cookies as a guest gift. A strain with shallow 10% THC, delicious raspberry flavor and pleasant sativa high. Nothing special in comparison, but not the worst buds of our trip either. You can taste out that was fed with mineral fertilizer. However, only slightly, because even at Cannafornia Farms, the plants are once again rinsed with only water for a few days before harvest. Nevertheless, organic / bio has not been worked here.
Otherwise, raspberry and cookie notes actually dominate, whereby personally, as a declared cake variety fan, I was immediately satisfied with the smell and taste. Still, my favorite organic weed plays in a different league. What Cannafornia Farms can do, however: The right size of the flowers. Nice and small, you don't pay for stalks here. Nice and compact, perfect for a blunt and without the need for a grinder.
At this point, unfortunately, we have already reached the end of our little excursion to the large scale cannabis farm. Please not that all photos belong to Lorenz Minks and any third party use is not allowed.
