Does the sweet spot get a line in the book keeping in the chart of accounts as a KPI for QA?
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Composted pine bark. The best thing since soiless composts where first invented. It peatmoss and every thing else in promix Bx plus composted pine bark and some wood ash.
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Yes! We monitor it to be able to tune the environmental conditions and we record it as part of the batch production records. But I have not formally incorporated it in KPI. That is a good idea.
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This is my running notes as I read great ideas and think of new ones. If I hadnāt had my Wednesday doctors appointments I would have read in real time.
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The best thing I learned IT fortune 50 is you better have a KPI or KPM for everything you. If something I touched could have an impact positive or negative we tracked it to project and financial. I know every line of code produced cost x and aged at y and and cost more each year in service on a log scale.
Detail can be tracked. It can be created at a point and turned back into information which can be tacked back. It is the ideal of data point become automatic reference points for continuaed data collection. So the audited date set can grow in detail automatically as a nested set of the grow.
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I could not agree more. I must start defining and implementing that. I will contact you for help.
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This one is easy it part of CMM 5 training and certifications. Every project I was involved with after 2002 had to be CMM certified. Any custom languages we wrote had to beat CMM 5 on design alone. It had to be built in before build. So QA and self auding transactions, the data sets where huge before we even know what big data was going to be called.
I like CMM better than ISO.
Never got burnt but had to call the internal ethics people in a few times.
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The biggest challenge in HC regulations is the latitude given to the inspector and the total lack of Horticultural common sense that are in the regulations. LPās are terrified of their inspectors and never try to let common sense prevail, so we end up with ever growing non sense.
As an example, everyone wants to do organic, yet HC doesnāt want to see any kind of bacteria, microbes, fungi etc. Therefore most organicaly grown buds need to be Irradiated (or pasteurized) giving an end product of lesser quality.
Another hurdle comes from the inspectors which apply the regulation differently in different areas. Some LPās barely ever contact me, other are on a daily basis requiring all kind of new certificates to satisfy the nutbar sent by HC to their facility. Of course there are also QA managers who ignore horticulture which is also a big problem, as a bud will never be as evenly produced as a Tylenol can, yet they wont settle for anything less.
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We mix pine bark and perlite with our Sungro mix #6 peat moss. We use about 25 semi loads of peat per year. Since we are already experienced with that medium itās what we use in our cannabis as well. Iām not an expert on everything else but Iām pretty sure itās the least expensive medium to grow in. Heck it has to be as we grow several several million $0.49 pansies & petunias in it every year and make a few cents on them.
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What about pathogen like Chocolate tubular slime mold? Even in āsterileā tree compost mediums Iāve heard of growers having nightmare experiences with pathogens.
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Try this for a mix or the courser nursery mix. MetroMix 510
We use to crop right in the bag for cut flowers and other things. Used Netafim for irrigation. 8 emitters per bag works vary nicely. We cut drain hole in the bag with a home made tool that created 14 slashes in the bottom of the bag. We laid the bags flat and could crop for 8 months. When we changed a crop we changed the bag. So snaps got changed more often than Ranunculus.
It was made by W R Grace at the time we used it. We actually used a blend with some wood ash also called MetroMix 520 We purchased about semi load in August and another in February. It was the most cost effective way for us. I donāt remember the price but you know me we costed the stuff down to the gnats ass.
We used 820 in pots over 10 inches tall or 2.5 gallons, because of the drainage characteristics we needed.
The pumas beds where steam cleaned each season to prep for the winter grow. I would us lab grade puffed glass today because you can calculate the total available surface area of the growing container, High surface area to air ratio in the container. Great for a hydro substrate. It is also very easy to clean.
from the voices in my head
Ethan
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Honestly it has an impact on every layer of the business (initial build out costs, recurring costs, etc), but the most significant impact is probably on the quality and consistency of the crop. External stressors (light, temp, humidity, temperature, nutrient, airflow, etc) will all impact the physiology of the plant, so once a ārecipeā is perfected, consistency in the environment is just as key to anything else to making sure the plant is responding in a consistent wayānot just in general health but in THC, Terpenes, CBD, extraction volume, etc. From a plant health perspective, poorly managed climates will lead to inconsistent yields, failed testing for fungus, higher operating costs associated with managing outbreaks, and lower revenue. So again, the right design and consistency is important. Mechanical design also defines your plantās exposure to outside contaminants (apart from exposure by employees where SOPās are so important) around ventilation design and filtrationāthat means fungus, pathogens, and pollens, but also the variability of outside conditions impacting whatās happening inside the facility.
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This about how we grow, in my opinion. We need to stop treating cannabis like it is a tomato. How would you grow an eight week Chrysanthemum?
Plus a big problem like you mentioned is all a post harvest planning problem.
I would like to understand the challenges you face. Please PM me.
From the voices in my head
Ethan.
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Hi Ethan -
I still have concerns about leaching, there isnāt enough research to assure me that the roots arenāt drawing the chemicals that mimic estrogen and I just donāt want to take the chance. But bigger than that, I see all the plastic in the oceans and landfills and THAT really makes me concerned/sad. All the black plastic pots eventually end up in the dump or the ocean and I donāt want to be any part of that. Yes, it costs a whole lot more, but I feel better about my output. 
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I like clay pots are the best. For cannabis production today I would look at 8 inch clay azalea pots 2x strangths, because you will use them for years. I used 10 year old clay my last Cana grow in 1993.
Plastic only in containers where glass is a life risk.
Lots of glass where not a safety issue.
Plastic bags NO period in our operations. Except where we grew in the bag.
The biggest health risk in cannabis in my opion is Aspergilus. Every sample I have tested failed the USA demestic grain standard. Granted, I tested 30 years ago. Maybe a houndred sample, please donāt ask how. Everyone had unexpected levels, levels we all said where unsafe. We grind our black pepper because ground pepper was one of the controls as was number one hard red wheat. Ground Black pepper is exempt in the USA for aphotoxins limits.
My first benches where the red wood from an old high school. We made test traufs for a new hydroponic grow for sweet pea, is puffed glass 1989. We need the EC and titration from the nutrients for a year of growth.
From the voices in my head
Ethan
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