Thank you for being here and sharing your knowledge.
While researching our continuous disinfection lighting, we toured a few facilities and they pretty much all mentioned how mold and mildew are their worst enemies in the grow room. What do you find to be your ‘worst enemy’ in the grow room?
Mostly suits and little substance.
I am not against people making a living or making a lot of money off of cannabis. But, that was never my motivation, helping others was first for me.
I often call it the “cannabis greed rush”, because to so many of the people in the industry, it is all about those bottom-line profits.
But that said, I hope one day to see Campbell’s Cannabis in cans at the supermarket, for pennies on the pound. I hope that everybody gets to experience the wonderful effect that injesting cannabinoids can have on their body and mind. I hope that corporate cannabis comes in and puts cannabis in every store across the country, I hope that alcohol sales go down as people discover cannabis.
I hope that cannabis can replace opioids for a majority of the population. I suffer from chronic pain associated with the first five vertebrates of my neck being fused together since 1972, and I have completely avoided opiates since 1982, and used cannabis to cope with my chronic pain condition.
I truly hope that other people get the opportunity to do the same thing.
WOW - Attorney general Jeff sessions just resigned!
Congratulations to the cannabis industry!
Literally just danced through the halls!
Could we have asked for better timing?!?!?!
It is wonderful watching the end of cannabis prohibition!
Tis the harbinger of the end!
Before we go to smoke our celebratory joints, I would like to share the new taxonomy that better describes the cannabis we are all growing.
Robert C Clarke, author of Marijuana Botany, HASHISH! and more recently, Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany passed out this reference guide and I share it all with you so we can all better understand what it is we are talking about when we are using the terms indica or sativa.
Todd, you are a true legend. Thanks for keeping it real today and sharing your insight and experience and wisdom with all of us here at Growers Network. I know we all grew together today and are better for the experience!
On a personal note: I could not have imagined a more fitting way to learn about the resignation of Jeff Sessions! Forever we will remember who told us he resigned. So undeniably apropos!
Thanks again for being a part of the forum and hosting today’s AMA. A big shout-out to all the GN members who participated today and asked those questions! Our community is only as strong as the members who contribute!
Happy Growing
Thank you to everybody who took part.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any further questions.
Be sure to check out my articles in Grow magazine, available at any Barnes & Noble.
Please read: The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer. I have been honored to be one of the editors of the book since 1994.
Both of our documentaries are available on YouTube:
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (2008)
The Culture High (2014)
Talking about Jack Herer
I apologize for missing your question initially, but it would be happy to answer. And I would say that my worst enemy in the growroom is lack of humidity.
I know that sounds rather crazy when everybody’s talking about dehumidification (which I do at night in my greenhouse) most of the time, but since I started growing in the VPD range that the plants best transpire in, I have had zero problems with powdery mildew, or mold, whereas before it was a huge problem.
Dryness seems to be the biggest problem many growers face growing indoors. The old HID lamps create hot dry microclimate directly over the plants, and then compounding the problem most growers do not properly humidify the area during the day and their plants suffer, as the waxy coating on their leaves thins out and causes the stomata to harden and stop working (much like chapped lips during winter). At that point the leaf becomes little more than a nice host to infectious diseases and spores ever present in our atmosphere.
The combination of proper humidification and using new LED technology has transformed my grow rooms and greenhouse into a cooler, more easily controlled environment that is much more suitable for my plants than ever before.
I believe that once a grower gets total control of their heat and humidity, and they keep their plans at their healthiest state, many of the powdery mildew problems and mold, can be completely avoided.
Good afternoon Todd. Sorry had a meeting go late at the dispensary but better late than never. I first wanted to say how much of inspiration your story and you have been for years to me personally. Thanks
My question today Todd is are you running you rooms with higher ambient humidity throughout your full veg bloom cycle and if so are you seeing an increase in terpene production?
High and thank you!
I am operating at higher humidity than I was before, and it seems like I am experiencing more terpenes on my finished flowers as I have been drying and curing the same the way for a long time, 60-65° at 60% for a couple weeks or longer.
I do not think that I am increasing my terpene production, in as much as that I am not losing as much of the terpenes produced to evaporation caused by heat and dryness.
Currently I’m using the NextLight Mega LED (650w) and because of how cool it is operating, I feel like I am no longer heating my buds under a heat lamp as I once was. That coolness combined with running at between 60 to 80% humidity in veg, and between 50 to 70% in flower, has dramatically changed the way the plants grow and how healthy they stay, because after they dry out even once, I do not believe that the leaf can make that leaf-surface wax/oil again, the leaf becomes unable to operate it’s stomata properly (like having chapped lips from sunburn or a dry winter day) and the leaf drys up and falls off.
In my opinion, making matters worse, many growers use mild solvents as a foliar spray in IPM and further reduce the waxy layer of the leaf’s protective coating. Thus setting themselves up to have weak plants that are susceptible to PM.
This will be great! Todd is the man!
@todd.mccormick I’m slowly coming around as is many of my family members. Now in our 60’s we are choosing this natural remedy for our ailments. Thanks for fighting the battle.
As a cut flower grower for 35 years I appreciate seeing a picture of a well grown leaf. Your explanation of the stomata drying out and the inability to close up makes sense.
