Marijuana Business Magazine - Issue 09, Oct 2017

According to Karcey, how long these strains actually take to mature will depend on several factors, including: • How much water they take up. • The types of nutrients they receive. • The amount of sunlight they get. And while shorter-cycle strains have clear advantages, they aren’t always the answer. In markets with limited licenses, like New York, Minnesota, Connecticut and Delaware – where growers enjoy near-monopoly status – there is less competition and therefore less need to grow faster-maturing plants. Cultivators should also know what’s popular in their market before accepting or rejecting a strain that takes longer to grow. In some markets, strains that take 12 weeks to grow may be wildly popular, and to leave them out of your rotation because they take a few weeks longer would be a mistake, Karcey said. “To stay competitive in consumer- driven markets, it’s important to know what market demands and saturation points are,” Karcey said. And not everybody believes that shorter-cycle strains can really hit full maturity after only seven weeks. “It’s more of a marketing ploy on the seller’s end,” said Joshua Haupt, a growing consultant with Medicine Man Technologies in Denver. He doesn’t dis- avow shorter-cycle strains but lets them grow between 60 days and 70 days. Waiting longer with such strains can provide growers with up to 20% more yield, Haupt said. “That way we make sure we don’t cheat ourselves on our yield,”Haupt added. ◆ 40 • Marijuana Business Magazine • October 2017 HIGHER YIELDS THROUGH 'SCHWAZZING' W hile cultivating faster-yielding strains is one way to increase your grow’s productivity, using techniques that increase yields is another option. One way to grow stronger plants is by “stressing them” – putting them through moderate stresses such as less watering, pruning or added wind generated by fans. Joshua Haupt’s favorite method is deleafing, or what the grow consultant from Medicine Man Technologies in Denver dubs “schwazzing.” Schwazzing involves clipping away the fan leaves, a stress technique that induces regeneration, resulting in greater plant growth. But deleafing also allows more light to hit the actual flower, which not only increases size but brings out the terpenes that give flowers their unique tastes. “You want to schwazz when your focus is on getting the plants as big and tall as possible, and pushing out as many roots as possible,” Haupt said. Timing is also important when you deleaf your plant, Haupt said. In his view, plants flower in three stages, each 20-25 days. Haupt starts on the first day of the flowering phase and then follows up just before the end of the initial flowering phase. “We’ll cut off every single plant leaf from the plant,” Haupt said. The initial phase of flowering is the best time to deleaf because the plant is pushing roots out and is able to repair itself quickly, Haupt said. You never want to deleaf after the first phase of flower. In the second phase, the plant is mostly focused on fruit develop- ment; in the third phase, it is focused exclusively on fruit development. Therefore, you want all the plant’s energy to go to fruit generation – not leaf regeneration. “In phases two and three, schwazzing is more harm- ful than helpful,” Haupt said. But an important caution: Plants absorb micro- nutrients from fan leaves. To ensure your plants aren’t deprived of their normal micronutrient intake, it’s important to add them back in during your regular feedings. “If you don’t replace those micronutrients by adding them to the water, you’re shooting yourself in the foot,” Haupt said. “Your plants need those micronutrients to reach their full potential.” – Omar Sacirbey To stay competitive in consumer-driven markets, it’s important to know what market demands and saturation points are.