Marijuana Business Magazine January 2019

January 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 87 THE DAYS OF PLANT CLONING MIGHT BE NEARING AN END. Cannabis cultivators have long relied on cloning to propagate their plant inventories and preserve genetics. But cloning’s days may be numbered—at least among smart and successful growers, said Hope Jones, founder and CEO of Emergent Cannabis Sciences, a cultivation consulting firm in Arizona. Jones also specializes in plant tissue culture, an agricul- tural breeding method she claims will replace cloning as the go-to method for growers who need to propagate plants and preserve their genetics. It yields far more plants than cloning and better replicates plant genetics. Plant tissue culture, Jones said, “is a collection of tech- niques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition.” Tissue culturing typically takes 10-14 weeks, according to Jones, beginning with clipping very small leaf, stem and root samples and then letting them establish themselves in a nutri- ent mix where they eventually multiply, take root and grow. Jones noted that 100 clone cuttings per month—a relatively high number—can yield about 5,500 clones per month, or 66,000 clones per year. By contrast, 200 nutrient vessels with five plant clippings each will yield 2.4 million clones per year. While the labor required to perform tissue cultures can be expensive, the process before labor is cheaper than cloning, Jones said. – Omar Sacirbey THE HEMP INDUSTRY IS GOING LEAFY. Hemp producers have historically been focused on the plant’s fibers, seeds or flowers. But a company from the cannabis plant’s homeland says it’s time to start looking at hemp leaves. Avnish Pandya of the Bombay Hemp Co., a hemp clothing manufacturer and medical mari- juana researcher in Mumbai, India, said leaves from the plant are an untapped business opportunity. “The one part of the plant that no one really seems to talk about is the leaves,” Pandya said. “The funny part is, that’s the very part of the plant that’s being used in Ayurvedic medicine, the traditional Indian medicine,” Pandya said. “We’re looking at it, not just processing the flowers but also the leaves. “We’re also looking at hemp as a food supplement. How many things that we eat as food are also a supplement? That’s a discussion we’re going to be having more often in hemp.” – Kristen Nichols Tissue Culture Review of STAGES Stage 0: Prep Explants Stage 1: Establishment Stage 2: Multiplication Stage 3: Rooting Stage 4: Acclimation Estimated Timelines 4-6 wks permultiplication cycle & Hardening >AUXIN Cytokinin 3-4 wks ~1 wk : Acclimation ~1 wk: Hardening ~1 wk Depending on explant # Attendees were encouraged to think beyond flower. Photo by Soliman Productions The Business of Hemp Forum drew 430 hemp professionals. Photo by Soliman Productions Virus resistance is one of the advantages of tissue culture. Cultivation Hemp