Cannabis Guide - 2022 - 8

LIGHTING
An Enlightened Look at
LIGHTING CANNABIS
By Travis Higginbotham
Optimize your cannabis production with these lighting considerations.
T
he cannabis industry is ever-changing, ever-improving,
and continues to redefine the lighting requirements
needed for successful cannabis production. One
obvious improvement, which has been made industry-wide,
has been the transition away from legacy technology such as
HPS (high-pressure sodium) to LEDs (light-emitting diodes).
This has been proven not only by the number of recent retrofits
of existing cultivation facilities but also based on data from new
build outs of both greenhouses and indoor facilities specifically
for cannabis production.
Hemp research is now providing clarity on ideal
commercial methods and materials needed for practical
cannabis production in all markets: indoor, greenhouse and
field production. This research is covering not just lighting
but also pest and disease management, plant nutrition,
tissue culture and breeding. The cannabis industry is now
starting to resemble a maturing horticultural market that
evolves based on proven horticultural practices and science
instead of just hearsay.
The focus of current cannabis lighting research now
spans all facets throughout cultivation production stages
from mother stock production, propagation, the vegetative
stage and flowering. There has been a recent focus on
cannabis photoperiod requirements also as most cannabis
genetics offered to the market are considered " short-day "
genetics (requiring a short day preceded by a long day
in order to maximize flower production/manipulate the
reproductive stage).
8 2022 GUIDE TO CANNABIS PRODUCTION
Outside of the forward-looking research, where does the
industry stand as of right now?
Cannabis cultivators are starting to properly understand
how to measure lighting - artificial and ambient. They are
doing this through understanding light intensity (µmol/
m2
/s) and light accumulation, DLI (daily light integral)
measured in moles/day. With the ability to adequately measure
light intensity and light accumulation during a single day/
photoperiod at their specific location or facility, cultivators are
now focusing on light quality or spectra.
Cultivators, whether growing indoors, in greenhouses or
outdoors, are now using similar tools to measure lighting.
Many are using handheld quantum sensors to measure light
intensity indoors, using their environmental controls systems,
such as Priva, to measure DLI of ambient light levels in
conjunction with their supplemental lighting in greenhouses,
to field growers now having an appreciation of their crop's
flowering photoperiod requirements using local day length
and light accumulation data provided specifically for their
location/latitude.
No matter the cultivation system, the goal is still the same,
yield/area/year. Yield can be defined broadly because some
cultivators are focused on total biomass production being
valued based on milligrams/acre/year with one seasonal crop
cycle compared to some cultivators who have continuous
production of dried flower (grams/ft2
/cycle). But at the same
time, don't they go hand in hand? Let's look at a few examples
for each of these different cultivation segments.
Cannabis Guide - 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cannabis Guide - 2022
