The different uses of Industrial Hemp
The cultivation of hemp is an age-old practice: the first traces of hemp (cannabis) use date back about 11,500 to 10,200 years, to prehistoric sites in Eastern Europe and Japan (Long et al., Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2017). Thus, cannabis, or hemp, would be one of the first plants cultivated by man. The cultivation of cannabis was essential, because this plant had many uses:
- The flowers and heads were used as remedies in the traditional medicine of the time, but also in certain rites.
- The fibers of the stem were used to make resistant clothes, links and strong ropes.
- The nourishing seeds were used to obtain an oil rich in nutrients, and the solid residues from the extraction of this oil were used to feed animals.
Nowadays, the cultivation of hemp (Cannabis sativa) has grown considerably. There are no less than 25,000 different uses:
- Biofuel
- Bio Plastics
- Food and bedding for animals
- Textiles and clothing
- Construction
- Cosmetics
- Pharmaceutical research
- etc.
Indoor cultivation
Growing Cannabis Sativa (hemp) for CBD production indoors allows growers to control all parameters such as light, temperature, humidity and nutrients offered to the plants. This method makes production more secure, week after week, until the plants flower.
Indoor production by professional growers follows certain rules, which make it possible to obtain healthy plants and a good-quality harvest.
It all starts with the choice of the variety of cannabis. Growers have a restricted choice of varieties, because only some are authorised in France and in Europe: they must have a THC content below 0.3%, and in France hemp may only be grown by farmers, with certified seeds of authorised varieties. To avoid confusion with illegal cannabis rich in THC, legal cannabis (low in THC, but rich in CBD) is also called industrial hemp. Once the seeds are chosen, the culture will be able to start, and many parameters are to be watched closely, in order to obtain a beautiful bloom of the plants of Cannabis Sativa, and thus an important harvest:
The light
To obtain good flowering and healthy plants indoors, growers must provide artificial light as close as possible to sunlight. Lighting matters throughout growth, but it is during flowering that the quality and duration of the light are the most important.
The substrate and the nutrients
Outdoors, after germination, Cannabis Sativa develops a large, deep root system to collect the water and nutrients it needs from the soil. Indoors, things are different: each plant grows alone in a pot filled with a suitable substrate, and regular, nutrient-rich fertiliser allows faster growth and flowering than outdoors.
The temperature
Sheltered in their indoor greenhouse, Cannabis Sativa plants are kept at a constant temperature from germination to flowering. Temperatures that are too low or too high can slow down or even stop their development. During flowering, a temperature of 20 to 25 degrees is generally recommended indoors.
Humidity
Indoors, the regulation of humidity (water in the air) is crucial for the good health of plants. During germination, too much humidity can encourage mould, while too little can dry out the seeds. For a good harvest and according to the varieties of cannabis, a hygrometry of 40 to 50 % is ideal.
The water
The watering of the plants is an important parameter since it also influences the humidity of the space of culture. Each pot is therefore watered little, but regularly.
If all these parameters are well controlled week after week, the harvest will be of good quality.
