In this video Adriaan talks about the origins of cannabis. He explains the difference between cannabis and hemp and finally discusses the three main ways of cultivating cannabis.
Video transcript
Introduction
Hey, it’s Adriaan from CBD Oil Europe. Today I’d like to tell you about the origin of cannabis, and explain the difference between Cannabis and Hemp. I’ll end the video by mentioning the 3 main ways of cultivating Cannabis.
Origin
Cannabis Sativa is an annual flowering herb from the Himalaya mountains. It was the first crop cultivated by man, and now has more than 50.000 known applications, spanning food, textiles, rope, sails, building materials and medicine. Today, countless varieties of Cannabis exist. Finding and cultivating the best Cannabis strains is both an art and a science. To specify the unique chemical output of a variety, we refer to them as ‘chemovar’. This is a combination of the words chemical and variety.
Classification
Cannabis can be considered hemp if it doesn’t produce too much of the psychoactive compound THC. But because classification is not the same everywhere, there are differences in interpretation of what qualifies as hemp. This is an important distinction, as Cannabis is heavily restricted worldwide, but hemp isn’t.
In the EU, there is a list of cannabis subspecies that are considered hemp and can be cultivated freely. This list can be found on the website of the European Commission and contains 107 entries as of early 2022. The strains on this list are commonly referred to as ‘catalog strains’. The European Union has just updated the maximum amount of THC allowed in the plant to 0,3%, from its earlier limit of 0,2%. This small change should lead to improvements in CBD output.
In Switzerland, hemp can be grown with up to 1% THC, with Italy stays at an uncertain 0,6%.
In the US, as long as there is no THC above 0,3%, any strain of Cannabis is considered hemp. As a result, American farmers have superior genetics available for CBD production, with crops yielding up to 500% more CBD than their European cousins. This has lead to an imbalance that can be most easily seen on the international markets for CBD isolate, where European producers are easily outcompeted.
Cultivation
There are 3 main ways of cultivating cannabis: indoor, in greenhouses, and outdoor. A lot of Indoor cultivation takes place in Switzerland, where high quality flowers can be easily sold for smoking and vaping. Growers have complete control over the environment, and can optimise all variables to maximise the quality of the buds. Growing Cannabis indoor uses a lot of energy, mainly on artificial lighting and air conditioning. Cannabis needs a lot of light, but it doesn’t like to be too hot.
Greenhouses can be used to maximise control over growing conditions, without using too much electricity. Pest management, humidity control, temperature, light and darkness can all be controlled to maximise the quality of the product. Supplementing light allows crops to be cultivated all year around. We love this method, as it’s the most efficient way to grow amazing organic Cannabis at a commercial scale. Hemp can be grown like most other plants, although harvesting is a bit more complicated due to the strong stem. Hemp loves water, and needs to be dried properly after harvesting.
Outdoor cultivation is ideal for the production of seeds, fiber or hemp hurds. CBD can be extracted from the flowers and leafs after they are separated from the stem. To be used for CBD extraction, the biomass should be high in CBD, low in THC, free from seeds, and gently dried.
Outro
Thanks for watching this video. We are CBD Oil Europe and our mission is to simplify the CBD industry.
