This is the most plants we’ve ever grown in a season, and pretty much the limit of my ability as a one man operation.
@fraying note: I don't know anything about growing hemp, so maybe this is normal.
@evan Yup. About 5 feet. The plants can get very big, and more airflow between them helps prevent fungal problems.
This is pretty normal for growing THC, but not for hemp. It allows us to give each plant all the attention they deserve.
@fraying TIL! Thanks!
Second question: why do you grow outside instead of in a more controlled environment?
@evan oh I love growing outside. Plants are bigger, more productive, and the natural environment causes the plants to produce more terpenes, which is what you smell/taste in the final product. I think of what I grow like wine - the environment creates terroir.
Indoor growing is harder, more expensive, and produces a lesser product (imho). Plus I just find it less fun.
@evan That said, I’ve grown inside too and it has its charms. It’s a much more analytical kind of growing. Lots of numbers to track. Basically, you’re in charge of everything: light, temp, humidity. You’re playing god.
Growing outside is more improvisational. A lot of chaos to ride, which is challenging, but fun.
@fraying isn't there a much higher chance of losing the crop? Can you get crop insurance?
@evan Yup. Sudden weather can have terrible consequences - especially a hard rain near harvest. It’s happened! We’ve always gotten through it somehow.
I can get crop insurance now, but it’s calculated per acre and not worth it for the kind of small acerage intensive farming I do.
@evan one year the goats somehow managed to open a gate (I still don’t know how) and got into the hemp rows and ate about 30 plants in a few minutes. It was a disaster.
Luckily it was early in the season and some friends at another farm helped me out by giving me some starts. Those plants were about 2 weeks behind, so they were smaller, but it saved my butt.
@fraying but, OK, it's really good to hear. I guess it is a tradeoff, as with all things. Thanks for answering my questions!
@evan thanks for asking them! I love talking about this stuff.
@stenhaastrup it’s kind of a bet on how big you think they’ll get. If they’re too close together and they thrive and get huge, that leads to poor airflow and light exposure, which causes problems later. I’ve had plants get 15 feet tall.
Other CBD companies plant acres of plants, but then they have to machine harvest, which sucks up everything, mashes it all up, and chemically removes the CBD.
We take the opposite approach and do everything by hand, which means our product is cleaner (and tastier).
It also means I dig a lot of holes with a shovel.
Next up: installing the irrigation system so I can stop watering by hand, and then putting out the cages so the plants have something to lean on when they get bigger.
Also lunch. I’m hungry.
@Dingsextrem I use these. They are expensive but they’re the beefiest and most reliable ones I’ve found. And you can fold them and put them away for the winter.
http://www.tomatocages.com/