Manipulating Environmental Factors to Improve Cannabis Yield with Mitchell Westmoreland

Mitchell Westmoreland is a Ph.D. candidate working with Dr. Bruce Bugbee in the Crop Physiology Laboratory at Utah State University. His Ph.D. research focuses on whole-plant physiology and cultivation of medical Cannabis in controlled environments. He has published his research on photobiology and plant nutrition in high-impact peer-reviewed scientific journals.

I spoke with Mitch about the various environmental factors that contribute to cannabis yield, specifically light, temperature, humidity, and CO2. Mitch does a great job explaining the energy cascade, which describes the underlying mechanisms that plants use to convert photons to energy and ultimately biomass. Mitch also explains how those factors can be manipulated to not only increase yield but also make better use of resources.

I really enjoyed the conversation, and I expect we will see Mitchell on the CannMed stage very soon.

Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: Advanced Nutrients.

Founded in 1999, Advanced Nutrients was the first to develop a complete nutrient system that unlocks the true genetic potential of the cannabis plant. Since its inception, the brand has introduced more than 50 innovations to the cultivation community, and continues to revolutionize the space through proprietary scientific discoveries. 

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Additional Resources
Elevated UV photon fluxes minimally affected cannabinoid concentration in a high-CBD cultivar - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
Cannabis lighting: Decreasing blue photon fraction increases yield but efficacy is more important for cost effective production of cannabinoids - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
Sustainable Cannabis Nutrition: Elevated root-zone phosphorus significantly increases leachate P and does not improve yield or quality - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
An approach to crop modeling with the energy cascade - https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...
Exploring the Limits of Crop Productivity - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
The Science and Technology of Medical Cannabis Cultivation Utah State University Couse - https://caas.usu.edu/labs/cpl/cannabi...
Review the Podcast! - https://podcasts.apple.com/tt/podcast...
CannMed Archive - https://cannmedevents.com/cannmed-vid...
CannMed Community Board [Facebook Group] -   / cannmedcommunity