Powdery Mildew and Russet Mites

lariat (48)in #cannabis • 7 years ago (edited)

Powdery Mildew and Russet Mites are the two largest pests for cannabis grows.
They induce pesticide use. Even at low levels these pesticides get enriched in the cannabinoid extraction process 10-100X more readily than cannabinoids making their use a real threat for vape-pen consumption.

Why is cannabis agriculture so difficult? Even post drug-war, the reefer madness insists on growing cannabis indoors such that 8% of the CO energy grid is now Cannabis lights. Some grows even pump 1200ppm CO2 into the grow to encourage crop yield. These indoor environments are a risk to staff and consumers when pesticides are used as readily as they seem to be. A recent Belgium study discovered 64% of plants having pesticides on them and 72% of grows having them onsite. These are reactionary measures that a competitive market will soon make obsolete with preventative measurements.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073817301871

Cannabis grows can't get insurance for crop failures yet it trades at $700-$1500 per pound. Other legal Ag products are closer to $2-$10/pound. Testing cannabis for pests or pesticides is expensive and usually centralized due to the costs of the Mass Spec equipment only this centralization is begging for a decentralization as Cannabis can't legally cross state lines.

Russet mites

Products that are portable and can operate point of grow can decentralize this problem. We have developed portable PCR tools for the cannabis space that operate on USB port driven PCR from a laptop or a phone. The PCR detection is accomplished with a novel colorimetric read out where the PCR reaction visibly changes color when it is positive. Several $100 Million grows are under construction in 2017 for many Canadian LPs and US based investors. The best crop insurance is bio-surveillance of every clone or soil coming into the facility. This is now decentralized with the portable PCR tools we are building at Medicinal Genomics.

YouPCR