The growing medicinal and cosmetic cannabis market, as well as a whole new industry of products based on CBD, the main non-psychoactive cannabinoid of the marijuana plant, has revolutionized the standards of product quality, which is directly related to the quality of production methods. We will see below the importance of water quality, which is often not taken into account as it should be.
The control of variables
The cannabis grower is generally very jealous of the control of environmental variables, particularly in those environments where he can control them to the maximum, as in indoor growing. We refer to light, temperature, relative humidity … but, what about water?
When it comes to achieving the best possible product with the available means, any bulb is not worth it. That is what even the most inexperienced cultivator knows. Similarly, does not measure the temperature or humidity as it sits on their skin, nor does it add nutrients to the eye. The grower knows that in the rigorous attention to detail is the success of the crop.
This attention to detail, also applied to water, can mean the difference between an acceptable crop and an excellent one. Or between a crop that you can’t commercialize and one that meets the demanding health standards of the pharmaceutical industry. Do not forget that water is not only essential for any living being, but, in the case of our crops, is the main means by which plants acquire their nutrients.
We can rely to a certain extent on the running water with which we irrigate our plants. It is possible that we know the EC (electro conductivity) of the water with which we irrigate and, if it is not a hard water, surely we even think that its quality is sufficient for our irrigation.
We can have a similar confidence in other sources of water: rain, wells, ditches … There is a whole area of the world of cultivation in which this acceptance of minimums is reasonable: that of gardening. A chrysanthemum may appear equally lush and beautiful with waters of different qualities (as long as we do not go to very polluted waters). But when we are talking about products for medical use and human consumption, the standard pursued is the search for the highest possible quality.
The demanding grower is not satisfied with accepting the minimum conditions: his objective is the best conditions. That is the scale of the competition: if during your cultivation you have attended to every detail perfectly except the water, you will not be able to compete with whoever started with quality water.
What is quality water?
When we talk about crops for products that are going to be developed in the pharmacological industry or for human consumption there is only one possible answer: quality water is one that basically consists of H2O. Any water source contains elements that, if not eliminated conveniently, will be absorbed by our plants and from there they will pass to the products that are made with them, such as chlorine, fluorine, magnesium salts, calcium, potassium, sulfates or, even worse, heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, boron or arsenic, which are highly toxic not only for plants but also for humans.
Some of these elements, such as calcium and magnesium, are good for our plants, but at what concentrations? When we apply a program of nutrients to our crop, we will save many headaches if we control what is in the irrigation water. That is, starting with a low EC, we can add the calcium and magnesium that our plants need in the proper proportions, and the corresponding levels of nutrients according to our program.
A water free of unwanted elements is the ideal substrate to feed our plants.
Water in medicinal cannabis
Cannabis is a natural accumulator of substances, to the point that it is used to clean floors of toxic and radioactive elements in a process known as phytoremediation. Recent examples are in Taranto, Italy, where a variety of hemp is being used to decontaminate nickel, lead and other substances. Cannabis was also used for the regeneration of soils after the fateful Chernobyl accident.
Literally a cannabis plant absorbs everything within its reach, hence the importance not only of the development of specific fertilizers for cannabis, but of the need to irrigate and administer the nutrients with quality water, either processed by filtration or by reverse osmosis, according to their EC levels. We do not exaggerate if we affirm what if we irrigate with any water, our cannabis plants will absorb anything. In fact, the elements that are absorbed by the roots will affect not only the quality, but the specific composition of cannabinoids and terpenes, which is a very sensitive issue in the production of medicinal products.
Thus, cannabis, especially for medicinal use, must be treated with the safest substances possible. In this sense, to achieve the best result we have to use suitable fertilizers for the variety that we are cultivating and control the environmental variables. But all this care loses its meaning if we do not start with quality water. The grower must always keep the final consumer in mind and must guarantee patient safety above anything else.
