Managing a medical cannabis grow operation surely is not an easy endeavor. It requires taking into consideration many different elements, especially in an indoor facility. Temperature, lighting, humidity, just to name a few, need to be calibrated to the specific conditions that are suitable to the strain that a grower is growing. This is why indoor cannabis facilities are usually very high-tech, so that any of those elements can be closely monitored and adjusted when necessary. However, another issue arises when dealing with all these different types of equipment. “Medical cannabis growers have so many different devices to manage,” says Mirko Klees, founder of Antheia. “But all these different devices do not communicate between each other, as if they are in a sort of vacuum. Therefore, growers have to jump from one tech to another, gathering all the information that these are providing. So, what if one controls all these different devices, with one device only?”
Connecting everything
This is exactly the idea of Mirko, who has been developing a ‘device to control all devices’. “Most controllers are not easy to use, and the situation can get quite confusing for growers,” Mirko explains. “Thanks to Antheia’s solution, it is possible to have a very user-friendly controller that can be used to adjust all the different parameters that factor into cannabis grows.”
For instance, Mirko explains that among the most important things to grow cannabis are temperature and humidity. “The temperature should be around 25 degrees Celsius, while the humidity should be around 65-70% during the vegetative state. If the temperature goes up, say, around 33 degrees Celsius, the plant would slow down the production of leaves, and the eventual flower can be affected by mold and fungus. This is a problem that can potentially occur in warmer countries. When such a pest outbreak develops, it can spread out quite fast, thus inevitably compromising the yield, and therefore a grower’s revenue.”
Lack of standards
Since growing standards are still lacking in the industry, growers are sometimes asked to perform some research on the optimal conditions to grow the strain they have chosen. “Especially the first time, it is important to know the parameters that allow a strain to grow perfectly,” Mirko explains. “Through our technology, you can have all those different parameters under control, but not only that. Since all the devices are connected to the Antheia controller, a grower can adjust anything that’s necessary to allow the cannabis plant to express its full genetic potential. You can check the moisture in the soil, measure the light, and eventually even create a rule that can be dialed into the controller, so that the growing process becomes as automatic as possible.”
Every aforementioned aspect is particularly important when it comes to growing medicinal-grade cannabis, because this sector is not only about growing plants. “The medical cannabis industry is a combination of horticulture and pharmaceutical. I think this is what makes this sector so incredibly interesting. It is not only about growing plants; it is about crafting medicines.”
For more information:
Antheia Grow Smart
antheiagrow.com