“More and more new cannabis tissue culture companies are created as there is an increasing demand from growers. We already have over 30 years of floriculture and horticulture tissue culture under our belt, which has facilitated our more recent venture into cannabis tissue culture,” explains Rik Niemöller, Product Manager Cannabis at Perfect Plants. While the company is very diverse, from providing seed potatoes to young plants, their cannabis tissue culture has been in tremendously high demand worldwide. “With diseases being a major issue, we notice that cannabis growers are in need of a reliable source for tissue culture.” 
Rik Niemöller
Saving harvests
Niemöller explains that for medicinal cannabis, the dependability that tissue culture provides is a major benefit. “When producing high quality cannabis, you want your production to be even. This is important, as you want to be able to depend on your production and have a consistent harvest. That is why tissue culture is a great solution. Growing from seeds will create inconsistency and mother plants will degenerate over time. While growers can of course renew the mother plants themselves, this costs money, space and carries disease risks with it.” Tissue culture, on the other hand, is created in a completely sterile environment. This ensures that no bacteria or mold is able to reach the plant. “When using such a stable product, growers have the safest start possible.”
The tissue culture media being created
Cannabis growers have been recognizing the benefits of tissue culture, as Perfect Plants is dealing with an overwhelming demand. “People have seen the devastating consequences that come from diseases, such as the Hop Latent viroid. However, all plants initiated into tissue culture are thoroughly tested and in a tissue culture lab environment you eliminate the two major causes of infection: bugs (they are not present in the lab) and people (the interaction with plants is very limited). And with a very strict track and trace system and a high level of hygiene measures, cross contamination in a tissue culture lab environment is practically impossible. Especially for growers attempting to achieve GMP standards, the cleanliness is highly advantageous.”
Staff working on the cannabis tissue culture
Reliable supply
Out of all the countries where cannabis is legal, Niemöller mentions that a major part of their demand comes from Canada. “There are many large-scale producers there, but not many reliable tissue culture suppliers. The same goes for South America, where many large growers are.” While foreign demand is high, logistical challenges can sometimes be an issue to ship the material. “We have definitely had our challenges along the way with barriers hindering our access to countries. Moreover, while we are fully licensed to export, some airlines don’t want to transport our products. Therefore, we are proud to have been one of the few companies managing to keep up the majority of our exports, despite the challenges.”
Where the tissue culture is stored until it is ready for shipment
Partnerships
“The cannabis industry is a closed world, where everyone wants to keep their information to themselves,” says Niemöller. “However, as people from the famous Dutch Westland region, we are used to working together, which we believe is what makes us stronger. Therefore, we are always open to partnerships with companies that are interested. In addition, we are looking at working together with the growers of the Dutch government cannabis experiment. Hopefully we will be able to provide them with our tissue culture, to ensure healthy and reliable productions.”
For more information:
Perfect Plants
Rik Niemöller
r.niemoller@perfectplants.nl
www.perfectplants.nl