Douglas.Curtis
Autistic Diplomat in Training
The highest quality hashish producing areas of the country have historically all been high altitude areas. This has been known for hundreds of years by those growing in the best areas of the world.
Higher Quality at Elevation
While I believe the information regarding altitude and quality is correct, I believe also they're not correct in correlating it mainly to UV exposure. I've personally produced cannabis significantly higher in quality than growers in my same areas, by adopting the same type of environment in my own grow rooms as you would find at high altitudes. There are quite a few growers who have worked on duplicating UV exposure and plant quality, with various and mostly little detectable difference.
I personally use the amount of UV produced by a 1000w HPS lamp, un-shielded, in a 4x4 flowering space. This is not a lot, especially not what you would find at elevation. I work to mimic the temps and humidity of high mountain growing conditions. Cool temps around 68-70F and dry conditions between 20-30RH.
Cool and dry temperatures, and lots of air flow to create a very high transpiration rate.
High Transpiration in High Altitude Plants
Transpiration at elevation has already been studied by several people and it's what I work to duplicate.
Smaller Plants and Smaller Flowers
Almost everything grows smaller at altitude. There is less oxygen, carbon dioxide, generally fewer availble nutrients, lower levels of water and lower temperatures. There's usually a much shorter growing season as well, but when you're indoor it can be as long as you like. Since you don't get the explosion of plant growth you do in tropical environments, the flowers are also smaller in final size while being very trichome dense.
The solution for the same yields with high altitude conditions cannabis is to veg longer with slightly more flower sites. The flowers go through a much shorter stretch and finish with less bulk, while sporting a higher resin to plant ratio. Essentially my theory on why such high quality hash can be made, it's the ridiculous terpene retention and cannabinoid content of the end product. Shorter plants with a higher concentration of trichomes.
What are your thoughts?
Higher Quality at Elevation
https://hightimes.com/grow/grow-hack-does-uv-light-increase-cannabis-potency/ said:When we were still working in this field we were told that the production of the active resin, in any kind of Cannabis plant, depends entirely on the altitude of the plantation; for example, you get rich charas or bhang in northern India only at a certain height above sea level. It was also reported that in order to obtain active resin one had to plant Cannabis in Germany near Roserheim, not far from Munich, which again is above a certain altitude.”
High THC is found naturally in strains between the two parallels shown in the map. Areas of high hashish production in the Rif Mountains of Morocco, the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon and the Hindu Kush are all on the cusp of the 30 °N, but are all at a high altitude. This perfect balance of climate and sun exposure allows those places to grow the greatest hash plants in the world.
While I believe the information regarding altitude and quality is correct, I believe also they're not correct in correlating it mainly to UV exposure. I've personally produced cannabis significantly higher in quality than growers in my same areas, by adopting the same type of environment in my own grow rooms as you would find at high altitudes. There are quite a few growers who have worked on duplicating UV exposure and plant quality, with various and mostly little detectable difference.
I personally use the amount of UV produced by a 1000w HPS lamp, un-shielded, in a 4x4 flowering space. This is not a lot, especially not what you would find at elevation. I work to mimic the temps and humidity of high mountain growing conditions. Cool temps around 68-70F and dry conditions between 20-30RH.
Cool and dry temperatures, and lots of air flow to create a very high transpiration rate.
High Transpiration in High Altitude Plants
Transpiration at elevation has already been studied by several people and it's what I work to duplicate.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242168/ said:Gale (1972b, 1973) predicted and demonstrated a potential increase of transpiration with altitude when there is less than the average lapse rate of ambient temperature (about 0.6 °C/100 m at mid-latitudes). This results from the higher total radiation absorbed by leaves, the increase in the diffusion coefficient of water vapour in air at reduced barometric pressure and the increased density gradient of H2O vapour from the leaf to the ambient air. This is contrary to the case of CO2 influx into leaves, where the two diffusion factors tend to cancel out (Gale, 1972a). Consequently, transpiration rates at high altitude may be very high, as for example in Mediterranean climates where temperature inversions are common (Cohen et al., 1981). Under such conditions and where water is available and stomata remain open, a 1000 m elevation above sea level may bring about a doubling of transpiration rates.
Smaller Plants and Smaller Flowers
Almost everything grows smaller at altitude. There is less oxygen, carbon dioxide, generally fewer availble nutrients, lower levels of water and lower temperatures. There's usually a much shorter growing season as well, but when you're indoor it can be as long as you like. Since you don't get the explosion of plant growth you do in tropical environments, the flowers are also smaller in final size while being very trichome dense.
The solution for the same yields with high altitude conditions cannabis is to veg longer with slightly more flower sites. The flowers go through a much shorter stretch and finish with less bulk, while sporting a higher resin to plant ratio. Essentially my theory on why such high quality hash can be made, it's the ridiculous terpene retention and cannabinoid content of the end product. Shorter plants with a higher concentration of trichomes.
What are your thoughts?