Cannabis Cultivation and Science Podcast

Our guest this week is my good friend, Suzanne Wainwright-Evans also known by many as The Bug Lady. She is an Ornamental Entomologist specializing in integrated pest management.  Suzanne has been involved in the Green Industry for more than 25 years with a primary focus on biological control and using pesticides properly.  She is a graduate of the University of Florida with degrees in both Entomology and Environmental Horticulture.  She has worked throughout the United States and internationally consulting to greenhouses, nurseries, landscapers and interiorscape companies.  She is the owner of Buglady Consulting, now in business for over 21 years.

My guest this week is Dr. Abbey Wick. Abbey is a North Dakota State University Extension Soil Health Specialist and Associate Professor, and has experience working with farmers on soil health building practices like incorporating cover crops into rotation and transitioning to no-till systems.    Since 2012, she has had her hands in over 50,000 acres of soil and influenced management on over 200,000 acres of farmland in the northern plains just with the personal relationships she’s developed with farmers.  There are many other farmers she influences through her bi-weekly magazine articles and television segment along with discussion-based Extension programming.  She focuses on goal-oriented approaches so that farmers can maximize the benefits while reducing the risk associated with incorporating new practices.  She has been featured in Successful Farming Magazine Q & A and Bonus Sections for her work with cover crops and ability to connect with farmers.  She was also Senator Hoeven’s selection to represent North Dakota for the Senate Ag Republicans “Women in Agriculture” campaign in 2018.

My guest this week is Dr. Kevin Mehr. Dr. Mehr has spent the last five years driving the development of large-scale micropropagation programs for cannabis in North America. Kevin received his Ph.D. in Genome Science and Technology from the University of British Columbia and translates this experience with genetics and plant science to every facet of operations and product innovation.

This week’s podcast will be a bit different than my usual topics. As many of you know, there’s more to cultivation than just what happens in our gardens. Whether we like it or not, taxes and proper accounting are crucial to keeping your business afloat. I sat down with two CPAs, Betsy Morem and Mark Waller who have founded an accounting firm specializing in working with folks in the cannabis industry. We talk about some of the things to look out for and pitfalls to avoid so you can focus on cultivation.  

My guest this week is Eleanor Kuntz. Eleanor is a trained herbalist and geneticist bridging the gap between traditional herbalism and modern science. She is the CEO and co-founder of LeafWorks Inc., botanical verification company using genetics to improve medicinal quality, sustainability, and transparency in the supply chain. She is also co-founder of Canndor, the People’s Herbarium, the first herbarium committed to documenting and preserving cannabis cultivars and varietals along with the collective knowledge gained through community engagement. This is her second time on the show and if you are interested in learning more about herbariums, we talk more extensively about it in the other podcast. In honor of this podcast release, we will be offering 10% off on the Leaf Works gender ID kits through the KIS Organics Website for a limited time. We talk about the benefits of these kits and how it works in the podcast along with many other topics around cannabis genetics.  https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/podcast/episode-80-exploring-the-genetic-diversity-of-cannabis-with-dr-eleanor-kuntz

Our guest this week is Dr. Jim Barrett. Jim has a bachelor of science from Auburn University in Agricultural Sciences, a Masters of Science from Auburn University with an emphasis on Physiology of Vegetable Crops, and a pHd from Michigan State University with an emphasis on physiology of horticulture crops. He was a professor at the University of Florida from 1978-2016 with a focus on crop production in controlled environments. A major component of his work was evaluating Plant Growth Hormones, also knowns as PGRs and developing new application strategies for greenhouse crops. After retiring from the University, he went on to run Barrett Horticultural Consulting for 4 years with a focus on crop production and facility planning for Florida medical cannabis producers. https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/podcast/episode-79-understanding-plant-growth-hormones-with-dr-jim-barrett

Our guest this week is Tom Miles. Tom is the president of T.R. Miles, Technical Consultants, Portland, Oregon, a biomass energy consulting firm, which designs, develops, installs, and commissions systems for processing wood, agricultural, and urban residues. Innovative biomass systems include pyrolysis, gasification, and combustion, sizing, drying, densification, handling, modification of boilers and gasifiers to improve efficiency and emissions, and systems to recycle nutrients. He has developed heat and power systems in developing countries. His knowledge of ash transformations in biomass led to recycling nutrients using pyrolysis of residues to biochar which can improve soil health and sequester carbon. He has sponsored and hosted online discussions of biomass energy and biochar since 1994. He is past chairman of the International Biochar Initiative and Executive Director of the US Biochar Initiative. Now on to the show! https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/podcast/episode-78-benefits-and-uses-for-biochar-with-tom-miles

Born and raised in Israel, Prof. Kapulnik received his doctorate in Soil Microbiology from the Hebrew University and as a Fulbright Fellow, completed his post-doctoral work at the University of California, Davis (1984-1986). He worked for more than 25 years as a Professor of Plant physiology and biotechnology at the Volcani Center, Israeli Ministry of Agriculture. His early work focused on the study of Plant-microorganism interactions, mainly in plant’s roots, and their impact on crop productivity. Later, he concentrated on identification and utilization of natural products produced by numerous plants species and their health benefit to human. Prof. Kapulnik holds 14 patents, trained more than 65 graduate and post-graduate students in his lab and has published more than 170 articles in his field in international scientific journals and edited 3 books. https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/podcast/episode-77-mycorrhizal-fungi-and-the-rhizosphere-with-prof-yoram-kapulnik

Our guest today is Nelson Lindsley, of Poetry of Plants. You can check him out on Instagram under “poetryofplants” Nelson has been cultivating cannabis for over a decade and working in the industry for over two decades. An artist by heart and an innovator by trade, he has worked with the majority of leading grow room technology and techniques that are available on the current market and studied their application for efficient large scale cultivation. Over the last three years he has consulted on cultivation sites in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Pennsylvania and California. After working with Nelson we have added a couple of products to our product line at KIS. We now have lighting from Science LEDs as well as offering Beanstalk Nutrients on our website. I put a lot of thought and consideration into carrying this brand because it’s not an organic nutrient line. And while I’m an organic gardener myself, I realize that there are many folks who are not and I wanted to offer what I believe to be one of the most sustainable chemical options for growers and we discuss some of those reasons in this podcast. If you want to try Beanstalk after listening to this podcast, you can get a 25% discount with free shipping on our website or by entering the coupon code KIS on their website page. This promotion will be in effect for the next 3 weeks from podcast launch. If you are a larger facility we do have access to bulk pricing and options along that route too. Anyway, on with the show! https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/podcast/episode-76-cultivation-startups-and-beanstalk-agriculture-with-nelson-lindsley

My guest this week is Rob Knechtel, founder of Black Swallow Living Soils. Although Rob’s life long interest in growing cannabis began in the late 60’s, he has spent the past 45 years in a completely unrelated industry designing, installing and marketing fireplaces. When the Canadian government announced approximately 5 years ago that they would be legalizing cannabis production, Rob, his wife Lou and son Nathan decided to start up Black Swallow Living Soil.  Nathan runs the day to day operations with his team, and Rob along with his wife continue to concentrate on further building the Black Swallow brand. After meeting on a visit to the Gold Leaf Gardens a few years ago, Rob and Nathan began to work on a couple projects with KIS Organics, and now blend the KIS Mix based off of my formulation. In a relatively short time, Black Swallow Living Soil has gained significant recognition as a respected supplier of organic soil amendments and growing supplies in Canada, which they ship coast to coast. In this podcast we discuss exactly what goes into formulating a soil mix as well as some of the challenges we see on daily basis in this industry. https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/podcast/episode-75-formulating-soils-and-new-products-with-rob-knechtel-of-black-swallow-living-soils