Cannabis Cultivation and Science Podcast

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

My guest this week is Dr. Cari Peters. She is the vice president at JR Peters and the formulator of all products and development of new fertilizer formulas that provide crop-specific solutions to growers nutritional issues. She has too many honors and accolades to list here, but I will put them up on the podcast page. Cari has a PhD in Plant Sciences  and a Masters of Science in Agronomy from the University of Maryland as well as a Bachelors of Science in Biology. She’s the 3rd generation of Peters in the family business which was founded over 72 years ago. Now on to the show! https://www.kisorganics.com/blogs/news/episode-74-targeted-nutrition-using-chemical-nutrients-in-cannabis-with-dr-cari-peters

My guest this week needs very little introduction. If you’ve ever studied lighting you’ve probably read some of his research. Bruce Bugbee is a professor at Utah State University and President of Apogee Instruments.  He is internationally known for his work with NASA to design food production systems for people living on Mars and has been a frequent speaker at conferences on indoor food production on Earth.  In 2011 he received the Governors Medal for Science from Utah Governor Gary Herbert. He has recorded several videos on photobiological principles; search for “bugbee agriculture”. Perhaps his pinnacle achievement is summarizing everything he knows in a TED talk entitled, “Turning Water into Food.”   Link to podcast page

My guest this week is Bryant Mason of Soil Doctor Consulting. Bryant is a Certified Crop Advisor who specializes in organic cannabis nutrition. He has spent the last three years working to combine precision laboratory techniques with data science in an effort to unravel the complexities of cannabis soil and crop nutrition. Along with his work on soilless media, he also helps outdoor cultivators around the U.S. with nutrient management and cover cropping. Link to podcast page  

Don Marshall has dedicated his life to teaching students about how plants grow and bridging the gap between botany and practical horticultural applications. Don is the founder of the Environmental Horticulture program at Lake Washington College, where he taught for over 40 years.  In addition to teaching, Don is a Certified Professional Horticulturalist, ecoPro, and Certified Arborist. He owns and operates Plant Designs, a landscape design, installation and maintenance firm specializing in organic fine gardening.  Don co-authored Home Landscaping, Northwest Region published by Creative Homeowner, now in its 4th printing.

Virginia Emery is founder and CEO of Beta Hatch, a pioneering insect farming company that is industrializing insects for agriculture. Beta Hatch is fueled by a passion to see insects reach their true potential in our food systems. The company has grown to be internationally recognized for its scientific approach to scaling insect production and operates North America’s largest mealworm farm for animal feed production in Washington. Virginia is the country’s most innovative insect entrepreneur, recently recognized as a Visionary Grist 50 Fixer. Virginia has a PhD in entomology from the University of California, Berkeley, has been awarded over 20 grants and honors, and has published on subjects ranging from chemical communication to genetics to insect behavior. Her life’s mission is to breed a bug that tastes like bacon.

In this episode I interview Dr. Ben Higgins and he shares the results of the research he did at Gold Leaf Gardens that helped increase yields dramatically. We also discuss the importance of good research and development and how it can be used to make data-driven decisions.