Nutrient Deficiency Diagnosis

Abiotic and biotic stresses can be difficult to diagnose. The location on the plant, the symptoms observed, severity and speed of onset, and the distribution across the room are all important things to consider when trying to figure out what is happening in the crop.

Bloomlabs.ca has an awesome fact sheet that helps to guide your diagnostic process as to what could be happening in the crop. For access to the factsheet, click here!

Below is a screenshot of page 2 of the document, which illustrates what these nutrient deficiencies typically present as. The side by side comparison of foliar symptoms can be very helpful in pin pointing the culprit in each specific instance. Understanding the mobility of the nutrients is also important in your process - something like Nitrogen, which is mobile through the plant, can easily be re-located to new growth to ensure that it is able to develop properly. That is why nitrogen deficiency typically presents as yellowing of leaves towards the bottom of the plant, as opposed to the top of the plant. 

While nutrient analysis is highly recommended throughout the cropping cycle, those nutrient levels alone might not be telling the whole story. Nutrient availability is highly dependent on the pH of the solution and the growing media. While you might be actively supplementing a nutrient or a micronutrient to your crop, and having your nutrient analysis coming back with sufficient levels of nutrition, interactions within the growing media might be causing inaccessibility of that particular nutrient to the plant roots. Understanding the interaction between your added nutrients, as well as the EC and pH of the substrate and feed solution, should help level out surprise nutrient deficiencies, and allow for more accurate and effective applications of nutrients. Pairing a tissue test alongside your substrate and water analysis should give you a full picture of what is happening within the crop and allow for manipulations to maximize your growing potential. 

Looking for more information on nutrient availability and diagnosis of deficiencies? Don't hesitate to reach out to discuss!

Posted by: Talia Plaskett

Cannacopia – Key Concepts for Cannabis Success

 

Introducing the first official workshop hosted by the BloomLabs team! This presentation can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbb-PNiTFpc. Please follow this link if you’re interested!  

Topics of discussion included the following:

Sarah discusses facility and product overview from Olli Brands Inc., a leader in cannabis edibles in Canada, who has tons of great and unique flavours to try! P.S. You may want to try their chocolate brownies or cookies! Sarah outlines new product development processes and how Olli can help you bring your ideas to life.

Mike, from Professional Cleaning Solutions, discussed cleaning in the industry. Sanitation is a key concept for any cannabis producer to mitigate any mould or mildew, including affecting the environment negatively. Mike chats about topics like training, health and safety, environmental impacts, Good Production Practices (in the Cannabis Regulations!), sanitation and environmental programs, and more!

Dr. Punja discusses the various pathogens in greenhouses, which can be compared to indoor growth as well. Diseases infect roots, foliage, as well as flower and are all important when growing cannabis, especially for disease management. Dr. Punja discusses the types of pathogens, as well as biological controls that can mitigate the diseases. If you have powdery mildew, moulds, root rot, etc., check out this presentation! Afterall, it is very common, cannabis is a live flower!

Ricardo, our Senior Microbiologist at BloomLabs, discusses the concerns with bacterial and mould contaminants. Ricardo walks through the types of bacteria and mould we test for at BloomLabs in cannabis. Cannabis can have some anti-microbial properties, but as it is for human consumption, producers must make sure it’s safe for human health. This presentation identifies contamination points during production and discusses services Bloom offers to help mitigate issues, such as air quality testing, environmental swabbing, etc.

Services from the BloomLabs Cannabis Accelerator Team, Talia and Chelsea, include production services, from seed to sale, including irrigation systems, substrate information, pest management practices, and more! We also offer cannabis edible product development, as well as shelf-life studies! We work with clients from start to finish to get their products to the market. BloomLabs can work with you, either on site or online, to grow your company and products

 

BloomLabs had a great time hosting this workshop and we plan to host more of these types of information sessions! We allowed for Q&A period which many viewers got to ask specific questions about products or requirements. Please keep an eye out for our next workshop (we’ll also be sending an email out to our current email list, so please reach out if you’d like to hear from us!)!