2023 Guide to Hemp Production - 4

GENETICS
WHERE TO BEGIN
Aaron Van Wingerden, owner of Royale Botanicals,
works closely with many growers and shares some of
the things he helps new customers consider as they are
starting out with hemp.
First, what is the ideal time for harvesting in your
growing region?
" Once a hemp begins its flowering cycle, it's about
seven to nine weeks until it's fully finished and needs to
be harvested, so if you need to be harvesting by Oct. 1,
you want a plant that triggers no later than Aug. 1, " Van
Wingerden explains. " Figuring out when you're going to
harvest and starting to do the math backwards on timing
is the first thing you need to do. "
Then, what is your plan for harvest - by machine or
by hand?
The answer to this question will help farms determine
when they should plant their hemp and how many plants
they should have per acre.
" Anything 4 foot or lower, you could have much higher
success with harvesting by machine, so this means you
can plant a little later in the season or pick a genetic
that has an earlier trigger time, and it also might mean
you plant more plants per acre, " Van Wingerden says. " If
you plan to harvest by hand and you're a smaller farm or
you're in the greenhouse, then maybe you want to plant
as big as possible, so you can capture as many pounds
per plant as possible. "
The next question is: What is the day length at
certain times throughout the growing season in my
region?
This is a culmination of the first two questions Van
Wingerden asks, but it's imperative to determining
exactly what genetics a farmer should use.
Lastly, what's the plan for the end product of your
hemp once harvested?
" Is it smokable flower bud that needs to be manicured
and pretty? That means hand harvesting and hang
drying your hemp, so make sure you have the labor and
space to accommodate this, " Van Wingerden says. " Are
you planning to harvest it as biomass that you'll sell to
an extractor? If so, will the extractor take a combined
harvested material, or do you need to use more gentler
methods? Will the extractor take the hemp wet right out
the field or will you need to dry it first? Is field dry OK or
do you need to run it through machine dryers? "
Post-processing is an extensive process, so you need
to make sure you have a plan in place before planting
your crop. Van Wingerden says he has seen too many
farms with beautiful plants ruin them in post-processing
because they didn't have a gameplan.
4 | 2023 GUIDE TO HEMP PRODUCTION
Growing from clones creates a final product with
uniform performance and a specific harvest window.
One of the primary advantages of clones is
that they are all genetically identical, coming
from the same mother stock plant and growing
the exact same at the same time. This means
a specific harvest time and manageable risk of
a compliant crop.
Van Wingerden compares clones to identical
twins and feminized seedlings to siblings;
siblings may have different eye color, grow to
different heights, etc.
" If you use feminized seedlings, 100%
you're going to end up with a couple different
phenotypic traits that express themselves
THE VALUE PROPOSITION
CLONE
PLANTS PER ACRE
AVERAGE COST PER PLANT
TOTAL COST PER ACRE
3,000
$1.25
$3,750.00
POUNDS OF BIOMASS PER PLANT 1
POUNDS PER ACRE
AVG. CBD %
PRICE PER POINT OF CBD %
3,000
11
$0.50
PRICE PER POUND OF BIOMASS $5.50
SALES PER ACRE
GROSS PROFIT
DIFFERENCE OF PROFIT PER
ACRE OF CLONE VERSUS
SEEDING (ASSUMING SEEDING
CROP HAS ZERO SEED WEIGHT
TO SHED)
$3,750.00
3,000
$0.50
$1,500.00
1
3,000
7
$0.50
$3.50
$16,500.00 $10,500.00
$12,750.00
$9,000.00
SEEDLING
2023 Guide to Hemp Production

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