The high value of the cannabis crop is pushing growers to bring their A-game to their operation: the market is becoming increasingly competitive, while prices are going down. So, growers have to produce the highest quality if they want to stand out in this young industry. Yet, there are still many aspects of large-scale cannabis cultivation that need to be better understood.
The lack of commonly accepted standards for the growing is a big challenge of the industry as a whole. But that doesn't just regards cultivation: one of the aspects that is usually overlooked is the post-harvest, and specifically when it comes to dry and sort the cannabis buds. Next to post-harvest, the clones are incredibly important. By using clones, growers know what to expect from their plants as they are generally more stable than seeds, which stresses the importance of producing high-quality clones.
Hydrotek Hydroponics was established in 1998, as a manufacturing, importing, distributing company for all things that have to do with hydroponics, both signature brands and products from other manufacturers. Since 2018, their new product line Wachsen Pro is out, which consists of drying, hanging and cloning carts and a bud sorter.
Florent Antonetti, US Branch Manager, tells about this product line. The company identified a gap in product lines surrounding cloning carts, drying racks and hanging racks/carts on wheels. “We wanted to go after a segment in the hydroponic industry that we saw were gaps in. There was room for another strong one.” Hydrotek Hydroponics chose to make all Wachsen products out of stainless steel and to make them towable.
Products
The Wachsen Cloning Carts can hold up to 850 clones per cart. It has three adjustable shelves and comes with cloning trays. They are usually sold without lights so that the grower can choose. However, they can be delivered with Philips T-5 or a LED light from Fluence.
The Wachsen Hanging Carts are a solution for growers to hang their freshly harvested cannabis plants. The shelves are adjustable from 2 ft to 7 ft (60 – 213 cm). Standard there are three shelves, and there is an option for a fourth one. There’s fourteen hooks per shelve, so on the standard one there are fourty-two hooks.
The Wachsen drying carts are a thirty-chamber drying rack system. Each compartment is 6 inches (15 cm). Every compartment can carry up to about three pounds, so about ninety pounds (40 kg) on each rack. A grower needs thirty drying pans to slide into the compartments. The pans come in stainless steel or food grade plastic.
The Wachsen bud sorter sorts different sizes of flowers. Both wet and dry flowers can be sorted, that depends on what the cultivator prefers. It’s completely manual, there’s no motor or calibrator. “So nothing that can break down.” There’s five standard steel grades of different sizes which classifies the buds per size. To use it, one would put all trims on top of the sorter, and they can then sort about a pound of product in under a minute.
For more information:
Hydrotek Hydroponics
[email protected]
www.hydrotekhydroponics.com