"The greenhouse is run by the computer: from the irrigation to the screens and the environment. It takes many years of programming the computer to be able to get to this point. We've been working on it for 3 years now," says Andras Kirschner, Co-Founder and Head Grower of District Cannabis. Located in Maryland, the company has worked with LetsGrow.com and Hoogendoorn to create an automated cultivation system. "Every week, we analyze our data and try to make little changes to improve the program."
The greenhouse
In a recent video, the CannaCribs team was welcomed to the facility for a tour. The Dutch greenhouse is 45,000 square feet. Co-Founder Andras had always dreamed of having a Dutch greenhouse. "When I was in college, I read a National Geographic article about how the small country of Holland was producing the majority of the vegetables in Europe. I saw their technology and knew that that was where the future of horticulture was headed."
Years later, District Cannabis is one of 15 cannabis licensees in Maryland, and is producing in a Dutch greenhouse. "It has more cubic feet of space to condition, making it easier to keep your environment stable. We have really high ceilings and two peaks in each bay, which allows for better ventilation. A lot of American greenhouses are shorter and have just one peak per bay," he explains.
After trialing many different LED lights, the company decided to go with Fluence. "When we trialed their lights, we saw increases in THC and terpenes," Andras says. "The Fluence team worked with us to integrate the dimming program into the Hoogendoorn system. We have a PAR sensor at the crop level, which adjusts the lights. If the curtains are open, the lights will dim down. If the curtains are closed, the lights will dim up. The whole facility is run on $45,000 of electricity costs per month. That's not even close to most indoor grows," he says.
Clone to kill
Ashley Hubbard, Cultivation Department Head, explains that the company 'clones to kill'. "We can select the best and healthiest clones, kill those mothers, and kind of restart. We don't have to be particular about where we're cutting clones, but can choose the 20 strongest and then clone to kill those," Ashley explains. The company houses about 30 genetics in 2 different batches. "We have both grandmother plants and mother plants. Let's say we want to cultivate Layer Cake. We then need to choose 6 plants growing off our recycle program. We will put those on our Grodan slabs and allow those to grow for 4 weeks. Those grandmother plants are completely dedicated to becoming cuts for mother plants. We then choose the strongest plants to move to the next phase."
Precision irrigation
Paavo Steinkamp, VP of Cultivation, explains that they are using stone wool together with the Grodan GroSens platform to learn precision irrigation. "The sensor tracks CO2 levels, VPD and even plant weights to tailor irrigation precisely, ensuring optimal growth conditions and efficient water usage."
"We also have a scale in the middle of each bay, which weighs the plants," Andras adds. "Everytime we irrigate, the Aquabalance records the drain. After the last drain drops, it registers the weight and adjusts the interval for watering based on the transpiration rate. It also monitors the drain water. As the EC of the drain water increases, the interval will be decreased."
On top of that, the company captures the drain water to reduce its fertilizer consumption. "We filter the water, test it, and calculate what we need to add to hit our targets. That has reduced our fertilizer consumption by 30%."
For more information:
District Cannabis 
www.districtcannabis.us
CannaCribs
www.cannacribs.org
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