Abstract
The production and use of cannabis for medical purposes has been legalized in Canada and several states in the USA. Due to the historically illegal nature of cannabis, there is very little information available in academic publications about appropriate growing media for growing cannabis. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the most commonly used growing media for the production of medical cannabis and to discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Based on current knowledge, there is a general agreement on the properties of a suitable growing medium within the cannabis industry. However, there is little consensus among growers on the best growing medium to grow cannabis. Different categories of growing media are widely used in North America. In this review, we classified them into several main categories principally based on the type of material used in their composition and the growth stages of the plant. The main categories include: coir-based, peat-based, rockwool, phenolic foam, and living soil. It is not easy to suggest the best growing medium for cannabis production. Each category of growing medium has its strengths and weaknesses. Overall, it seems that coir-based products are the intermediate substrates showing more advantages and less weakness; however, choosing any of these categories depends a lot on the growing technique and production system. Future research should focus on determining the optimal level of growing media properties to produce high yielding medical cannabis with the desired quality.
Highlights
Since October 2019, several hundred licensed medical cannabis producers (LP) have been approved by the Government of Canada [1]
Growing Cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) has been illegal for many years [3] resulting in very little information in scientific research about cannabis production and appropriate growing media for this plant [4]
This, among the properties discussed has led to the increased adoption of coir-based growing media into the cannabis industry
Summary
Since October 2019, several hundred licensed medical cannabis producers (LP) have been approved by the Government of Canada [1]. The growing mediums for propagation are usually composed of fine components to allow filling small containers or propagation units Despite their fineness, components need to be clean (i.e., with limited quantity of dust) to allow roots to penetrate and rapidly establish. Based on this data, air-filled porosity increases with the height of the substrate in the container. The grower needs to adopt the irrigation strategy based on this dynamic moisture content in order to prevent overwatering (leaching) and underwatering (excessive drying) This is an important point especially in organic production systems where the leaching control is essential to manage the limited quantity of nutrients. The purpose of this document is to review the physical and chemical properties of the most commonly used growing media for the production of medical cannabis in North America and to discuss their advantages and disadvantages
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