Contributed by Ember Haynes
Every year, I look forward to planning the garden and picking the variety of food and flower seeds we will be growing. Planning for hemp is similar to other field and garden crops when considering the strain to grow in your location.
Believe it or not, there are quite a few options when it comes to the type of hemp to plant. In the Alaska Hemp Program, there a currently over 255 varieties listed. There are many things to consider before purchasing hemp seed in bulk, similar to choosing the right tomato or peony for your garden.
A few key questions come to mind, I'm sure there are many other points to think about.
Are you growing indoors or outdoors? If outdoors, are you prepared for light deprivation techniques? What is your micro-climate?
What are you trying to accomplish by growing hemp, and what are you looking for in an end result? What part of the plant are you using and how will you process/use that material?
How do you plan to harvest your crop, how and where will the crop be processed and stored?
What attributes, terpene and cannabinoid profile are you hoping for?
If needed, there is information and sources for hemp seeds available online with an Alaska Hemp Program license.
Last year, my husband, Chris, and I grew two varieties of hemp. We grew Matterhorn CBG and an autoflower hemp, which both fit into our purpose and plan. We compared their pros and cons, then decided on varieties for this season. As expected for our style of field growing, the autoflower plants performed the best and we will be growing predominantly autos this season. We are eager to apply what we learned last year to our crop and also utilize more of our land as well. Since we grow our hemp outdoors, we have the option to plant seedlings indoors or direct seed into the ground depending on our schedule and the weather. We hope to get an earlier start this year for a higher yield.
Depending on the end-result purpose of the hemp, some outdoor growers utilize hoop houses or greenhouses that allow for light deprivation during the summer months and also extend the growing season. For us growing outdoors with an autoflowering variety that does not need light, it fits our plan and schedule for the most part. We made do with what we had last year, although we do have the goal of getting a greenhouse going this year... if time would only allow. The ultimate goal for our small acreage is to continuously improve our soil and achieve sustainability with the plants we grow. Hemp is just one of the plants we cultivate on our property. We have found that medicinal plants such as calendula, mint, and yarrow are happy companions to our hemp crop.
This is our humble story and process. I look forward to seeing what Alaskan hemp farmers are able to accomplish this year and provide to our program's knowledge base.