Cannabis production starts with healthy plants

The importance of integrated pest management, good-quality, disease-free plant material and compliance with market standards were highlighted at the Cheeba Cannabis Cultivation Summit recently held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

Kristin de Jager, director of Qure, said the cloning of cannabis plants was relatively cheap, required no specialised equipment, and was a fast way of producing plants that were genetically consistent. It, nevertheless, required a lot of space and a risk of diseases being introduced from the mother plants to the new plant material.

“The risks of plant material having diseases is especially high for home growers and subsistence farmers,” he said.

The use of tissue culture to propagate plants was more expensive and required specialised equipment, consumables and a clean space. It allowed the rapid propagation of numerous genetically identical plantlets from a small amount of plant tissue. De Jager said a major advantage of tissue culture was that it involved the sterilisation of plant material before culturing to ensure the propagated plants were disease free.

Dean van Schalkwyk, head of operations at Marijuana SA, said that integrated pest management incorporated biological, cultural, and mechanical methods to combat pest problems, with chemical methods only used as a last resort.

According to him, integrated pest management is not an “overnight solution” but helps to render production more resilient against pests and diseases by creating a favourable environment for beneficial organisms. It also helps to reduce the risks of pests and diseases developing resistance against the different chemical active groups used to control them.

He identified predatory and parasitic insects as biological control measures, and mechanical measures as physical things that can be done to stop pest and diseases from entering the production area. These include the use of barriers, filters and good biosecurity practices, such as isolating new plants to ensure they are disease free before placing them with the rest of your plants, and ensuring you are not carrying any disease on your clothes or shoes from outside or another area into the production area.

Cultural practices centre around product practices that reduce pest and disease risks, such as using a diseasefree growth medium, reducing plant stress by ensuring plants receive the nutrients and water they need when they need it and managing plants correctly.

Wanda Bruce, consultant at

Smart Attitude, emphasised the importance of compliance to supply the pharmaceutical market. “Once you supply these companies, you become a healthcare company. You need to supply a consistent product that complies with specifications. You also need to have quality and insurance protocols in place.” –