Introduction

We decided to explore cloning as a method of plant propagation and maintaining genetic purity with foreign seeds. The cost and rarity of good seeds make cloning an attractive option for better consistency of plant characteristics. Research on the application of this technique was taken up after many discussions about maintaining genetics.  

Parent plant genetics/seeds:

Doctor Seedsman CBD 30:1 Feminized Seeds – 10

Tatanka Pure CBD Feminized Seeds – 5

Aims and Objectives

We aim to teach Mgadlela Farm the technique of basic cloning with a modest budget using already gathered material (2021 projects). This is a major advantage for a farmer, especially when trying to produce genetic consistency.

Research will test different rooting agents against survival rates of cuttings. Testing gathered research knowledge against real-world farming scenarios in Eswatini.

We further aim to preserve our Dr. Seedsman and Tatanka genetics which we have imported, we want to propagate to maintain consistent CBD content.

Research Process

Research took place inside the HN shade cloth greenhouse, we used small plastic domes for increased humidity and plastic bottles cut in half as mini domes. Cuttings were placed into Mgadlela’s soil mix kept moist with pure water and covered.

Dry powder rooting agent was used on ten cuttings taken from CBD “mothers” in the greenhouse on the 15/1/2022. 

Using gel rooting hormone a second set of ten cuttings were taken from the CBD “mothers” in the greenhouse on the 28/1/22. The makeshift smaller mini domes made from bottles were used on these cuttings. Unfortunately the success rate was not good for all twenty cuttings, most failed after a few days.

As of 8 February 22 in the greenhouse; two from the first batch taken on 15/1/22 have survived but are not growing well. Six from the second batch have survived and are showing shoots.

Later on a third attempt was made using plastic bottle domes, which had a higher success rate.

As of 13/1/2022 there were two surviving clones in total. They were the ones taken on the 28/1/22, showing shoots and growing.

The above image shows cuttings with plastic bottle covers.

The above images show the cuttings taken in different sizes at various points in growth.

Dr Seedsman and Tatanka 30:1 CBD “mothers”.

The Images above show the last few surviving clones in the ‘final stage’ of growth, they did not get any larger and produced tiny flowers before dying.

Partnership Programme

In this project both Hemp Nation and the farmer learned almost from scratch how to clone plants. Having been provided with the necessary basic knowledge and cloning agent, the farmer did have success at creating live clones. His understanding of the cloning process is at a level where he can continue research and hopefully have better success. The importance of maintaining the genetics of the plant were understood by the farmer through this process.

Conclusions

The parent plants did not suffer from having a few cuttings taken off them, however the survival rate is not good, none survived. The mini greenhouse effect and soil seems good since the cuttings did not die straight away. Our partner/farmer is convinced we took the cuttings too late in the plants’ growing cycle and we have noted this for our next attempt.

One key finding is that the cuttings did not go through the vegetation stage of growth, they stayed very small and produced tiny flowers while they were still alive. This supports the hypothesis that the cuttings were taken too late in the growth cycle of the mother plants.

Although the growth of the clones was very slow, and there were significant losses, we did create 6 baby plants from one european mother plant, potentially multiplying out the benefits of our high CBD plant. For a brief period we had maintained our foriegn genetics into another season.

The timing of taking the cuttings, as well as the ‘parenting’ techniques of baby clones has to be developed further. Different types of rooting powder were used, however we are not sure if it influenced the success rate due to such high losses. We also have some other new questions such as; when to add nutrients? Clearly more research is also required in the cloning project.

Introduction

The first phase grow results and conclusions highlighted the need for an updated growing model using a semi-controlled environment to reduce losses and improve outcomes. The decision was taken to build a small greenhouse on the farm and see what improvements it yields.

Aims and Objectives

The Greenhouse was built for the second phase of the research project. The objective was to evaluate the usefulness of a shade-cloth greenhouse in reducing male pollen contamination, reducing problems with pests and improving the success rate of germination.

Built for use as hemp nations grow research facilities but also for Mgadlela farm to use and benefit from.

The pictures above show the greenhouse construction in different phases ending with the completed structure.

Partnership Programme

The hands-on nature of this project means that the farmer was very involved in building the greenhouse and learned a lot about its benefits. At this point, the farm has benefited the most from the greenhouse because it gives the farmer a better place to germinate and grow young seedlings with a high success rate before transplanting them to the field. He has ideas of building more greenhouses for his own seedlings and vegetables.

Conclusions

The greenhouse did not solve all the issues we would have hoped. Further work was required on the floor, and plant growth in the greenhouse floor has caused contamination. The number of pests was reduced but not eradicated.

The presence of pollen cannot have been stopped entirely due to seeds found in the plants grown in the greenhouse at harvest.

The shadecloth did not provide enough protection from rain so more plastic sheet had to be added for the roof. 

A fence around the greenhouse had to be added to keep away cows and goats. 

Such a small greenhouse became very unobtrusive once the surrounding vegetation had regrown. Growth of maize fields and weeds around the greenhouse has completely hidden it from view.

One-seed-one-hole works if the plant matures. Swazi farming techniques go against one seed one hole because they are used to fight against pests that occur naturally and take into account the losses that will occur in the field. 

We have documented high losses and may rectify this issue by nursing plants for longer in the greenhouse. The use of chemicals for pest control seems unfortunately necessary at present.

Plants matured at different rates although the same age (massive variety in seed genetics in eSwatini).

The situation in the Summer grow (October to February) was very wet. Summer Male pollen contamination was much worse than winter. A lot of humidity was created in the greenhouse causing some mold and slug issues.

Overall the greenhouse served its purpose well and continues to operate as a research nursery. We continuously modify parts of the greenhouse to make it better and hope to develop it further in the next year.

Introduction

This is a continuation of our research project into seeds and genetics which can be used for making medicinal products. The situation is that there is no high-content CBD material within our environment, therefore Hemp Nation decided to source high content CBD producing seeds, grow them, and evaluate how they would perform in our growing environment. The seeds purchased are Californian in origin and were very expensive hence a process which will probably not be repeated.

Aims and Objectives

Seeds were sourced from Johannesburg and contain high levels of CBD. They can be used as medicine and have a low THC percentage which makes them less used recreationally. This grow tested how well these commercially available CBD strains from reputable sources would perform in our local environment.

The table below shows seeds purchased in Johannesburg and their specifications.

The table below shows the progress of the four CBD plants

Partnership Programme

As an extension to the idea of THC in this project, the farmer was introduced to a new type of plant with different compounds, in grows concentrating on propagating CBD plants. This process also calls attention to the need to keep plants apart because of cross-pollination. There is no discernible difference between the plants on face value however we introduced him to a new “high value” seed and strain that was special.

Conclusion

The Medical mass and Stress killer from Royal Queen seeds survived the local environment for the most part, 100% germination is a good sign and then all grew well except 1 of the medical mass which never progressed past the small plant phase. It had stunted growth for some unknown reason. This means 3 out of 4 plants matured to a good flower. 

Fortunately or unfortunately those that matured did contain seeds. The number of vegetation days before flower was very close to those specified on the plants’ specifications on the website data. The size of the plants was not very large, we think this is due to growing season issues, hence the harvest was not very large in relation to the cost of inputs. 

The Medical Mass was tested at a lab in Johannesburg in April 2022 and 5% CBD was found to be present in a 1 gram sample, which is a success! 2% THC was found to also be present.