Micropropagation is a technique used for growing large quantities of new plants from fewer “parent” plants, yielding clones with the same, predictable qualities.
student Lauren Kurtz, and Professor Mark Brand, in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture – have worked through some of the challenges of cannabis micropropagation of hemp.
Currently, the commercial cannabis industry relies on other propagation techniques, such as collecting seeds or taking carefully timed cuttings from stock “mother” plants.
Plants that come out of tissue culture also have the benefit of being disease-free, they frequently show enhanced vigor, and you can grow a lot more in less space,” says Lubell-Brand.
Plants in tissue culture depend on the grower to assume the role of nature to provide the right balance of nutrients and growth hormones in the culture media, to regulate temperature and light — everything.
Realizing the potential to help meet the needs of the rapidly growing medical cannabis industry, the researchers set out to answer this question and decipher the needs of cannabis in tissue culture.
For growers to get started with the micropropagation technique, some equipment is needed, such as an autoclave and a laminar flow bench to ensure a sterile environment.
The cultivars the researchers are working with are cannabidol , but their micropropagation technique can be applied to THC-dominant cultivars as well.