Environmental parameters directly affect a grow operation’s ability to produce valuable harvests sustainably and regularly. As such, it is important to consider each parameter in the planning and execution of your grow space, be it outdoors in the full sun, within a greenhouse, or indoors.
What are environmental parameters?
Environmental parameters are the ranges and limits of forces and conditions that you set for your grow space. Light, humidity, air flow, air quality, and temperature are a few of the principal environmental parameters growers set to produce their crops.
As you might imagine, the ability to control environmental parameters tends to lead to better crops. However, control can cost significant time and money. And in many cases, it makes more sense to adjust to already existing environmental parameters rather than creating them.
Outdoor Growing
Outdoor growers have the most control over their environmental parameters through location choice. Abundant water, sun, and favorable soil make any location attractive for growing. Beyond choosing a location, however, growers are by and large at the mercy of the elements. However, there are techniques that can help outdoor growers exercise certain levels of control over their crops.
Shade cloths, for example, can help cool an outdoor grow area down and protect delicate plants from an overpowering sun. And windbreaks can be erected for gusts and sustained winds. However, it is near impossible to cover large areas of crops with these forms of protection.
In the end, outdoor growers can exercise the most control over their environmental parameters by choosing an area to grow with a climate and environmental features that will help rather than hinder their operation.
Greenhouse Considerations
Greenhouses are a great tool for producing quality cannabis harvests. They are great choices when outdoor growing presents problems but not enough to move entirely indoors and for growing year round.
Well-thought-out and built buildings can allow their operators varying degrees of control over the environmental parameters. In the more high-tech commercial setups, every parameter is precisely set and managed, including exposure and intensity of sunlight.
The most basic greenhouses may simply have an enclosed space that receives its illumination through a plastic or glass covering of some sort. From there, the sky’s almost the limit, although external parameters may limit a growers ability to entirely control a greenhouse in certain extreme climates.
Moving Indoors
Indoor growing is where growers exercise the most control over every aspect of the growing environment. Each environmental parameter is set, and the space is made to conform to the desired numbers, be they temperature settings or humidity levels. It is best suited for places where it is impossible, impracticable, or illegal to achieve the sought after environmental parameters outdoors or in a greenhouse.
Because indoor growing requires higher levels of manipulation of the environment to achieve desired parameters, it is more often than not more expensive than other methods of growing cannabis. However, commercial operations are able to spread these costs to consumers quite easily.
Knowing the environmental parameters you desire will help you determine how you should set up your grow space. With careful planning and considerations, you’ll have the right level of control you need for great harvests.
Image Source: Kindel Media
