Page 3 - Cannabis News Florida Sept 2021

AROUND THE REGION
TM

Hemp Flowering Behavior Research Provides

Further Guidance for Florida Growers

New UF/IFAS research suggests Florida closer to 14 hours. Key Largo only gets greatest challenges that this research tial to the flowering of hemp. Thus,
growers must carefully select hemp vari- 13.5 hours on the longest day. helped address.” daylength estimations should include the
eties and factor the length of a given day “Identifying cultivars that can tolerate The research team studied 15 cultivars civil twilight period when determining the
when scheduling when to plant. Florida’s environmental conditions is key of essential oil hemp and 12 fiber/grain photoperiod of a location.
Understanding hemp flowering behav- to optimizing the performance of hemp,” cultivars grown in controlled growth Despite great diversity observed in pho-
ior, or how it responds to light and varying said Brian Pearson, UF/IFAS assistant pro- chambers. The goals were to identify criti- toperiod response, the study identified
daylengths in tropical and subtropical cli- fessor of crop management. “Florida’s cal photoperiod needed to induce flower- several essential oil, fiber, and grain hemp
mates has a boost thanks to new research short day lengths are one of the greatest ing, compare photoperiod thresholds to varieties that responded favorably to
from UF/IFAS published in Frontiers in challenges to hemp success and we wanted flowering dates within a subtropical out- daylengths experienced throughout
Plant Science. to dig deeper to better understand how to door environment, and quantify how Florida.
Hemp needs sufficient time for vegeta- grow hemp successfully here since a large hemp cultivars respond under different “Careful variety selection is extremely
tive growth to take place before the pho- amount of our hemp acreage is outdoors.” photoperiods. important for Florida growers,” Brym said.
toperiod hits, causing the plant to flower. Hemp has shown to have optimal pho- Most of the essential oil cultivars and “It will be important that Florida growers
Planting a hemp crop too late or planting a toperiods ranging from 12 hours to 18 some of the fiber or grain cultivars were select hemp varieties from southern lati-
variety that is incompatible with the day hours dependent upon the variety, leaving found to be suitable for Florida’s daylight tudes and avoid those from the north.
length of the region could cause the plants more questions than answers regarding hours, but some were sensitive enough Growers should also consider day neutral
to flower too soon and lead to an unsuc- optimal photoperiod. that just 15 minutes made a difference in or “autoflower” hemp that can withstand
cessful crop. “Hemp grown in Florida faces a lot of their productivity. So, planting date the heat and humidity of Florida.”
Some plants, including hemp, are highly challenges,” Zachary Brym, agronomy becomes a critical factor for cultivation
sensitive to the amount of day length they assistant professor said. “From pest and outdoors. For more information on UF/IFAS hemp
receive. Modern hemp cultivars tend to disease pressure to the high temperatures The study also found that hemp is very research, visit the hemp resources site at
originate from temperate regions where and humidity, there are a lot of factors that sensitive to low levels of light. Light avail- https://programs.ifas.ufl.edu/hemp/resources/.
the longest day length is around 15.5 can make growing hemp here difficult. able just prior to sunrise and just after sun-
hours. In Apopka, average daylength is The short daylengths present one of the set, also known as civil twilight, is influen-

34 September 2021 cannabisnewsflorida.com Cannabis News Florida