Cannabis Farming - How to Grow, Harvest, and Process Organic, Field-Grown Cannabis

Start your own organic cannabis farm with this complete how-to manual written by two farmers with a decade of experience growing cannabis in the field.

Cannabis is rapidly being decriminalized across the country, causing a surge in consumer demand and enabling growers to cultivate cannabis in the open, rather than secretly in greenhouses. Whether you’re a small-scale vegetable farmer who wants to add a high-value crop or a home cannabis grower who wants to expand their operation, authors Adam Davidoff and Ryan Power can help you get growing. They were some of the first vegetable farmers in California to start growing cannabis as a field crop, and have even developed their own cannabis strains that are adapted to field growing rather than indoor cultivation.

Now is the perfect time to start growing cannabis for profit!

List of contents

Preface: Our Origin Story
   Why We Wrote This Book

Introduction: It Helps to Have Chutzpah
   Agronomic Mindset: Cannabis Is a Crop

Section 1: Planning - Late Winter to Early Spring
1  Genetics
    Terpenes
    Potency
    How to Select Genetics
    Light Cycle and Flower Maturation   
    Three Light Cycle Types Detailed
    Seasonal and Environmental Genetics Considerations
    Using Clones
    Using Feminized Seed
    What We Do
    What This Means for You
2  Plant Nutrition and Fertility Management
    The Living Soil Approach
    Using Cover Crops
    Choosing Amendments
    Putting It All Together
3  Managing Insect and Fungi
    A Healthy Ecosystem
    A Plant-Positive Approach
    Close Looking
    Appropriate Pest Mitigation
    Controlling Fungus
    Cultural Practices

Section 2: Planting - Spring
4  Tillage and Field Prep
    Effective Tillage Techniques
    Leveling the Field
    Shaping Beds
    Plastic Mulch Considerations
5  Propagation
    Starting Autoflower Seeds
    Starting Full-Term and Semi-Full-Term Seeds
    Seeding
    Ideal Germination Temperatures
    Light Requirements
    Soil Fertility
    Days to Transplant
    Hardening Off
6  Planting Your Crop
    Transplanting    
    Transplant Shock
    Planting Full-Terms and Clones
    Managing Transplants
    Direct Sowing
    Plant Spacing

Section 3: Crop Management - Summer
7  Watering and Weeding
    Determining Watering Needs
    Overhead Irrigation
    Drip Tape Irrigation
    Cultivating to Kill Weeds

8: Canopy Management
    Topping
    Trellising
    Pruning
    De-leafing

9: Pollen Management
    Self-Pollination
    Male Pollination
    Pollen Drift
    Breeding for Sterile Plants

10: Implementing a Spray Program
    Sprayer Types
    Spray Products
    Spray Timing
    Foliar Feeding

Section 4: Harvest, Storage, and Processing - Fall and Winter
11: Harvest
    Recognizing Your Harvest Window
    Other Harvesting Variables
    Preparing for the Harvest
    Product: Extraction
    Product: Fresh Frozen
    Product: Smokable Flower or Dry Extraction
    Getting the Crop In
    Estimating Harvest Costs
12: Post-Harvest
    The Ideal Dry Space
    Drying Cycle
    How to Tell When Your Crop Is Dry
    Curing
    Storage
13: Processing the Product
    Bucking Dry Material
    Trimming
    Grading
    Packaging and Final Storage 
 
Epilogue
    The Future of Cannabis Products
    Evolving Cultivation Systems and Mechanization
    The Future of Genetics
    A Plant Unlike Any Other

Appendix I: The Effect of Regulation on Cultivation Culture
    Modern Regulations - Canopy Taxes, Acreage Limits, and How These Change Cultivation

Appendix II: Cannabis Aroma Families
    Understanding and Categorizing Cannabis Varieties by Aromas, Terpenes, Smell Compounds, and Genetic Lineages

Acknowledgments
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Adam Davidoff, Ryan Power, and William Hancock own New Family Farm in Sebastopol, California. Davidoff and Power were among the first growers to cultivate cannabis in a standard agricultural production system, inventing novel production techniques, tractor equipment, labor processes, and post-harvest technology. Recognizing the need for cannabis seed with the right genetics for field growing, they started Atlas Seed. They can be found online at thenewfamilyfarm.com and atlasseed.com. 

Summary

Start your own organic cannabis farm with this complete how-to manual written by two farmers with a decade of experience growing cannabis in the field.

Cannabis is rapidly being decriminalized across the country, causing a surge in consumer demand and enabling growers to cultivate cannabis in the open, rather than secretly in greenhouses. Whether you’re a small-scale vegetable farmer who wants to add a high-value crop or a home cannabis grower who wants to expand their operation, authors Adam Davidoff and Ryan Power can help you get growing. They were some of the first vegetable farmers in California to start growing cannabis as a field crop, and have even developed their own cannabis strains that are adapted to field growing rather than indoor cultivation.

Now is the perfect time to start growing cannabis for profit!

Product details

• Authors: Adam Davidoff, Hancock William, Ryan Power
• Publisher: Workman
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.02.2025
• EAN: 9781635868265
• ISBN: 978-1-63586-826-5
• No. of pages: 224
• Illustrations: Full-color; photographs and illustrations throughout
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Nature, technology > Nature: general, reference works; TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Agriculture / Organic, GARDENING / Organic, GARDENING / Marijuana Cultivation, Organic Farming, Educational: Agriculture, horticulture and related subjects