“The THC content of the product of my friend is 0,6% - CBD is 13%.”
That’s totally normal. You’re not doing anything wrong.
And you’re totally right - US sellers just ignore the THCA most of the time because otherwise all the CBD smokeable is hot. There has been an exemption on this to date in some states but hopefully we’ll see a move to a more rational 1.0% THC limit for flower internationally which is scientifically more suitable than 0.3% as a threshhold for hemp.
Thinking further on this: Either sell as bud on stem or biomass - if you triple the mass with leaf or stem you’ll push the THC into the compliant range.
You could then granulate this as an API. Or put it into capsules. That’s the highest value product you could make I believe.
It’s still “hemp flower” legally but in a format that’s marketable.
You could also make tea or tea bags - still hemp flower but not for inhalation.
Another option (that may well be somewhere upthread) is to chop the plants early. Cannabinoid production ramps up in the closing weeks before harvest (the end of the plant’s natural life cycle). The greatest increases in THC-A production occurs during this period of time. This will reduce overall cannabinoid potency but is the easiest way to keep flower-only biomass compliant.
With testing being expensive and often taking a week or longer, my suggestion is to cut one or two weeks early with the next harvest. The ratio of CBD to THC gets narrower the longer the plants are allowed to grow.
Thanks for the reply! This is exactly what he did, he chopped the plants at week 6 instead of week 8-9. Still THC reached 0,6%. Maybe if he had chopped at week 5, the buds would be close to the legal limit but it was his first time growing that strain, so…I will keep you updated guys in case we experiment with the UVB light/other methods of lowering the THC.
What can I say man, respect for the heads up!! Thank you very much! If you ever decide to visit my country send me a pm!! :). My friend is negotiating with a company about turning part of the buds to Full Spectrum CBD oil, we will see how it goes!
He also grew the Compolti strain but in terms of CBD concentrations and terpenoids, it was really mediocre. He wants to sell those plants as tea but for the Midwest strain (the one with the 13% CBD) ideally he wants to sell them as buds and convert part of them into oil.
The CBG strains look great, I’m really wondering though if THC concentrations will be <0,2%. The microclimate in his area seems to be boosting the THC levels above the ridiculous limit of 0,2%. This is a legislation that fucks the local producers.
Hello, sorry for the late reply. Yeah, Kompolti were within the legal limit but buds were really fluffy and terpene concentrations were low. I can give you specific details if you want considering the lab analysis. Last year my friend had grown Carmagnola and buds were pretty much ok but barely legal. There were certainly specimens with THC > 0,2% in that batch.
First, pack you plot of land with C18 carbon, then, irrigate with a gradient of 80% meoh and water to 100% meoh…lol couldn’t continue to spew any more nonsense sorry