Oxygen, Root Health and the Best DIY Air Manifolds

Staying aerobic isn't just for the gym – oxygen is the most important element of root health for your plants. When plant leaves photosynthesize, they create energy (sugars) from light, water and CO2. It's like an equation where Light + H2O + CO2 = Sugars. During the reaction, the leaves absorb CO2, but the “O” in H2O (the oxygen) gets broken off and is released by the plants as atmospheric oxygen. It's a neat trick for plants to make food out of sunlight. It's even neater when you consider that the oxygen by-product is what allows us to live here on earth. But what about the poor roots? Root cells need to have energy to grow big and strong, too, but they can't photosynthesize underground. In order to support root growth, the plant takes sugars built in the leaves and transports them to the root cells. In order to use that sugar for cellular respiration however, the roots need to consume oxygen. Basically, the reaction happens in reverse and Sugars + Oxygen = CO2, Water and Energy (for root growth). The bottom line is that oxygen to the roots is as crucial to overall plant health as CO2 is to the leaves.

Top O' the season to ya! Here in the Grower’s Grove last month, we started to look at the relationship between the aromatic compounds, or terpenes, in Cannabis and the other active compounds such as THC and CBD. Current research shows that terpene compounds play a significant role in altering the effects of medical cannabis. The amazing range of different effects from varying types of cannabis can now be seen in a framework much larger than basic cannabinoid ratios or a simple sativa vs. indica dichotomy. In addition to these factors, how the plant smells affects the character of the medicinal effects – sometimes quite significantly. Since aromatic compounds are already capable of producing physical effects in small amounts simply by being inhaled, the process of cannabis patients sniffing varying jars in a dispensary to help determine which strain to get may be a more complex relationship between patients and their medicine than previously thought.