A lot of marijuana growers fear hemp cultivation because they fear that cross pollination via nearby help cultivation will affect a marijuana grower’s crop. But is that true? A recent article by Capitol Press suggests otherwise:
Marijuana growers fear hemp pollen because they want to avoid the formation of seeds in their crop, which decreases the quality and volume of psychoactive flowers.
As part of his experiment, Norton grew numerous hemp plants in a greenhouse that also contained several marijuana plants. In Oregon, recreational use of the psychoactive crop became legal this year and its medical cultivation has been legal since the late 1990s.
Despite their close proximity to male hemp plants, Norton’s female marijuana plants developed a minimal number of seeds.
“We’ve been successful with them not cross-pollinating,” said Norton.
The dearth of seeds found in the marijuana makes him optimistic that hemp and marijuana growers will find a way to coexist in Oregon, similarly to specialty seed producers who use a mapping system to avoid cross-pollination.
This experiment is one of many that is needed. As far as which marijuana strains will grow better alongside hemp than others is yet to be determined. However, this experiment definitely throws a monkey wrench into the long standing belief that hemp cultivation next to marijuana cultivation is a recipe for disaster.
