Controlling The Smell in Your Medical Marijuana Grow

Cannabis Stinks In a Good Way at Bad Times

·         Understanding how to reduce or completely isolate the smell of an indoor cannabis grow operation.

Have you ever walked through a party and could smell that someone had a bag of marijuana on them?

Or perhaps you’ve gone to purchase some for yourself and the moment the retailer opens the product, you’re overtaken by a tidal wave of terpenes entering your nostrils?

The smell of cannabis can be powerful, pungent, and often unmistakable. 

Cultivation requires discretion.

That’s why so many people who grow their cannabis at home are looking for ways to kill the smell of their cannabis grow. 

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Reducing the Smell of a Cannabis Grow Through Seed Selection

How many times have you opened a cannabis product and smelled it before you looked at it? Smelling cannabis is often the first way we engage with it. 

The odor tells us a lot. In fact according to research published in 2018, “consumers perceive differences among strains, that the strains form distinct clusters based on odor similarity, and that strain aroma profiles are linked to perceptions of potency, price, and smoking interest.”

Obviously, people prefer better-smelling cannabis varieties. The better-smelling varieties, however, also often produce the most smell.

As the authors of the paper pointed out, that may not be a problem for cultivators who want to reduce the smell of their indoor grow operation by selecting cannabis varieties with a less potent smell.

Their research indicated that “while participants perceived large differences in sample potency based on smell, these perceptions do not correspond to the THC content of the samples.” In other words, just because one variety smells better than another, that doesn’t mean there are more cannabinoids present. 

If, as a grower, you’re worried that your choice of seed selection when controlling for smell will tarnish the final product, the researchers noted there is little to worry about. “Disagreeable smelling cannabis strains are popular with certain consumers,” they said. 

As the study pointed out, there are over 140 terpenes that can be found in cannabis plants. So, if you’re looking for a low-odor cannabis variety to grow, consider the following strains:

·         Northern Lights

·         Jack Herer

·         Master Kush

·         Blue Mystic

·         Polar Express

·         Durban Poison

Of course, all cannabis stinks. In a good way. 

No matter what variety of cannabis you choose to grow, you’ll have to take additional steps to completely remove the smell.

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Eliminating the Smell of Cannabis With Carbon

Although plants do not have lungs as we do, they do respire. As their stomata open up, take in CO2 and release O2, they are essentially ‘breathing.’

Regardless of how you want your plants to smell, you also want them to have premium air quality to support their respiration. 

That’s why indoor growers should consider the use of carbon filters. 

According to research from 2015, the use of carbon air filters indoors prevents lung disease in humans. 

While they clean your air, they may also scrub out the smell of cannabis entirely. 

In 2005, researchers found that carbon filters were well-suited to scrub out volatile organic compounds from the air and that they were able to do so “over quite substantial time periods.”

If that’s the case, it’s possible that a simple carbon filtration system may prevent the smell of low-odor cannabis from escaping the confines of your indoor grow room.

However, there’s a more advanced measure to take that is sure to completely stop the smell of your cannabis grow from leaking into the outside world.

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Containing the Smell of Cannabis with a Closed-Loop Ventilation System

If you were to do a deep dive into the potential of closed-loop ventilation systems, you’d find that the niche’s depth is profound. From the very basic to the highly complex, closed-loop ventilation systems have been designed in a myriad of ways for a variety of functions.

For our purposes, we’ll discuss a relatively basic closed-loop ventilation system that works well for small indoor cannabis grows. 

To build a closed-loop ventilation system in your cannabis grow, you’ll need:

·         Split unit AC to control temperature and humidity without the need to draw in fresh air.

·         Humidifiers and dehumidifiers, as needed, to control the environment.

·         CO2 tank with a regulator and monitor to ensure effective plant respiration.

A 2016 study showed that raising the CO2 of your grow will also lead to your plants increasing their conversion of phosphorus into biomass.

By keeping CO2 at optimum levels and maintaining the proper environment, a closed-loop system is an effective way to prevent cannabis odors from betraying the grow’s presence while optimizing the growth of your plants overall.

Thankfully, discretion for your cannabis grow isn’t too hard if you have the time and means to control its smell. If you found this article helpful in reducing the smell of your grow, please share it with your friends!