Top Cultivation Challenge: Pest and Disease Management

All aspects of a controlled growing environment intertwine to affect a cultivation operation’s challenges and ultimate success. Sometimes that impact is direct, such as temperature control. But other times, aberrant environmental conditions indirectly trigger new pressures for growers.

As one such challenge, “pest and disease management” remains a leading concern for research participants in the 2022 “State of the Growing Environment” report. This year, 45% of participants cited this as one of their growing operation’s greatest cultivation challenges—up 8 percentage points compared to 2020, the first year Cannabis Business Times conducted this research project.

This year, 81% of study participants reported at least one pest or disease issue has afflicted their grow, an increase of 10 percentage points from the 2020 study. At the top of 2022’s list of pest and disease issues are “mites” (43%) and “powdery mildew” (42%), with “aphids” (36%) following behind. “Mold” presented an issue for 34% of participants this year, up 14 percentage points from 2020.

The industry’s increased focus on genetics appears evident as 30% of 2022 research participants noted “fine-tuning for specific genetics” as a top cultivation challenge—up 11 percentage points from 2020. Environmental controls also figured prominently in this year’s study: Key challenges cited by cultivators in their growing environments included “humidity control” (29%), “air movement” (20%), and “temperature control” (12%).

Of the research participants who experienced pest and disease issues, slightly more than two-thirds (67%) attributed their cultivation operation’s pest and disease problems to “external contamination.” But participants also cited several controllable environmental issues, including “unbalanced humidity” (31%), “lack of airflow” (21%), and “uncontrolled temperatures” (4%).

For more than three-fourths (78%) of study participants who reported pest or disease problems, “growing practices”—including integrated pest management, biocontrols, and pesticides/fungicide use—helped mitigate or eliminate their pest and diseases issues. Not surprisingly, other successful solutions included direct changes in the controlled growing environment, including “change in humidity” (28%), “air filtration” (20%), “updated fan configurations” (18%), and “temperature change” (16%).