By Chris Van Hook
Chris Van Hook is a California marijuana compliance attorney, the program director of a USDA organic certification company, and a former abalone farmer. Chris created Clean Green Certified in 2004 (http://cleangreencertified.com/), the only nationally recognized third party certification for cannabis. His purpose was to regulate legal cannabis, specifically products which called themselves “organic.”
Van Hook isn’t technically certifying healthfully-grown Cannabis as organic. According to classification cannabis is still illegal, and the USDA does not recognize cannabis as a legitimate agricultural crop. Clean Green Certified has become the number 1 certification nationwide for “cannabis cultivated using international, sustainable, biodynamic, and organic practices.” Clean Green Certified standards are detailed, rigorous, and widely respected as official federal rules for organic broccoli and fava beans. Clean Green Certified goes further than the USDA organic in some areas, requiring every operator to undergo pesticide testing every year, rather than only a small percentage of farms in a network. Clean Green Certified does not limit their certification to growers, licensed distributors, outlets, dispensaries, and equipment manufacturers – Clean Green Certified also has a certification specifically for cannabis processors and handlers across the United States and Canada.
Clean Green Certified is the country’s most trusted certifier of “organically” grown cannabis, currently certifying cannabis farms, processors, dispensaries and retail outlets in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state. The Clean Green Program requires on-site inspections and third-party lab testing. Like third-party certifications for traditional agricultural products, the whole life cycle of the plant is considered, from seed selection to harvesting and processing. Additional testing of soil, nutrients, pesticide use, mold treatment, and dust control are analyzed. With Clean Green Certified products each cannabis operation must put into place a carbon footprint reduction plan, water conservation measures, and fair labor practices. Clean Green Certified clients have won numerous awards such as High Times Medical and Recreational Cannabis Cups, the Emerald Cup, the Golden Tarp Award, as well as The Patients’ Choice Award. Clean Green Certified proved that it is possible to grow top shelf cannabis according to the most rigorous organic agricultural practices. Clean Green Certified products sell five times faster than non-certified products. Consumer can have great confidence when buying cannabis or cannabis product from a Clean Green Certified outlet that each product was grown fair-trade and sustainably without the use of synthetic pesticides.
Van Hook tips for any aspiring cannaculturalist
– from home grower to professional
farmer wanting to diversify offerings:
• Know where seeds and cuttings come
from: Unknown sources sprayed with
pesticide will be found in the final plant
when mature. Cuttings from friends could
have pests, so test by them with a quaran
tine outside your growing room.
• Look at cuttings with a field lens mic for
spider mite eggs. Be careful not to bring in
soil-borne nematodes.
If plants look pest free, move into your
grow room.
• Make sure plants are sexed.
• Know how much you need: Figure out
how much is wanted and/or needed. If
making tinctures/edibles more is needed.
• If only allowed few plants as personal use,
grow the largest plants possible. For out
door grows, use trellis or bamboo poles
to open and spread out the plants. This will
increase number of buds.
• Keep your plants clean, and do not grow
next to a barnyard. Dust and manure can
blow on to buds. Be in clean area sur
rounded by cover crops or grass.
• Harvest at the right time. Use a field lens to
see trichomes, which begin turning amber
when full.
• If growing in a greenhouse, have a vent
and ample circulation.
• Closer to the end of a grow cycle, thin
the ‘water leaves’ for better circulation.
• Harvest in a clean, dry area.
• When trimming buds, do not ‘tight trim.’
There are trichomes and terpenes in
bud leaves.
• Make sure buds are sealed properly.
Moisture or O2 packets can help. Pack
buds in small jars, and do not continually
open one large container.
“They say cannabis is not addictive,
but growing it certainly can be!”
