We are pleased to announce that our 5 hectare test crop planted in June 2019 is now fully grown and ready for harvest.
Natural Science, with their Bulgarian farming partner, Agrotes Ltd, successfully planted 5 hectares of organic hemp at their farm near Yambol province in South East Bulgaria. For the 2019 test crop, the company planted Fedora, Carmegnola and C.S certified European hemp seeds. The purpose of this test crop was to better understand the optimum growing conditions of the hemp plant and how to maximize the levels of CBD within the plant while staying within the legal limit of 0.2% THC.
Philip James, CEO of Natural Science commented:
“We learnt a great deal about the plant from this test crop, that will be invaluable for our first commercial cultivation in 2020. I think the big knowledge jump was in the spacing between the plants, as this dramatically effects their method of growth. EU certified hemp seeds have been traditionally grown for seeds and stalks, which means growing 20 or 30 plants per square meter, so you have lots of tall plants and thus lots of fiber. When growing for CBD you want the plant to develop into a round structure so that it will contain more flowers, where the CBD content is the highest. The effect of pollination on the female plants was also significant as their focus on seed production dramatically reduced the CBD content in the flowers. Finally, it was good to test some biological pest controls such as wasps and ladybugs that act as a natural insecticide.”
