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Tucker likens the G2V lighting system to music, saying old lighting systems are like a horn on a train that blare out one loud note, while the G2V sun simulator is like a grand piano. “It is a grand piano where you can play songs to your plant. The effect of spectral combinations are those tunes. Different plants like different versions of those, so you can actually locate the one that is going to make your plant the happiest and grow, as compared to what’s basically an air horn that you can turn on, turn off, or make it louder or maybe a bit dimmer and that’s all you can do.”

All kinds of money is flowing into the cannabis industry, with many folks having a keen interest in growing the plant better, Tucker said.

Goal of applying it to other plants

Cannabis is a cash crop unlike any other so that will help this lighting system take off and find commercial success, but the real goal is to apply it to grow food and other plants.

“The amount of investment in agricultural technology, not just lighting, but software monitoring, nutrition and hydroponics has been so enormous because of (legalized cannabis) already that it undoubtedly will change the technology for large-scale controlled agriculture, the vertical farming of herbs, and that will have happened so much quicker because of this influx,” Tucker said.

For example, it’s extremely difficult to reforest damaged forests in cold, low-light climates, but G2V lights are now being used on seedlings to mimic the harsh conditions they’ll face when they’re planted, stressing them now but giving them a better chance of eventually surviving.

I’d long supported the legalization of cannabis so that the business could be taxed, the product could be regulated and made safer, and individual adults would have the right to smoke if they so desired. It’s heartening, though, to see an unintended consequence of legalization could well be vastly superior growing technique for all kinds of food crops.

In other words, growing pot faster and cheaper could help save the world. And that’s not just a pipe dream, that’s what is now unfolding with companies like G2V.

dstaples@postmedia.com