Innovator Spotlight:
Clade 9: A True Sense of LA
Los Angeles, CA
Innovator Spotlight:
In the heart of downtown Los Angeles, Clade 9 marches to the beat of its own drum. Dave Holmes and his team of experts exude passion and perfection at every step of the growing process. But they are more than experienced growers who love the plant. Indeed, through a meticulous process of phenotype-hunting and conducting thousands of live trials, Clade 9 has narrowed the genetic pool—which is more like a sea—to a handful of extremely successful home-bred strains. In fact, 60% of the varieties they grow are original strains with household names among Angelinos.
These names are flavored by local landmarks and culture. For instance, Fig Bar is named after Figueroa—the main street through downtown LA; and Diamond Bar shares its name with a city in Southern California. Other popular original strains, such as Orange Push Pop and J1, undergo an intensive classification and naming process based on principle component analysis of terpene groups and chemical profiles. The passion and precision at Clade 9 is truly a sight (and a pungent, sweet lemony smell) to behold.
It is not surprising that Angelinos and Californians have fallen in love with Clade 9’s flower and community-centric, home-grown brand. It’s like watching the kid from down the street win gold in the Olympics. Their cannabis is that good, that pungent, and that ground-breaking in its composition and classification.
Project Overview
| Cultivator Name: | Clade 9 |
| Location: | Los Angeles, CA |
| Crop: | Cannabis |
| Fluence Fixture: | RAPTR (flower room) Fluence RAZR (propagation), SPYDR X (veg room), SPYDR 2i (two-tier flower room) |
| Type of Facility: | Indoor |
| Results: | Reduced energy costs with LEDs Increased biomass and bud quality Improved environmental controls |
Cultivation Challenges
Needed a 1:1 HPS to LED retrofit
Higher humidity post-retrofit with increased plant biomass
Required advanced controls for multiple grow rooms
GoalsThe Best Ability is Adaptability
With their indoor facility situated smack-dab in the middle of the concrete jungle, the Clade 9 team does a lot in a small amount of space. Following a series of hygienic thresholds, a short hallway leads to three ultra-modern grow rooms: a propagation/mother room with precious baby plants, a veg room with happy adults, and a double-tiered veg and flower rooms. Mobile racking ensures maximum efficiency of space and accessibility, above the plants. Defunct HPS lights were replaced in a 1:1 retrofit with advanced Fluence RAPTR fixtures. Fluence’s RAZR LEDs are utilized in the propagation room, and SPYDR X LEDs are used in the veg room. These fixtures allow for wireless flex dimming and photoacclimation through a programmable SHYFT controller, which is quickly becoming an industry staple due to its functionality and ease of use.
Most notably, Clade 9’s switch to Fluence LEDs led to improved biochemistry in the plants and a surprisingly large increase in total biomass. This was a good problem to have, to go along with their amazing quality. Brandan, the Cultivation Manager and Nic, the Propagation Manager, both have extensive educational backgrounds in biochemical plant science and agriculture—and have cultivated even more experience as growers and plant enthusiasts. They have learned the intricacies and specific needs of each strain over the course of many grow cycles. With a true hands-on approach, Brandan and Nick spend much of the day checking the plants and making miniscule adjustments to reach a “tolerable level of microclimates.” Nothing is perfect, and “nothing ever goes as expected,” but over time the Clade 9 team has dialed-in each room with spectacular results.
ResultsIn a Clade of its Own
Dave Holmes and his close-knit team have proven to be a vanguard in the cannabis industry. They have demonstrated a passion to produce home-grown strains with award-winning quality on a consistent basis. But, more than that, Clade 9 is spearheading and changing how growers and consumers think about cannabis. In this way, Clade 9 exists in a league of its own.
As a mathematician and a science-minded visionary, Dave has developed a unique culture of cannabis education, phenotype decipherment, community outreach, and system of strain classification. To this last point, Clade 9 derives its name from “Clade” (a term in biological phylogenetics) and from the nine critical factors of growing exceptional cannabis: lighting, airflow, water, temperature, humidity, soil, CO2, nutrients, and root zone temperature. Just as clades are used to distinguish groupings of organisms with a common ancestor or similar traits in the Tree of Life, Dave Holmes has developed a sophisticated “grouping” system based on chemical composition, such as terpenes, and physical attributes that contribute to sensorial qualities.
In all these ways and more, Californians from south to north, and Angelinos in their own back yard, are proud of Clade 9’s success. Dave and his team have set the gold standard as home-grown champions of in-house craft cannabis strains.
Reduced energy costs with LEDs
Biomass and bud quality increased dramatically
Improved controls over microclimates and photoacclimation
RELATED RESOURCES
What is light spectrum vs intensity and why are they important?
Since the advent of light emitting diodes (LEDs), far-red (FR) light has become an intriguing tool among growers.
Why the IP Rating of a Lighting Fixture is So Important
Ingress Protection is a critical aspect of a properly designed product for the specified applications. It is a standardized way of classifying devices for what they can withstand with respect to dirt and water. The first digit represents objects or solids, the second digit represents liquids.
Cannabis Light Intensity
We addressed some of the most fundamental cannabis lighting questions like spectrum and intensity back in 2020, and I take it for granted that everybody must know about these results.