Top 3 Cannabis Genetics Trends in 2024 Based on Consumer Preference

Are you growing what consumers really want? According to a new report from MJBizDaily, research and experts say consumers are becoming more and more interested in three things when buying cannabis products in 2024, and these three things are driving cannabis genetics trends:

  1. THC potency (including legacy strains bred with high-THC cultivars)

  2. Terpene profiles (such as limonene and myrcene)

  3. Minor cannabinoids (like THCV and CBN)

THC potency is still the most important thing consumers look for when buying cannabis products. As MJBizDaily reports, some dispensaries won’t even buy cannabis products if the THC potency is below 25%, or they’ll only buy it if they can get a lower price.

This has been the case for a very long time, but other factors are gaining significant ground. The cultivators who will win in 2024 and beyond are the ones who take steps now to prioritize all three of the top factors that consumers are interested in – THC potency, terpene profiles, and minor cannabinoids.

How Growing Media Can Influence Cannabis Genetics

Did you know your growing media can have a direct effect on your plants’ THC potency, terpene profiles, and minor cannabinoids?

At bio365, we have all kinds of data showing that our growing media increases THC and terpene profiles. Here are a few examples from growers who switched from another media to bio365:

  • 70% increase in THC: Apothca switched to bio365 and increased THC by 70%.

  • 4% increase in THC: An MSO recently trialed bio365 against Rockwool, and bio365 increased THC to more than 4% above Rockwool.

  • 48% increase in terpenes and 35% increase in cannabinoids: Holistic Industries switched from Rockwool to bio365 and increased terpenes by 48% and total cannabinoids by 35%.

Of course, there are many factors that affect genetics, THC, cannabinoids and terpenes, but bio365 growing media has been created and manufactured to help growers improve chemotype expression.

Soil Biology is Essential to Chemotype Expression

The clean, living biology within bio365 growing media allows your plants to access what they need to thrive in controlled environments based on their DNA. When you remove biology from the growing media, your plants can never be as successful.

The reality is plants need nature and symbiotic relationships with soil microbiology to reach the full potential of their chemotype expression. Microbe amendments aren’t good enough. The relationship needs are built into the cannabis plant’s DNA, and if these needs aren’t met, your plants won’t thrive. bio365 growing media solves this problem.

Higher quality plants and crop yields for cannabis cultivators who use bio365 soil products come from bio365’s bioCHARGE™, which uses our patented combination of cultured biology, biochar, and bioavailable nutrients to enhance chemotype expression and drive higher terpenes and cannabinoids.

bioCHARGE, combined with our dual buffer, also allows growers to more easily steer crops through water management, thus, making it easier to push crops to desired chemotype outcomes as discussed below.

Biomimicry and Porosity Enable Stressing to Push Chemotype Expression

The growing media you use has a significant effect on how you can stress your plants through watering – if you can stress them at all. At bio365, we developed a clean, living, engineered media so growers can stress plants just like they’re stressed in nature. This is biomimicry.

With biomimicry, bio365 growing media provide plants the expected biology living in the root zone (as discussed above), which they can selectively use for critical functions, including chemotype expression.

But there’s more to the story than biomimicry. Soil porosity also plays a role in chemotype expression. In the cannabis industry, plants are typically stressed with water management to produce higher quality, more terpenes, and a more flavorful product. The process is based on what happens in nature.

However, the porosity profile of most horticultural growing media, such as Rockwool and peat, doesn’t provide an opportunity to stress plants because the media doesn’t allow the release of water across a range of tensions. Instead, you have to keep watering, and the water and oxygen drain out because all of the space is already filled. They have nowhere else to go!

bio365 growing media is different. Through our engineering process, we manipulate porosity so water is released across a range of tensions just like it is in the natural environment. This doesn’t exist with any other media. Through proprietary processes, we developed a porosity profile in our growing media that allows growers to stress plants through watering in order to push chemotype expression.

The Right Growing Media Can Help You Increase THC, Terpenes, and Minor Cannabinoids

Real-world data collected from active commercial cannabis cultivators doesn’t lie. When you use bio365 growing media, you can increase THC, terpenes, and minor cannabinoids as well as plant health, resilience, and crop yields. And the bio365 team will help you do it!

With consumer trends demanding not just high THC but expanded genetic profiles, now is the time to switch to the right soil. Start a free trial of bio365 growing media or contact our soil experts for help!