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Temperature, relative humidity (RH), and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) are three major variables that growers must monitor and control, if possible, to maximize their cannabis yields and keep their grows clean from mold. In this article we will discuss all three variables and how they relate to one another in the context of growing cannabis.

Temperature: This is a variable everyone is very familiar with. It is the measure of ‘hotness’ or ‘coldness’ (i.e. the average kinetic energy of particles in a substance) expressed in terms of one of many scales (e.g. Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin, etc.). The scale most people in the U.S. are familiar with is the Fahrenheit scale. Outside of the U.S. the Celsius scale, based on the freezing and boiling points of water, is more commonly employed. Regardless of the scale you use, it is important to know that cannabis prefers certain temperature ranges to maximize growth and plant health.

Vegetative Stage: Cannabis, like many plants, enjoys moderately warm temperatures usually in the range of 70-85^(0)F (~21-30^(0)C). During the vegetative stage of cannabis’ life, it prefers the previously mentioned temperature range during the day (lights on) and 65-75^(0)F (~18-24^(0)C) during the night (lights off). This temperature range will promote fast and lush growth as well as efficient nutrient uptake. Temperatures above 85^(0)F can cause heat stress and may lead to leaf tips burning. Higher temps can also invite pests such as spider mites who reproduce faster in higher temperature ranges. Temperatures below 65^(0)F during the day, or during the period when grow lights are on, can limit cannabis growth and can reduce nutrient absorption. 

Flowering Stage: During the flowering stage a slightly lower daytime (lights on) temperature range of 70-80^(0)F (~21-27^(0)C) is recommended, with 75-77^(0)F (~23.8-25^(0)C) being the optimal day time temperature range. The optimal nighttime temperature range for the flowering stage is 60-70^(0)F (~15.5-21^(0)C).  A 10-15^(0)F drop in temperature at night (lights off) can stimulate resin production and can even bring out purple/pink hues in certain strains. The 70-80^(0)F temperature range during the day helps to promote vigorous growth without the risk of degrading and evaporating off a large percentage of the terpenes that makes your plant(s) so special. This temperature range also encourages dense flowers as high temps during flower can lead to airy, fluffy buds. 

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Before their seed bank was created in 2007, RQS had long-time knowledge and passion for cannabis breeding. Following enormous interest in their strains, they opened our first shop in Amsterdam, the Damstraat location, in 2010. In 2011 they launched the Royal Queen Seeds website. In 2016 they welcomed first clients in our shop at Carrer dels Tallers in Barcelona, Spain. In 2022, they opened their newest location in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2023, they started operating in the United States and launched the first true F1 Hybrid Cannabis seeds in the market! Today, RQS operates in the US and in 28 countries in Europe and offers 100+ high-quality strains, growing equipment, growing advice, knowledge, tips and more!

The NASC Cast Crew had the pleasure of sitting down with Max of Royal Queen Seeds. Listen to what he has to say below, and follow us on Vimeo for even more content!

Vimeo link to video.

Full post here.

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First and foremost, I want to send a heartfelt Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers here at NASC + Dirty Bird Genetics, to our own mothers, grandmothers, and maternal figures, and to all of the beautiful mothers out there who have been a part of this community with us for the past 10+ years. We see you, we appreciate you, we LOVE you, and we want to acknowledge and celebrate how beautiful the maternal instinct is. 

Last year for Mother’s Day, I sat down to write a blog about a plant mother that is near and dear to me personally, and to our NASC/Dirty Bird family: The Brunch. As someone whose career was built upon plant mothers, it seemed fitting on Mother’s Day. The article detailed the filial evolution of this flagship strain that the Dirty Bird Genetics team had created. It was the very first cultivar we bred that really shined, and it really propelled us into this new venture breeding. Looking back now, it’s fascinating to consider how much those first creations (like the Brunch) influenced the genetics to come, much like the generational connections that run through families. The Brunch now sits atop many Dirty Bird Genetics family trees; she’s a mother, a grandmother, and even a great grandmother to many.  

This Mother’s Day 2026, I want to pick up where I left off one year ago today, filling in another year of progress as we work our way to the end goal of creating a Brunch IBL (In-Bred Line). 

The Brunch F1 

The original Brunch F1–a regular, male/female iteration of the F1 strain still found on our menu today–will unfortunately never be recreated because we lost the Peanut Butter Breath mother that was used in the original project back in the early 2020’s. It was a mother I had preserved for almost a decade prior, selected from a revered pack of seeds made by Thug Pug Genetics. These seeds were gold back in the day, and this cut was a favorite of many clone customers I worked with. She created incredibly dense, striking flowers with vibrant greens, dark purples, and bold oranges. Her bud was as top shelf as it comes–easy to manicure, high test, colorful and dense–but her morphology left a few things to be desired. While she wasn’t prohibitively tall, she did have very long internodal spacing, and she was definitely a plant that wanted to grow vertically. Her floral sites were spread out across long stems, meaning she wasn’t the best yielder. Her terpenes were self-referential: Nutty and earthy. We knew there was likely more to draw out here.

The Peanut Butter Breath cut #3 by Thug Pug used to create the Brunch F1

The Mimosa father, selected from a pack of Mimosa by Symbiotic, had beautiful morphology and strong, tangy terps that came through even on a stem rub of the vegetative male plant. He was vigorous, sturdy, and a well-suited, well-proportioned match to compensate for the Peanut Butter Breath’s shortcomings. 

In our first test run of the Brunch (PBB x Mimosa) progeny, we selected two keeper phenotypes: the Brunch F1 #5 and the Brunch F1 #8. They weren’t perfect, but they stood out as special to us for several reasons. They were dripping in trichomes, testing between 25-30% THC / 1-3% CBG, they had insane, dark purple coloring with a gorgeous yellow fade, and to our surprise and delight, a unique apple terpene profile was seeming to emerge. We knew there was still work to do–we needed to bulk her flower up, and we needed to tighten her internodal spacing–but this was now a much stronger palette to work from than what we’d had previously. 

Read full post here.