How much CBD oil will your plant make, and is there a limit? Let's look at the cannabis plant to see how its genetics influence the amount of cannabinoids it contains. We'll also explore how CBD is produced and purified.

When you start growing cannabis, remember a few key points. Have you set up a good growing environment? Can you monitor it regularly? Do you know what to do with the plant when it's mature? These are all important but don't forget to think about how much cannabinoids your plant will have.

How much CBD oil can one plant produce? Once you figure that out, you might wonder what you can predict from that information. Even before that, you might be interested in what factors affect these values in the first place.

Today, we'll try to answer all these questions.

How Does Genetics Influence CBD Ratios?

As cannabis plants develop genetically, they produce CBDA and THCA (which transform into CBD and THC when heated) from a common cannabinoid called CBGA. The presence of CBDA, THCA, or both depends on an enzyme with two forms, isoform A and isoform B, which are produced by the same gene. Since each plant has two genetic copies, there are three potential combinations: two A isoforms, one A isoform and one B isoform, or two B isoforms. This combination decides the amounts of CBDA and THCA present in the plant.

Plants with two A isoforms usually have a lot of CBD and very little THC, like Solomatic CBD. Strains with one A isoform and one B isoform have an equal amount of THC and CBD, like Painkiller XL and Dance World.

Lastly, plants with two B isoforms often turn into strains with high THC levels, such as Royal Gorilla and many other strains today.

How is CBD Produced and Purified?

We're going to discuss the various methods used to extract and purify CBD for medicinal purposes.  A lot of people use CBD for its promising therapeutic effects. However, not all CBD oil is created equal if we want to get all of its benefits.

So, we'll go over the various methods of extracting CBD. This will help you choose the way that works best for what you want.

Methods for Extracting CBD from the Plant

Before we go into the methods of extracting CBD, let's be clear: to get a good CBD extract, you need a cannabis plant that's rich in CBD.

Cannabis Sativa contains two main components, THC and CBD, and their levels vary depending on the plant strain. While cannabinoids can be made artificially in a lab, we'll focus here on natural CBD extracts.

Now, you might wonder, why extract CBD? Why not just use the cannabinoids directly from the plant? Well, the answer is a clear "no," at least if you want a pure, effective, and concentrated product suitable for therapeutic use.

CBD extraction helps us separate the cannabinoids we want and create a concentrated form for consumption. This ensures a product without THC, or at least with a minimal amount that won't have any mind-altering or negative effects on our health.

However, not all extraction methods are the same concerning the quality of the final product and its safety for consumption.

If you want to understand the differences, keep reading.

CBD Oil Extraction

CBD oil extraction is a classic and safe method, making it one of the oldest ways to get CBD. It's not only inexpensive but also relatively simple.

Here's how it works: we take a vegetable oil like olive, hemp, or sesame and mix it with the decarboxylated plant. This step "activates" the cannabinoids. We then heat this mixture to extract the cannabinoids, which end up in the oil. This oil can be consumed or applied topically.

This method is safe, easy, and leaves no chemical residues after extraction. However, the extract's shelf life is shorter when mixed with oil, affecting its preservation. Also, since the oil doesn't evaporate during heating, the CBD extract we get is less concentrated compared to other CBD forms.

Extraction of CBD with CO2

CBD extraction using CO2, also known as "supercritical extraction" or "subcritical extraction," is considered one of the safest and purest methods today. It's a highly controlled process, but it requires specialized machinery and technical knowledge, making it one of the more expensive and complex methods.

Here's how it works: different temperatures and pressures are applied to the plant in a closed-circuit BHO extractor, which is a specific machine with three chambers. CO2 is used as a solvent gas, passing through the chambers. In the second chamber, the supercritical form of CO2 extracts cannabinoids from the plant. The supercritical CO2 and cannabinoids move to the third chamber, where they are separated, leaving the oil at the bottom. This extracted oil is then used for CBD products.

Extraction of CBD with Cryogenic Ethanol

The third most common method of extracting CBD involves using cryogenic ethanol. The process is quite simple: when the solvent is mixed with the plant, the cannabinoids move into the liquid. Later, this liquid is heated until it evaporates, leaving us with a concentrated CBD oil.

Lastly, when it comes to purity, all CBD extraction methods have something in common: they result in CBD products with an (almost) zero presence of THC. This information is often mentioned in CBD supplements, foods, and creams. So, when you buy them, you can be sure you're getting a therapeutic product without the mind-altering effects.

How Much Hemp Can Be Grown Per Acre?

You can usually grow about 1,500 to 3,000 hemp plants on one acre of land. The actual number depends on the size of the hemp type and the distance you leave between each plant. To make sure they get enough sunlight for good CBD production, it's recommended to space the hemp plants about 3 to 5 feet apart.

Hemp is super useful and can be turned into paper, clothes, building stuff, food, and, of course, CBD products. What you want to make decides the kind of hemp to grow and how much you can grow on an acre.

For CBD, you need to grow female hemp plants because only they make flowers, and flowers have the most CBD. Also, choose a hemp type meant for CBD (not the kind used for fiber or oil).

Hemp plants that produce flowers usually need more space and sunlight than the male ones. So, your overall capacity for hemp might be on the lower side, around 1,500 plants per acre.

Studies suggest that one acre of land has the potential to yield approximately 13,665 pounds of hemp biomass, which can be utilized for producing CBD oil.

How Much CBD Oil Can One Plant Produce?

This can be a bit tricky because the amount of CBD in hemp can differ a lot. Generally, one hemp plant produces around one pound of crude oil. This raw oil contains CBD, cannabinoids, and terpenes. It may also contain some plant components that must be removed to improve the taste of the final oil.

Certainly, our "one pound" approximation is just that—an estimate. The real amount of crude CBD oil you get from one hemp plant depends on different things, such as:

• Size and quality of each plant
• Original CBD potency in the hemp type you picked
• Soil quality and farming methods used
• Extraction method used (which we have discussed above)
• How effective the extraction is (how much product is lost during manufacture)

How Much CBD is in 1 Gram of CBD Flowers?

Figuring out how much cannabidiol (CBD) is in CBD flowers is a bit trickier than finding the amount in CBD oil or capsules.

Usually, in 1 gram of CBD buds, there's about 100 to 200mg of CBD. To know the exact amount in the type you have, check the CBD percentage mentioned for that strain.

For instance, if a type of CBD flower has 21% CBD, then 1 gram of those flowers will have roughly 210mg of CBD.

How Do I Calculate the CBD Content of Each Gram of Plant?

Many cannabis retailers, including dispensaries, give product information. This info helps buyers know how much CBD is in the products, and it's usually based on lab tests.

When you get these numbers from a store, you can use them to do a simple calculation. For instance, if you buy a gram of your favorite strain and the pharmacist tells you it has around 20% CBD, you may calculate how much CBD you will inhale with each gram.

To get a more accurate idea of how much CBD you're about to inhale, just do these simple calculations in your head:

1 gram = 1000mg

1 gram of the strain contains 20% CBD

20% of 1000mg = 200mg

And the same to calculate the amount of THC.

FAQs

Bottom Line

One acre of hemp can give you about 1,500 plants or roughly 1,500 pounds of crude oil. The CBD in this oil depends on where it started, but it could be around 50-65%. So, at the higher end, you might get around 975 pounds of CBD oil from one acre of hemp.

Now, predicting exactly how much CBD you'll get is tricky because it depends on various things. Some farmers in perfect conditions get more than what's mentioned, while others get less than half of a whole acre. The amount of CBD depends on things like how strong the hemp is, the quality of the soil, and the methods used during production. Over time, farmers can learn more and make better guesses about how much CBD they'll get from one crop to the next.