Marijuana Business Magazine January 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | January 2019 86 EXERCISE CAUTION WHEN ADDING NEWSTRAINS TO YOUR CULTIVATION FACILITY. What’s the new Blue Dream? Or the next Gorilla Glue? It can be tempting to chase every hot new trend when adding strains to your cultivation facility. But adding untested, foreign genetics to your grow room is a surefire way to cause yourself problems if you’re not cautious. “Be super careful acquiring new strains,” said John Andrle, owner and co-founder of vertically integrated Denver cannabis company L’Eagle Services. “That’s the devil hitchhiking his way into your grow.” New genetics can introduce pests and disease to your grow room. Don’t mix in unfamiliar strains with your current crop. If you want to try out new genetics, it’s better to keep them confined to your research and development area. “You can’t effectively cultivate plants if you’re chasing problems that new plants are bringing in,” Andrle added. When diversifying your offerings, first vet the com- patibility, health and resilience of those new plants in your R&D room. Andrle also recommends bringing on board pest and disease specialists to help manage problems that arise. Develop relationships with specialists from local universities, for example. Andrle’s overarching strategy as a business owner is to be responsive to what his customers want. “What we grow is what the consumer is asking for,” he added. – Bart Schaneman Cultivation DON’T CUT CORNERS WHEN CURING CANNABIS. There are a lot of ways to tighten up your harvest turnaround time, but one area you don’t want to skimp on is the curing process. “The cure is not where you want to cut cor- ners,” said Laura Day, director of operations for Portland, Oregon-based Yerba Buena. That finishing period is essential because it de- velops the proper flavors and moisture levels. The finished product, when it goes out to consumers, should then taste and smoke as intended. Day said a seven-day drying period is the ab- solute minimum when curing, but she typically shoots for about 10 days. She’s seen some automated curing systems that work by taking the guesswork out of the process and leaving it to a software program. However, Day said the best way to cure is in glass jars. Producers who want to shorten harvest turnaround time can do so during the trimming period by choosing strains that are less leafy and require less manual labor, according to Day. For example, a strain such as Sour Diesel will yield only five harvests per year, while Blueberry Kush can be harvested six times per year. With Sour Diesel, you’ll have to charge significantly more—at least $173 per pound more—to make up for fewer harvests. Automated trimmers also can expedite the process, but you might sacrifice a little in quali- ty compared to manual trimming. – Bart Schaneman from John Andrle Photo by Soliman Productions Laura Day Courtesy Photo