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Consistency across thousands of plants is a different problem than consistency in one room

Published

2 weeks ago

May 30, 2026

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Maintaining consistency across thousands of plants, multiple buildings, and dozens of crops that all behave differently is a different problem than branding a single room, and that problem is at the heart of the final episode. Grodan’s GroShow Podcastwhere host Riley Jones sits down with the team behind ProGrow, one of Michigan’s leading grow operations, now operating close to 3,000 lights and retailing under the Pure Options brand.

“That family element more than anything else has shaped how we got to where we are today,” says Jacob Nelson, ProGrow’s Vice President of Agriculture. “We did things when it was a gray market. We’re not just a corporate company.” ProGrow grew out of the Michigan grower scene, and that background is still in operation today. Scale eventually forced the corporate machinery, tracking KPIs, logging data, revising P&Ls, but Jacob sees it as the cost of running a business of this size, not the changes.

Merging with large-scale space© Frog
The facility itself bears the marks of those early days. When Jacob started, he was one of three growers who divided the building into thirds and did everything by hand. “Every day I had two, three rooms, 12 tanks I was messing with myself,” he says. “It was manual. Doing all the nutrient mixing by hand, programming the irrigation controllers and plans through Rainbird, all the manual light adjustments.” Three growers mixed 52 250-gallon batch tanks in a 300-foot aisle, adding about three hours of work before anything else was done.

The first real step towards automation was a Dilution Solutions controller. “This was our biggest and first step into automation,” says Jacob. “Now we have Lexi who can probably only do half an hour.” What used to take three people per hour now takes about half an hour for Construction Operations Manager Lexi Carlson. The controller also took over irrigation scheduling and plan planning, and from there, Crop Director Nick Winninger and Lexi pushed the company further than Jacob when he first took over, keeping automation of large parts of the irrigation cycle with fine control at the end of the P1 and P2 phases.

The substrate followed the same path to standardization. ProGrow moved from Promix in large pots, then one liter Promix, then one liter coke, then pre-filled coke bags, before landing on Grodan 6×6 Hugo slabs. “You fill a chamber with pre-filled bags and then you turn them around and hydrate them, and there would be a couple of inches of variation from the top of each pot to where the actual cacao starts,” says Nick. Every loose medium involved some version of this problem, variation in pot volume, bail-to-bail variation in Promix composition, inconsistency starting within the substrate hydrated pot. “You get a cube of rockwool and it’s the same as the cube of rockwool next to it,” Nick continues. “We’ve never been able to dial that in with groundless media.” In other words, stone wool gave the team the one thing that all other mediums denied: a starting point that was the same from slab to slab.

Precision irrigation
This uniformity allows precise watering. “We’re looking at the average in the room. If there’s a lot of range, some are dry, some are heavy, you’re always splitting the difference,” says Nick. ProGrow tracks volumetric water content in all of its buildings, running Terrace 12 sensors alongside EOS units, even though a single reading doesn’t carry much weight on its own. No two sensors behave the same, and even the same sensors do not agree next to each other, so the trendline matters more than the numbers. “You see a trend line, you touch the actual cube and you have to relate what you feel to what you’re seeing on the trend line,” explains Nick. The team still collects the effluent by hand, watching the volume and pH come in and out, and still plants the buckets every morning. The sensors point to a direction, and the hands confirm it.

The watering strategy moves with the cycle. ProGrow creates in week four, with P2 intervals of around three hours and shot sizes of around six minutes, then changes vegetatively in week five, shortening the intervals and adding saturation, before returning to the creative approach for the final weeks of the wash. Relative dryland targets are around 50% vegetatively and between 35% and 45% vegetatively, the plants being relatively dry.

A game of genetics
This does not remove the fundamental difficulty of running so much genetics on a clock. ProGrow forces almost everything into a 63-day harvest window, and not everything cooperates. “If you think for a second that you’re going to automate that part and let the ship drive itself, you’re sadly mistaken,” says Jacob. Some cultivars want 70 days, others 50. The team reads visual cues in the room and feels the cubes, then marries that qualitative feedback with sensor and environmental data to direct each strain to the same destination without over-driving or under-driving. In other words, the timeline is fixed, and manual judgment is what shapes each tension.

The new genetics go in the same balance. ProGrow’s dedicated R&D bench receives new selections, which first undergo quarantine and pathogen testing before reaching a production table or R&D room. “We’re not necessarily too critical of the performance numbers,” says Jacob. “We’re looking at growth and how stress works. And tolerance is an important thing. How tolerant can you be of maybe not being in a perfect production environment?” The current test bench includes 81 plants, three strains of each, resulting in 27 strains at a time, none of which receive optimal nutrition because they share the watering events of the production room around them. That setting tells the team less about peak performance than it does about resilience. A strain that only works under ideal conditions is a liability when one of 27 sharing a table. The real judgment comes later, when the team decides which ones win the production.

Changing the lights
Lighting is part of the model that the team is constantly evolving. For three to four years ProGrow has run a mixed spectrum HPS and metal halide ceramic board in a purpose built facility. “I’ve always loved the quality we’ve gotten out of that spectrum,” says Jacob. “Quality and height control was a lot of the reason.” The CMH spectrum helped manage the backlog when larger media left the bench for larger plants. That’s not fixed, though. The team recently fully loaded a room with HPS and are seeing the PPFD gains it brings. Several rooms also use an HPS-LED panel, Jacob’s favorite based on terpene profile and biomass, although the cost of LED keeps it out of every room.

The under-canopy lighting, adapted to ProGrow about a year and a half ago, has been one of the biggest winners. “I was skeptical, but the results are certain,” says Jacob. It improved yields and drove consistency from top to bottom of the plant, which is important because ProGrow is vertically integrated, with its own retail and processing. Bottom eyes that once had to be sorted into pre-rolls or mandatory extractions can now be assigned based on what the company needs instead of being pushed into a SKU because of their inconsistency. In other words, the transformation turned a constraint into an opportunity.

It’s post-harvest that Jacob believes many operators undo their work. “You can degrade quality very quickly if you put a lot of work into getting past that point,” he says. ProGrow makes a relatively short dry, about eight to nine days, slow at the front and faster at the end, without drastic environmental changes. Fresh air exchange is a priority, a lesson learned in the newer closed building where trapped gas compounds and CO2 degraded the product. Whole-flower canning and hand-cutting are standard at ProGrow in particular, while other facilities move faster to more budget-friendly SKUs while cutting, with labor allocated based on the price each building produces.

When asked what’s changing most quickly, Jacob points to lighting and the push to go under the hood in every facility, along with year-end bonuses on new overhead lighting. The watering, on the other hand, he calls consistent and stable, although Lexi and Nick continue to refine it through the Dilution Solutions controller. The longer project is the standardization of buildings, and lighting is at the center of this, as different lighting forces a different approach to the environment and separates the facilities as the team is trying to bring them together. “How do we get as close as possible between multiple facilities so that we can really spread the vision of the company across all of our facilities?” says Jakob. “That’s a big part of climbing.”

Click here to view the full episode

For more information:
Frog 101
grodan101.com

Related Topics:Consistency plants Problem room thousands

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We don’t really deal with a lot of mites because of our IPM program

Published

13 hours ago

June 9, 2026

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Flora Farms Pest Management Program it is built to reduce to nothing depending on the harvestso the plant ends up clean. Luke Allenbrand, Flora Farms’ crop leader, leads an integrated pest management program that focuses on prevention. “We don’t honestly deal with a lot of mites because of the IPM program, because of the predatory mites that we’ve put down as a precaution,” says Luke. “It allows us to have a much cleaner garden in the back half.” Preventative work keeps spray volumes relatively low because the curative side of the program rarely needs to be heavy.

“Actually, we are at the lowest number of these sprays that we have. The milliliters that we are using are numbers that do not exist to be a prevention,” says Luke. “But as soon as you see an uptick of those mites or anything, we bring it up to a therapeutic amount, which is still a small milliliter. And as long as you’re on a fast track with it, you see them disappear within 10 days.” The targets are spider mites, which feed on the plant’s THC and terpene production and degrade the flower.

Tested solutions
The three products used by the company are derived from agricultural and food use. “We actually apply about three insecticides that are very common around the agricultural and food grade of these products, using a suite of IPM, Venerate and Grandevo, insecticides that will deal with these mites,” says Luke. The application is intermittent rather than constant. “We usually use a 5-day spray cycle so we can have rest periods in between, so it’s not just a consistent density of that spray,” says Luke. He sees progress against mites in the gaps between the successions.

However, at some point, the spraying stops. “We finish the spray cycle by day 40. We usually don’t want to spray anywhere after day 40. At that point, you’re going to damage the product,” says Luke. “And at that point, we’ll put predatory mites in. It really helps us get to that final push point by day 59, 60 of that harvest. So we actually have a lot less of our spray in that late period. So it’s a much better tasting product.” Predatory mites take over the job of spraying, leaving nothing on the flower.

Biological control
Biological control has two forms. “We usually use them, they’re called crazy mites, and honestly, it’s crazy to see,” says Luke. “Actually, I’ve seen some of the ones in a close-up photo kill a bug, some of the cocoons actually drive away, and even attack the spider mites themselves. Very beneficial. Callias are also slow. They’re little bags that we hang on plants and they’re very beneficial to us.” Different predators work at different speeds, which is why the program runs more than one.

Missouri’s testing regime is the context in which growers operate. Each plant is tested for pest control chemicals and must pass before the product goes ahead. “Other crops and other black market shops or smoke shops in Missouri don’t have to worry about the testing we have to do,” Luke says. “Everything we use here is natural. Each of our pest management is a lot of essential oils that fight these mites. Everything we would put on a plant is food grade.” The test covers foreign chemicals, heavy metals, and anything else that an unregulated supply should never consider.

The whole arc is from biology to chemistry and back to biology. “We go from predatory mites to a food-grade spray regimen, and then back to predatory mites at the end. That way, these plants will have time to finish with no chemicals, nothing,” says Luke. “The rest of that life cycle, about 15 to 20 days, is the most natural it will have. No spraying at all during that, just to push predatory mites off that end, so there’s no residual mite damage on those plants.”

For more information:
Flower Farms
florafarmsmo.com

Cannabis News

California Bill To Legalize Marijuana Dispensary Drive-Thru Windows Advances In Senate After Clearing Full Assembly

Published

13 hours ago

June 9, 2026

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It has been passed by a California Senate committee and passed by the Assembly bill that would allow marijuana dealers to offer car windows to serve customers.

The measure, which cleared the Senate Business, Careers and Economic Development Committee on a 7-3 vote Monday, says licensed cannabis retailers and micro-businesses with storefronts can sell marijuana products “in a motor vehicle to a customer in a drive-through located on the premises.”

Under Assemblywoman Gail Peller’s (D) AB 2697, cannabis businesses would need permission from the local jurisdictions in which they operate to add a drive-thru.

The sponsor told committee members before the final vote that the bill will “expand access to legal cannabis products while strengthening our ability to compete with the illegal market.”

Annie Aubrey of Chuck’s Wellness Center, a retailer in Placerville, testified that the legislation is “about improving access.”

“A large portion of our customers use cannabis as medicine, including seniors, veterans and people living with chronic conditions that affect mobility, the population that this regulated system seeks to serve,” he said. “For many, even simple tasks like getting out of a vehicle or navigating a retail space can be physically difficult or prohibitive…A drive-thru option removes that barrier, giving patients and consumers access to what they need in a way that’s dignified and consistent with their healthcare needs.”

Amy O’Gorman Jenkins of the California Cannabis Operators Association said the legislation will provide “operational flexibility” in a highly regulated system.

“It doesn’t expand who can access cannabis,” he said. “It allows retailers, with local approval, to serve existing patients and customers more efficiently.”

Jenkins also argued that this measure could improve security.

“Currently, road traction transactions are already allowed. This means that workers regularly have to leave a safe premises while transporting the product, and sometimes they have to deposit cash in parking lots,” he said. “AB 2697 provides an additional mechanism for obtaining product, but requires a fixed and secure transaction point, keeping employees inside and reducing exposure to theft.”

Pellerin, the bill’s sponsor, previously said that “California cannabis retailers lack a common and accessible transaction channel for consumers that so many other retailers in California offer, including fast food, pharmacies, banks and even liquor stores.”

“Cannabis consumers with mobility issues or other disabilities have limited options for obtaining cannabis without having to get out of their vehicles. And while home delivery is legal, there are restrictions on service areas,” he said. “Allowing cannabis sellers to add a secure ride option, if allowed by their local jurisdiction, will improve the consumer experience, increase the security of cannabis sellers and help expand California’s legal cannabis market.”

The California Association of Narcotics Officers opposes the proposal, however, as a representative, Ryan Sherman, testified that it would make it more difficult for dispensary workers to check the IDs of customers who are of legal age or to spot signs of current intoxication at drive-thru windows.

“This bill prioritizes speed of sale over public safety while undermining existing protections designed to prevent illegal sales and protect public safety,” he argued.

Under current policy during the COVID pandemic, dispensaries can already offer street pickup.

The invoice that moving forward in the legislature would mandate that auto sales “be made through a fixed panel security window with a security drawer or similar secure transfer mechanism that is part of a building located within the premises.”

—
It’s Marijuana Time tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelic and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters by pledging at least $25/month, you’ll get access to our interactive maps, charts, and audio calendars so you never miss a development.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracking and become a Patreon supporter to gain access
—

California regulators recently approved emergency rule changes to the state’s marijuana licensing process. to make it easier for companies to receive benefits In line with the Trump administration’s latest move to federally regulate medical cannabis.

While Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently He took credit for helping lead the state’s push to legalize marijuana and discussed his limited experience with cannabis use.

In October, however, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have It allowed micro-marijuana companies to ship medicinal cannabis directly to patients Through common carriers like FedEx and UPS, he said the proposal would be “too burdensome and complex to manage.”

Newsom signed a bill earlier this month streamlining research into marijuana and psychedelics.

In September, the governor also signed a measure pause on the recent tax increase on marijuana products.

Separately, the state attorney general says Indian tribes cannot independently participate in the marijuana trade with licensed cannabis businesses without obtaining their own commercial license from state officials.

California officials have recently been rewarded nearly $30 million in grants for marijuana-focused academic research projects.

Marijuana Moment is made possible with the help of readers. If you rely on our pro-cannabis journalism to stay informed, consider a monthly Patreon pledge.

Cannabis News

Concert Series Specials launched for state medical cannabis patients

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

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Post Dispensary, Kentucky’s first medical cannabis dispensary, is connecting with patients in Owensboro, Henderson, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Madisonville, Hopkinsville and surrounding areas by aligning unique specials with the region’s summer concert calendar. Located at 300 N Main St. in Beaver Dam, minutes from major highways connecting these vibrant cities.

This summer, The Post Dispensary is offering special pricing and incentives for Concert Series Events at the Beaver Dam Amphitheater, SPARKS in the Park 4th of July celebration and surrounding events, such as Owensboro’s ROMP Festival (June 24-27, 2026). Patients can stop by before or after shows for big savings.

“We’re more than just a booty,” said a dispensary representative. “From Owensboro’s world-class ROMP Festival to Beaver Dam’s Amphitheater events, we’re making it convenient and budget-friendly for patients in Owensboro, Henderson, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Hartford and beyond to combine our love of music with compassionate care and an affordable product.”

The Post Dispensary hosts regular Patient Guidance events on the second Saturday of every month. These units have professionals on hand to assess patients and issue written certificates at low cost, application support and expert consultations in a welcoming environment. The next Patient Drive aligns perfectly with summer travel patterns, making it easy for patients from Owensboro, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Madisonville, Henderson, Madisonville and surrounding towns to plan a trip to Beaver Dam that combines care with community and entertainment.

For more information:
Post-Dispensary
thepostdispensary.com/