Operations

The Plants

The Numbers

Darin Carpenter: Both facilities combined are growing about 30,000 different plants. Our genetics lockers have about 200 strains, but we are currently growing about 50-60 strains.

Strain Selection

Darin Carpenter: Our strains are selected based on supply and demand with an extra rotation to keep our retails fresh with new inventory so that our patients don’t get bored of the same flavor.

Feeding Style and Media

Darin Carpenter: We use a top-down, drip-fed, drain-to-waste system. We grow with Coco Coir and Grodan rockwool.

Nutrients

Darin Carpenter: We make our own nutrients. While the mixture is proprietary, we keep it fairly basic.The mother plants are treated more delicately, so they get a different feeding regimen.

Pest Management

Darin Carpenter: We use a preventative IPM strategy that allows us to pass state requirements. Every room gets looked at every day. I can’t disclose too much more, because it is one of our competitive edges.

Laboratory Testing

Darin Carpenter: Nevada law requires us to test for:

• Pesticide residue
• Colony forming units (CFU) of microbes and fungi
• Cannabinoids
• Terpenoids

Building Design

Darin Carpenter: About 10% of our facility is propagation, another 15% is for veg, and the flowering rooms are about 75% of each facility.

Lighting

Darin Carpenter: We follow the industry standard: T5 bulbs for propagation, metal halide lights for veg, and HPS DE for flowering. HPS in veg also works well. We use a custom paint spec for higher reflectivity.

Environmental Controls

Matthew Morgan: We have a building management system that runs automatic nutrient dosing and automatic feeding systems in addition to environmental controls. It was custom designed for us by a controlled environment engineer.

The Tryke Perspective

MJ Freeway and the Repercussions

Matthew Morgan: We lost seven figures in revenue because of the MJ Freeway fiasco. People were working 18-hour days to move us over to a whole new platform, but we had no choice.

Now we’re using a hybrid system: We use BioTrackTHC and Microsoft accounting software for midsized companies. The software has multiple functions:

• Coordinates with BioTrackTHC.
• Tracks our inventory.
• Acts as our accounting system.
• Tracks our analytics.
• Provides redundancy in case another event happens.

This article has been paraphrased with permission from Growers Network.  You can read the full article here.