"Ask Me Anything" - Scaling a Cultivation Facility, with Director of Cultivation for Downtown Cultivation, Andrew Savage.
Who: Andrew Savage Director of Cultivation - Downtown Cultivation
What: Scaling a Cultivation Facility
Where: Right here
When : Wednesday, November 21st at 11 AM PST
Useful Links and contact info
221 E 6th St., Suite 105 Tucson AZ 85705 | 520.838.0492
They run a clean facility and Savage is a super knowledgeable grower. I am looking forward to this one!
Tomorrowâs AMA will be special for one more reason: we will have another edition of our AMA Live!
Iâm actually going to visit the cultivation facility and do the AMA Live with @savage himself. We can answer your questions, with pictures, live and in person! This is going to be a good one! Line up your questions now, folks.
Talk to us about pot sizes to finish as well as how you scale soil management.
Thanks @savage for hosting the AMA today! Iâll kick it off with a fewâŚ
What has been your biggest challenge creating consistency for Downtownâs brand of products?
and
What is your favorite part of your job?
Also, Iâm gonna tag in some knowledgeable growers that may have a few questions for youâŚ
@AltMedReed @Lucas @supergrower_matt @MK3_Pharms @Farmer_Dan
Do you use a moisture meter or any other device to tell if your flowers have dried enough to be ready for extraction?
Data is always a big thing for me. Are you currently using any software solutions to track the facilityâs success, like by cost per gram? If you are, what have you found to be the best for you and how do you see that software scaling with you from location to location?
Andrew, Welcome to the GNET !! I was wondering do you scale your grow to meet dispensary demand or scale for maximum space efficiency? I would guess if you are extracting everything the later would be your goal.
You may tell us what % of sales are extract vs bud and as a grower your realized benefits of marketing each.
Thanks
Does burning sulphur in your grow potentially affect any of the different methods of extraction?
Hey guys great to be here today and to answer any and all questions you have!
As you know, it all starts in propagation. We run 3 rooms that are outfitted with aeroponic EZ cloners. Double stuffed neoprene pucks (2 cuttings per puck).
From there, when the root system is established we transplant into Pro-Mix HP 1 gallon plastic pots.
After it spends itâs time vegging, we do a final transplant into the 3 gallon cloth Root Pouches.
They veg for another 2-3 weeks, before we flip them into our flower rooms.
Thanks for the question.
The biggest challenge I have encountered over the years is dialing in your environment. I have done outdoor, greenhouse and indoor and all of them come with their hiccups.
YOUR ENVIRONMENT IS THE BIGGEST KEY. THEN YOUR GENETICS.
Also, finding the balance between too many strains in your stock and not enough strains in your stock.
Keeping the customers happy and educating them is a huge part of what we do. Knowledge is power.
Thanks for the question!
We do use meters while the plant is still standing to determine when to harvest. Our curing process is also quality checked before we hand trim, and before we give our trim to our lab.
We donât use tumbling machines, we donât harass and/or handle the plant more than we have to, so the quality stays throughout the entire process.
Hand trimmed, cold cured. Low and slow.
In a greenhouse, so no stacking in veg, whats your rule of thumb for veg sqft to flower sqft on a new build?
Savage, itâs so cool to be chilling with you in this giant cultivation facility hosting this AMA! Thanks for spending the time with us today!
@Growernick Not sure if I overlooked it or not, but how big is the actual facility?
Great question!
Yes we used Arizonaâs state sanctioned inventory system. Itâs called MJ Freeway. There are others that the state uses and currently we are using that one.
EVERYTHING IS TRACKED.
From clones to packaging. Everything has a bar code. We use a matrix system that allows us to pinpoint exactly where what plant is in the building.
And we use data to determine which strains to roll with into large production.
SavageâŚ? How big is this building? It takes quite a hike to walk around itâŚwhatâs its history?
Hey Andrew! Thanks for hosting this AMA!
What keeps you on top of AZâs compliance regulations?
Thanks again!
~ 
Kareenabis~
never burn sulphur past week 4 in flower IF YOU HAVE TO.
We burn in Veg and no later past week 3 in flower. You will have test results pop up on your extracts if you go too far into flower.
Vaporize sulphur, donât spray it if you donât have to.
is that the case for all methods? what about ethanol?
Of course we scale to meet demand! Think about it, at the end of the day we have to supply patients. They are the ones who keep coming back, right?
Flower vs concentrate is about 60/40.
Our branding (Cold Cured Cannabis), keeps patients coming back to purchase our flower, along with our concentrate.
Marketing is key
