5 mistakes to avoid when planning your commercial cannabis operation
With a crop as profitable and heavily regulated as cannabis, growers must ensure that they will get the most out of their grow facility in order to produce high quality yields while meeting regulations. The following are common mistakes that should be avoided when setting up a commercial marijuana operation:
Trying to put together a growing system piece by piece
It will be unnecessarily difficult to coordinate the setup of your commercial marijuana facility if you’re ordering your benching, irrigation and lighting all from different suppliers. You should make sure your benches are designed to work well with your irrigation system the same way your cooling systems need to be aware of the details of your lights. The automated growing equipment available to commercial growers when properly designed as an integrated system will provide not only better traceability and uniform quality but it will also increase production. Follow this link to learn more about the benefits of automated controls in a greenhouse.
Using equipment meant for small grow operations
The facility and systems needed to ensure consistent quality control in a 6,000 plus square foot commercial marijuana operation are far more complicated than the equipment needed for a small 500 square foot operation. Not only do the systems need to handle the size of the operation you plan for today, but should be adaptable for any future expansion plans. Be sure to work with experts with experience in scaling marijuana facilities who can provide consultation for your long-term growth.
Not establishing a strong partnership with your equipment supplier
Before you can even begin growing cannabis in your commercial facility, everything needs to be built to code which requires a lot of expert knowledge and experience in building marijuana facilities. Do your due diligence when choosing a supplier. Ask for references and if possible, visit them to see their factory and offices to ensure this is a company that can stand behind their products and services. Quality is very important in the marijuana industry and the company along with their products must reflect that. Cutting corners will not get you ahead or your licensed approved so make sure your supplier is capable of coming through for you.
Not automating the growing process
In order to meet the regulations required by most health departments in addition to staying above the competition, growers need to have a vigilant focus on quality control and compliance at the forefront of their operations. By working with complete integrated growing systems, light levels, irrigation timing, specific fertilizing mix, air filtration, cooling and heating can all be adjusted automatically based on the need of your marijuana plants. Details are monitored and recorded on the environmental computer. Any deviations can be identified and easily corrected.
Putting off important order until the last minute
It is not uncommon for us to receive calls from operations needing benches and irrigation systems manufactured and installed immediately because their inspection is taking place in only a couple of weeks. Fortunately in many situations we’ve been able to fulfill these rushed orders but it is not recommended to rely on this. The upfront costs involved in setting up a commercial marijuana operation are substantial but they are necessary for passing the inspection that you really can’t afford to miss. Plan ahead and get set up before your inspection is scheduled.
You can learn more about integrated marijuana growing systems designed to maximize production and how the GGS team works closely with growers to customize solutions for your needs.
