Maryland soon to be MMJ State. Licensed growers?

[Pooker]

Hello all, Maryland is in the process of drafting the regulations for medical marijuana and the application process for receiving a license to grow for patients/ start a dispensary. One of the main questions I've always had in my mind is how are the growers to be judged? For decades and continuing this is an illegal practice. But soon many will be applying for this position. By what standards can they be judged by if we have been in a black market for so long. Does a B.A in environmental studies seal the deal (lol yea right) or is it just 1 million dollars and who you know? The commission board is made up of doctors, attorneys, pharmaceutical folks, and Dept. of agriculture. Has anyone gotten a license and would care to shed some light on the process. I've been doing quite a bit of research and as daunting and deterring as it seems this is my passion and dream to help share medicine and grow this beautiful species of plant.

Would greatly appreciate info from any contracted growers by big investors and how they prepped to get certified, other than just bringing their notebook full of soil mixes Lol thanks!

 

[catbuds]

Pooker, I've been searching that info myself! Couldn't find out much, was told info was forthcoming, but its EXPENSIVE, & they even do background checks on your investors/sponsers & probably even great granny! Wasn't happy with what info I did get. Apparently it has to be a huge operation, as they set the limit VERY low. I think I last read 15 for the whole damned state, but they were hedging on that, so it could be subject to change. Hell, that's not enough growers for Balt alone, much less the whole state! So my BS in hort, commercial greenhouses since the early 70's, & 44 yrs of growing means nothing. You gotta have BIG money, not experience to get going growing! I'm actually considering leaving Md.....

 

[Pooker]

Catbuds, I dont know if you have attended any of the medical marijuana commission board meetings but I've been following since about january and I dont think they've mentioned the actual medicine once, and has barely even touched on the process of getting a license. Out of the sixty or so people I was astonished how many folks were going for cultivation purposes. A new member to the board, Tina (cant remember her last name) is the horticulturist and was great. She had a very extensive background with greenhouses and was interesting to see if MD will be going towards more outdoors...less electricity but more security. She spoke about how this is most likely going to be treated just as another consumable crop, in regards to nutrient planning and regulations, so we may already have the model ahead of us, just different ways to implement and especially get to the public. Im pretty confused to what this "15" number means. If we are going to minimize the amount of "entities" I understand, but by making larger facilities you need a larger team and that's not going to cut it. So many questions.....heheh wellp all in time, gotta be patient if you wanna stay here. In the meetings you can see the people with lobbyists/ big time players and then the older folks/ younger kids who really care about the plant and have a deeper respect for it and it's going to be tough for the little guys, but what the hell gotta go for it!

If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me more about your greenhouse experience? I have been wanting to learn more with greenhouse construction and maintenance since I used to live near salisbury. I worked on an organic farm while going to school and delved into the power of them and good soil life. I got my degree in environmental studies and studied plant science heavily. Aside from my personal work with the earthworm farms and no-till, I've been trying to find somewhere/ someone to do some kind of work-for-knowledge or "internship" to get more hands on. Anyways thanks for the response Im just ranting heheh take care catbuds I'd love to hear back from ya!

 

[Pepe le skunk]

The grower will already have experience in a med state doing it because doing this commercially is different then you'd think and the problems are compounded. If your not working in the industry already others have a big advantage.

 

[catbuds]

Pooker, that's a loaded question, it could lead to writing a book! There are as many different styles of greenhouses as there are growing techniques. Each style is maintained differently. Most commonly used in commercial growing is the poly covered hoop house. Constant maintenance because the house is covered in two layers of poly with a blower inflating it between the layers. Any holes in the plastic have to be repaired to keep it inflated. That layer of air is your insulation for winter heating, summer cooling. Hoop houses are the cheapest to construct, but keeps you hopping on the maintenance. You need a maintenance person for this, or otherwise you're pulling workers off their job of plant tending to patch air leaks. But I'm going to detour for a minute & talk about drip irrigation. This is the bane of your existence as a grnhse grower. Frequent maintenance, CONSTANT monitoring. You have your black plastic pipe running high pressure water in which you've punched holes for the drip tubes. At the end of the drip tube, you have have your drip emitter which lays on the soil at the base of each plant. These emitters get clogged OFTEN! Should you miss a clog you have a major problem. Water under pressure WILL find a way out of that pipe, so what it does is blow the drip tube out of the pipe & flood the immediate area. The repairs go without saying, but the consequences are what we're concerned with as growers. You now have an over saturated area that needs to be allowed to dry while you hand water ther rest. Defeates the purpose, which is to free up the workers so they can do the other 1001 things in their job description. They're automated monitors for water pressure that can allert the maintenance crew before (suposedly) the line blows, but run as you might, you don't often find the clog before that happens. It takes more than one clogged emmiter to blow a line, so if you only have a clog or two on a line, there would be thoes plants not receiving water/nutes. You get the picture. When water begins to run, someone has to 'walk the line' checking for clogs/problems.
- The reason I'm pointing out these two things (hoop house maintenance & drip irrigation) is you need these two things without question in a large production. As stated before, last I heard is the state is only allowing 15 grow operations. That means MASS PRODUCTION, thousands, not hundreds. If you're only growing 100-500 plants per crop, then I would go with a different grnhse type & no drip irrigation. Smaller op would also mean the workers would all have hort knowledge & be left to work their expertise without the need of foremen to tell them their every move.
- I love smaller commercial grows. I love plants. The super large comm grows turn it into a factory type experience.
- The best way I can help answer your questions would be for you to look into commercial grnhse construction (just google), pick out two or three types, then get back with me. The more you know, the more focused your questions & my answers can be. (Cuts down on long winded posts like this one)! LOL!

 

[Pooker]

WOW first off thanks you all and great info! I'm sorry for such vague questions Lol im kind of in a grey area right now of what to expect. I really hope we can stir the path of growing from large mass production farms to more intimate farms. I think this just goes hand in hand with this culture of medicine AND people, yet it is most likely going to the highest bidder and who plays golf with the boards attorneys. Great stuff on the greenhouse tips I really appreciate all knowledge given.

One of the main things I was thinking of was how to keep the greenhouse going 365 days of the year. Maryland doesn't get terribly cold, but some winters it can get heavy snow and sleet, so im thinking the hard plastic on galvanized steel frame is the way to go for me. I would definitely want supplemental lighting and some way to black out the structure. I think it would be much harder to induce flowering with a cover on some commercial structure.

What I've been questioning:

-Better to go with one huge galvanized steel & hard plastic greenhouse or multiple smaller hooped and tarp plastic?Considering the maintenance you mentioned above I'm leaning towards larger structures...or at least the solid wall's.

-Experiment with in ground planting / containers on plastic
-Experiment with Propane, natural gas, or wood stove heating
-Are the ventilation requirements similar to how you would size an indoor op, such as you want to be able to vent out an entire room 3-5 times in one minute for hot temps?

Any tips on running through the tricky season to season harvests?

All of my other questions are mainly for the process behind obtaining the license that I feel is almost near impossible to answer at this moment. I'm just wondering where I really stand on this, and the first step is to get a hold of an experienced MMJ lawyer who knows folks on or with the commission and has connections to clients who have had success getting one. Long stretch I know but I feel like getting any sort of lawyer is first. But really where do the guys with no lobbyists and a 300 acre farm + generations of growing lettuce stand? Im confident in my team knowledge and experience wise with production, never been a huge commercial OP but like you, I prefer a more intimate setup with the plants I feel like its a healthier and more positive way. You were saying it's going to be in the thousands and I mean why would they NOT go with these kind of people. 15 growers spread "evenly" throughout the state might help make it a fair game but even then....Money isnt a deterring factor we can get the land and setup we need no problem...it's just most of these farmers have been dealing with vegetable crops (prob pot too but idk) so does their experience transfer on paper? how can you tell the board of lawmakers "Im really good Ive been harvesting mj for a while now" I guess the best I can do is get Dept. of agriculture certifications just how a tomato farmer would be right? Anyways just ranting again take care nice ot hear from ya! Till the next time

 

[B29]

Maryland requirements

Maryland requirements

You can go to the Commission's website and review the earlier "nonofficial" proposal that as circulated for comment to get a feeling for the likely requirements. The new legislation signed into law after the last legislative session establishes the 15 grower limit. This new legislation was passed after the Commission's unofficial proposal was circulated for comment. There was debate on this license limitation and the legislators said they may have to open it up in the future. The law doesn't include much in terms of grower qualifications but I believe it says the selection process should included consideration of the state's minority owned business objectives and also that the selections process should consider applicants who would have facilities in economically challeged locations.

The unofficial proposal doesn't include much detail on grower qualifications. However, the previous framework basicaly would have had a very limited marketplace that relied on about 3 teaching hospitals to conduct tests and growers would have to have a relationship with one or more of these institutions to be considered for licensing. This earlier approach was going nowhere so the new legislation opens the door to giving all doctors in the state the ability to write prescriptions. I think the law does specify that growers must be residents of the state.

The earlier proposal did specify that in addition to very tight video security, growing facilities would have to be constructed of hardened concrete or comparable material. So, unless there is a change in thinking the Commission doesn't sound inclined to permit outdoor growing or conventional greenhouses.

 

[Pooker]

The earlier proposal did specify that in addition to very tight video security, growing facilities would have to be constructed of hardened concrete or comparable material. So, unless there is a change in thinking the Commission doesn't sound inclined to permit outdoor growing or conventional greenhouses.

At the end of the last meeting I went up to talk the horticulture specialist who was just appointed to the board, it was her first meeting, and she seemed to be leaning towards greenhouse production. She said the only disadvantage is security and the ability to monitor, but thats where she insinuated it should go. So the only person who is actually dealing with the plant might have a greater say than the others hopefully in that regard. I will definitely check out the website and see the informal draft thank you. Were you at the last meeting b29? Also what do you mean by these teaching hospitals? Sometimes there is so much jargon at the meetings and procedures that go right over my head and I miss shit like this, especially when they make something public it's not very highlighted, to me at least

 

[Pooker]

The grower will already have experience in a med state doing it because doing this commercially is different then you'd think and the problems are compounded. If your not working in the industry already others have a big advantage.

Hey pepe, this was what I was kind of running into. How can they expect lifelong maryland residents to already have experience with marijuana (which eric sterling mentioned in requirements for the license informally) or experience in the industry when that hasn't even "legally" come to fruition yet here. The only way would be to move to another state and work for a while then bring that knowledge base back......(lightbulb idea)

 

[B29]

maryland

maryland

The original legislation limited the ability to prescribe use of marijuana to doctors participating in approved research programs sponsored by approved research institutions. In practice, this would have limited the field to Hopkins and perhaps two other teaching hospitals. Basically, the legal framework for doctors, dispensaries, cultivators was tied back to the hospitals, which is one of the reasons the program was going nowhere--the hospitals were concerned about not only their liability, but would they put their federal research money at risk by participating in distribution of a product prohibited under federal law. The new legislation eliminated the linkage to the hospitals. I believe the new language would permit prescriptions to be written by any licensed doctor approved by the Commission.

The earlier proposed regulations were a good attempt to lay out the framework for a program but did not address some of the issues such as grower experience, sources of product, startup considerations, etc. Hopefully the next proposal will be better.

 

[Pooker]

that clarifies the doctor to patient dilemma thank you b29 that helped a lot. There are so many private chiropractors, nutritionists, spiritual healers, etc. that I feel would be great places but I'm assuming they are far from certified, but the description of the "academic center" where it will be distributed from is kind of open ended still. I'm awaiting much of the past meeting's information to reach the website as they all voted for several drafts to go public. thanks for the responses you all, I think what we're waiting on most is the grower qualifications. I really hope just cause you've been growing corn your whole life doesnt mean you are a shoe in for the license.

 

[EmpireSeeds]

Hopefully Soon.... I Have a HELL of a Seed Collection



-Dutch