A look at growing cannabis at Southern Grown Therapeutics
How do you even grow medical cannabis? News 25’s Brooke Parker is taking us inside a medical cannabis cultivation facility in Ocean Springs to find out.
Clean, safe, and secure work is the first priority at Southern Grown Therapeutics. Everyone is sprayed with isopropyl alcohol upon entering the facility to kill any bugs. Southern Grown Therapeutics President Tommy Krumland said, “One thing that we did do to make sure we’re really putting our best foot forward is obviously our facilities. We created a facility that every surface in here can be washed, can be wiped down. We are cultivators, but if you talk to any of our guys, they’ll tell you that they’re also janitors.”
Southern Grown Therapeutics is owned by Mississippi native Rachel and her husband, Tommy Krumland. They have been preparing to grow medical cannabis since they first heard of Initiative 65. “We truly believe that we’re growing medicine. I mean, we’ve seen what cannabis has done for multiple different ailments for different people. We do believe in the medicine behind it, and that’s why we’ve invested the way that we have because we want to grow the best medicine that we can in the state.”
It all starts with a mom. Stems are first cut from the mother plant. Once the cutting has grown roots, it is put in its own pot and tagged with information about the plant.
Moms and their cuttings are kept at a specific temperature and humidity to prevent them from flowering. When the cuttings reached a desired height, they are moved to the flowering room, which mimics the season cannabis would start flowering.
Southern Grown Therapeutics, after two years of preparations, is finally ready to package up their first harvest. The plant is cut, weighed, and hung to dry before being shipped off to a dispensary. It’s a long process that takes anywhere from 90 to 120 days. Krumland hopes people can see the hard work put into it. “I would say that we are farmers. So, we are dealing with live plants. If we have an emergency here, if lights are coming on at midnight, or if a cloner pump goes out or if power gets lost to the facility – it’s a 24-hour thing.”
You can learn more about Southern Grown Therapeutics at thesoutherngrown.com.
