Inside one of Arizona's largest grow facilities | Grow Sciences

Grow Sciences has rooted themselves in the Arizona cannabis community for more than five years. Arizona cannabis connoisseurs may remember the 2018 Grow Sciences MixTape, a branded sample pack that introduced many to Grow Sciences cannabis and solventless extracts, and established the foundation of quality that this brand strived for since day one. We hope you enjoy this exclusive look into the expansion of one of Arizona's (and certainly one of our) favorite cannabis producers.

I'll open with a personal experience I had while working with Grow Sciences in the cannabis community.

On April 21, 2020, I was attacked by a dog while jogging. The dog's owner, slumped against the wall sleeping, was too inebriated to pull the dog off of me, and I was on the ground screaming, with a broken femur and hip shattered in three places. Doctors at the hospital installed metal plates and connecting rods into my hip and femur, then sent me home, instead of a professional rehab, due to pandemic lockdowns. I was out of work with mounting hospital bills, and traumatized from the attack.

My girlfriend Michelle was caring for me daily, and had a friend, Mackenzie Beck, who graciously posted a ‘GoFundMe’ page to help with my emergency medical bills. I was blessed by friends and cannabis colleagues helping with my recovery. Every bit helped towards my bills, and one day, I received a notice that the balance had doubled with this message attached:

Get well soon, sending positive vibes! - Grow Sciences

Grow Sciences matched the donations dollar for dollar. They had no incentive to extend such generosity to a cannabis colleague. I haven't properly thanked them, or said how much this means to me until writing it publicly now. They probably wouldn't want me to mention it, but I can't think of a better way to introduce the character of this team as individuals and as a company.

If you haven't had a chance to get your hands on breathtaking Grow Sciences rosin, flower, cartridges or edibles, you certainly will now, as they ramp up production of new products at different price points for all types of consumers.

Here's the details on the expansion:

Grow Sciences originally operated their gardens and produced all of their extracts out of one 21,000 square foot facility, with a number of attached office trailers and makeshift temporary buildings to keep things organized. This fall, they opened an additional 80,000 square feet state of the art facility, which will activate an expanded product line alongside a greater volume of current products.

The new spot will produce exponentially more flower than Grow Sciences has previously, including new genetics and fan favorites, as the company seeks to meet the demand for its product. I walked through the new rooms looking at new rows of tables, irrigation systems, and differing light spectrums. The clone room was brimming with new genetics that we will see in flower and fresh frozen hash rosin production soon. The technology and level of detail in each room is overwhelming, but gives this team of artisans everything it needs create magic and products that delight the consumer.

Photo Caption: Matthew Blum walks through the rows checking leaves of plants in their new home. These clones were planted and then moved to their new home just a few days prior.

Back in the original facility, the extraction team is taking over and ramping up solventless production to the next level by researching and developing new products for different types of cannabis consumers. This team will study each strain to determine which will be the best hash rosin producer, or which will make the best hash rosin vape cartridge. Not every flower strain washes well for hash, or yields properly for rosin production, and not every strain of rosin is optimal for filling cartridges. When we check in with this cultivation and extraction team next year, they will have an array of products on the market that are new to consumers.

Like a Model 3 Tesla vs. a Tesla Roadster, both are Teslas. Both have the same brand quality reputation, and each is purposefully designed for a respective price point. Co-founder Mike Cee explains a similar market strategy at Grow Sciences. They first invested in creating top shelf products for the market, which allowed the company to fail fast in pursuit of its goals, and now gives Grow Sciences the economies of scale to earnestly target more competitive price points and new products. What always remains is dedication to innovate and put quality first. And Grow Sciences will, of course, continue to supply the top-tier cannabis market with elite genetics, high-end solventless extracts and catridges, and edibles.

This expansion is absolutely necessary to meet a demand for Grow Sciences products that has long exceeded supply. Though this is a good problem to have in any business, founders Mike and Matt have been focused on how to alleviate supply constraints. Matt cares so much about the finished product that he wants to raise the quality standards in all product categories for dispensaries.

"This goes especially for cartridges, which should never be sold in distillate form", says Blum.

Distillation homogenizes THC and removes the terpene plant benefits from the final product. Matt says he would like to see all distillate cartridges eliminated from the market, replaced by quality broad spectrum live resin. We couldn't agree more.

We talked about new genetics and fan favorites that made the cut into the new expansion. Grow Sciences fans will be happy to know that the Runtz and Orange Daiquiri cultivars will be making comebacks into production, as well as several other fan favorites (including my favorites like White Truffle and Platinum Candy). Truthfully, the new flavor list is extensive.

When I met Matthew Blum, he loved genetics and we had that in common. One of the 1st questions he asks when meeting someone in his garden is, "So, what kind of genetics do you like?" Then more importantly, if he wants to continue the conversation, "Which genetics do you miss?" I listened as Arturo lamented the lost skunk strains and more of our collective favorites from the past.

Arturo Delgado had this to say after our tour with Matt. "Changing the cartridge game, releasing new edibles and resins, and expanding their flower and rosin will all happen while still following their motto: “Welcome to Quality". Let's face the facts: good weed has never been cheap, and cheap weed has never been good, but that doesn't mean a product can't be created that is still high quality yet affordable. This is Grow Sciences’ focus. There have always been standards in the cannabis market, and those standards seem to be increasing while the supply decreases, which often leads to a higher price point for all products. All cannabis consumers also have a set of their own standards that they expect when buying their favorite cannabis products.

With their expansion, Grow Sciences is primed to release a wide variety of new products to fit virtually every budget and reach every consumer. No matter if you enjoy the convenience of whole flower pre-rolls, the flavor of live resin sauce carts, the terpy dabs of live resins, or high quality and tasty edibles, they are creating more options for ALL consumers, medical and recreational alike."

More important for cannabis quality than gardening is the genetics of the plant. The Grow Sciences propagation team, along with Matt and Mike, has spent the last four years hunting phenotypes and implementing standards for new Grow Sciences genetics.They test clone specimens in different environmental conditions. The act of selecting phenotypes means taking different cuts of the same genetics to see which produces the strongest results. A breeder will take the specimens with the most favorable characteristics to move into production. Sometimes genetics are selected for the higher yield, other times it's which phenotype will yield the best extracts. Some strains make beautiful fresh frozen hash, but they will not produce enough pressed rosin to make it worth producing for retail.

The new Grow Sciences facility boasts 80,000 ft² of dedicated cultivation space, as well as an edible kitchen and a BHO lab for producing live resins. This gives way to new products at different price points to help any consumer access quality cannabis medicine. The entire Grow Sciences team is passionate about raising market standards for edibles, vapes, flowers, and extracts as they release new affordable products into each market category. Expect new elite genetics to start popping up Valleywide before the new year, and then things will get even more exciting as they expand into the new product categories in 2023.

Do your own research about cannabis brands rather than taking mine or anyone's opinions. I have always enjoyed Grow Sciences, and stand by the belief that their team cultivates cannabis as well as anyone in the business. Naturally, they want to distribute as much product as possible… but they won't do it at the expense of QUALITY.

Cannabis Cactus would like to thank Matthew Blum, Mike Cee, Jamie Mckenna, and the entire Grow Sciences team for their hospitality. We're proud to represent purveyors of cannabis who put the plant before profits. One love.

For more information visit www.growsciences.com & follow along on all social @growsciences.

Make an info graphic like football style with ex's and o's or something. Link all genetics producers for Web content.

Grow Sciences Pheno Playbook 2023:

Phenotypes dropping this year:

Chimera 2 from Beleaf Genetics

Dip N Stix from Beleaf Genetics

Banana Cream Cake X Jealousy from Tikimadman

Triangle Kush x Lemon Tree from Swampboy Seeds

Grape Fritter from Bloomseedco

Ursula from Bloomseedco

Strawberry Cream Cake from Bloomseedco

Frozen Jelly from In House Genetics

Genetics staying/making a comeback:

GMO

MAC

Kush Mints

Underdog OG

Secret Triangle

Limedog OG

White Truffle

Platinum Candy

Wedding Cake