Marijuana Business Magazine March 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | March 2019 88 C annabis cultivators have long relied on cloning as a way to propagate plant inventory and preserve their genetics. But cloning— taking a rooted cutting of a mother plant to grow a genetically identical plant— may slowly be giving way to what many horticultural experts say is a far superior method to propagate and preserve a plant’s genetics: tissue culture. Tissue culture as a method of micro- propagation first came to the fore in the 1950s in the orchid industry. In the de- cades since, the practice has been adopt- ed by just about every other agricultural crop—from flowers, fruits and vegetables to hops, hay and, now, cannabis. “These techniques are done in big ag, the food industry. We’re just adapting what’s already out there,” said Hope Jones, CEO of Emergent Cannabis Sciences, a marijuana consulting firm in Phoenix specializing in tissue culture. Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques harnessed to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions in culture media, a rich blend of ingredients that promote plant-cell growth. These ingredients can include macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, agar and activated charcoal, and they can be blended in-house or found in commercial blends such as Murashige and Skoog. The process is widely used to produce plant clones using a method known as micropropagation. It’s also used to preserve plant genetics. The advantages of tissue culture versus cloning are stark, horticulture experts say. For its part, tissue culture boasts: • Significantly more efficient and prolific plant production, enabling growers to save money and increase revenue. • The ability to better preserve can- nabis genetics. • More vigorous plants than those that come from clones. Tissue culture also lends itself to multiple business models. A small but growing number of large cultivation companies in big marijuana markets, including Canada and California, are adopting tissue culture as a way to pump out hundreds of thousands of plants, while ambitious entrepreneurs have started nurseries to supply cannabis farmers small and large. But tissue culture isn’t just for scale. It can also be used by small growers to preserve genetics or for proof-of- concept efforts that show how strains can be replicated through tissue culture. Whatever the size of your business, tissue culture is something to consider. But before jumping into it, conduct a cost-benefit analysis, because setting up a tissue-culture shop requires expertise, time and capital—tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the size of your business, your goals and where you get your equipment and labor. If done correctly, an investment in tissue culture can take your grow to a new level. “Most anyone who has the desire, the willingness and some funds to designate to this can do it. Who should do it? That depends on what their goals are,” Jones said. A growing number of marijuana cultivators and entrepreneurs are moving away from cloning and instead turning to tissue culture as the preferred method to propagate their plants. While horticultural experts say tissue culture is a worthwhile investment, it takes significant capital and expertise. Here’s what you need to know about the practice: • Tissue culture yields many more plants than cloning and better preserves plant genetics, and the plants are more vigorous than those developed from clones. • Tissue culture can be used in multiple business models, including to start a nursey business, expand the number of plants a company grows or to help craft growers preserve strains. • Depending on the company’s size and goals, starting a tissue-culture operation requires expensive equipment and sophisticated labor that can lead to six-digit startup costs. SCALING NEW HEIGHTS Hope Jones is CEO of Emergent Cannabis Sciences. Courtesy Photo