47 ABC WMDT visits marijuana grow facility as recreational cannabis legalization approaches

Curious About Cannabis: Part 1

MARYLAND – The day when Marylanders 21-years-old and up can walk into a dispensary, and buy cannabis without a medical card, is just around the corner. With change, comes uncertainty. That’s why 47 ABC WMDT visited Curio Wellness’ facilities. We’re bringing you all you need to know, if you do choose to try recreational marijuana.

Cultivating a New Chapter

Just outside of Baltimore, in an unassuming facility nestled amid an industrial park, Curio Wellness is cultivating a new chapter in Maryland’s history: legal, adult use recreational marijuana. And to be clear, the level of precision, expertise, and state-of-the-art technology used in this process cannot be done at home.

It starts in the propagation room.

“In terms of our whole process flow, this is the most important part of everything we do. This is the foundation of what we do, and this then moves into all the next stages,” said Vice President of Cultivation, Farai Madziva. “We take a mother, and we clone the mother through propagation, and that is one step of being able to move, without actually using seeds.”

Madziva says cloning plants, rather than starting with seeds, allows for the creation of a good gene pool.

At any given time, the folks are Curio are growing up to 42 different varieties, or strains, of marijuana, with about 160 more in the vault.

“That occurs because every single week, we are preparing for the next week of harvesting and planting,” said Madziva. “How do we continue to do work like that? It’s in the process, and how we do  things consistently. Everything is the same way, all the time.”

Tight Security, Attention to Detail

It’s all done under tight security, and even closer attention to detail. “They’re plants; they’re live products. So, you can’t just say it is a cut and paste situation. Every single strain might behave differently,” said Madziva. “It’s like you with your children; if you have three children, one is going to be tall, one is going to want to eat at lunchtime, one is going to eat at dinner. It’s all different… I’ve actually been intrigued with how many organizations have gone into cannabis production, and struggled to actually be able to make it happen continuously, purely because of the complexities of the plant.”

The young plants will sit in that room for about two weeks as they mature. Then, they’re transported to another room, where they will continue to grow for another eight to nine weeks. All of them are carefully and repeatedly checked and tracked. And, each section of the facility is under video surveillance, and only accessible with the tap of a key card.

“This particular room, itself, is in the last stage of the flower cycle. So, this will be harvested next week,” said Madziva as the tour entered a room filled with flowering marijuana plants. “This room has roughly about 2,000 plants, and each plant will give you a good amount of product, itself.”

Final Steps

The two-month stay is done under very specific conditions: 74 degrees, extremely bright yellow lights, and a constant supply of carbon dioxide. They can’t be replicated just anywhere.

“We have the tags that show the crop name, the crop number, the room that it’s sitting in, when was it propagated, so we can get al the detail on our tags,” said Madziva. “Our aim here is to give the plant the best possible environment for it to grow at its maximum, so it can give you right yields, and also the right chemo type that we’re looking for.”

Before the product is ready to be weighed and separated into packaging, it has to dry, be trimmed multiple times, and tested for moisture content. It’s a feat monitored by scientists, to ensure a shelf-stable product.

“You really have to have a uniformity in your moisture content, and it has to be a certain level for it to remain a good product,” said Madziva.

Carefully Controlled Magic

Madziva, a horticulturist with years of experience, says working with this specific plant is like carefully controlled magic. “I’ve been growing plants for a very long time. This is the only time that I’ve actually been able to play god with plants,” he said. “The work that we’re doing here is really trying to understand the plants. But, most importantly, the team that we have behind us here, they have worked so hard, and they have understood that if you work in a certain systematic way, that allows us to be able to get consistency.”

Wednesday, this journey will continue. We’ll be taking a look inside the facility where Curio’s other cannabis products are made. And, we’ll be learning about the stringent safety standards they’re held to.