by Ben Horner
In October 2021, Fluresh invited us to tour its two cultivation and processing facilities in Adrian and Grand Rapids. This year the Michigan Marijuana Report came back out to see what was new at Fluresh and how Michigan’s second-largest producer of safe and legal cannabis was adapting as prices around the state have fallen and more facilities have come online. Our guide was OG Bob Schwartz, a twelve-year cultivation expert and VP of Cultivation and Operations at Fluresh.
Tissue Culture
Tissue culture is the most advanced technique for mass producing sturdy stock of a particular strain of cannabis. Our visit to the Grand Rapids Fluresh cultivation facility began with a tour of the tissue culture lab. Amanda Forner, graduate of Grand Valley with a degree in biochemistry, runs the state-of-the-art lab. The purpose of cloning from tissue culture is to create plants that are free from viral diseases, mold, and bacteria. To do so, a cutting from a female cannabis plant is put in a “hot box” that kills all contaminants as well as any weakened parts of the plant. The tiny sections of plant tissue that are still alive are then cut from the sample and placed in sterile containers with a proprietary growth fluid.
After some time, the material begins to grow. When the tissue has grown to a few centimeters, it is transferred into small boxes that help the tissue develop into a plant with tiny leaves. Eventually the tiny plant that started from just a flake of cannabis tissue is ready to be dipped in root compound and placed in a sponge cube, just as if it were a simple cutting. The finished specimen is a totally clean female plant.
“These plants are not only free of contamination,” explains Forner. “The girls are more robust plants. The weaker plant material dies and only the strongest survive.”
All the time and energy that goes into keeping the plants clean at the earliest stage is present throughout the entire process. All staff working in the facility must wear shoe coverings, gloves, and hair covering, and pass through a wind box room before entering. When growing thousands of plants, a single contamination outbreak could destroy millions of dollars of weed.
Price Drop
This year has seen a steep drop in the cost of medical and recreational marijuana. Commercial pounds are now wholesaling for as low as $700 per pound for high-quality flower. “We have seen this in other states,” stated Schwartz. “Hopefully we are seeing the bottom and prices will stabilize. To be competitive, our products are priced as competitive as they need to be and our quality has to be superior to [that of] our competitors.”
To do this, Fluresh has lowered its prices, even on their premium Carbon line of products. The Kitchen Sink by Fluresh, a cross of GMO Cookies and Sunday Driver, tests at over 30% THC and has a dynamic terpene profile that matches up to the level of product produced by smaller boutique growers. Facing the dropping prices and the high-quality level, home growers—a large part of the so-called gray market—cannot keep up. Rather than legislating the caregivers out of the market, they are running for the hills and looking at new avenues to make a buck.
Flureshing Futures
Using his experience with cultivators in the emerald triangle, Schwartz is on the hunt for new exotic strains to add to Fluresh’s portfolio. “We want to find strains that have specific qualities. For example, we have found a breeder that has genetics that are particularly good for solventless hash extractions.” According to Schwartz, having unique strains is the future of success not only for flower, but also for extracts, edibles, and other products.
In recent news, Fluresh has been able to acquire a credit line of over $40 million in liquid capital, which has allowed the company to reduce the cost of capitalization by paying off higher interest loans from private investor funds. Some of this money is being used in the research and development of products as well as the building of two new retail locations in Michigan. One will be in Adrian and one will be in Big Rapids. Fluresh will continue to provide top brands from other licensed facilities to offer the variety of products that Michigan cannabis consumers demand.
As Fluresh grows, the company will grow its talent base, which now has almost 300 employees. One way this is done is through the company’s social equity accelerator program that anyone can apply to. More information can be found at
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