Humboldt Received Its First State Licensed Indoor Cannabis Grow

One of Proxima's flowers still on the plant.

One of Proxima’s flowers still on the plant. [All photos provided by Proxima]

When people talk of Humboldt County Cannabis, they tend to picture rows of orchard sized plants with their roots in the soil and their leaves in the sun. But, today, Proxima Investments got the first complete annual indoor cannabis license for Humboldt–a Specialty Indoor license

“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” said the owner Mark who declined to give his last name explaining “I have lived in this community for 25 years [and] I have friends that are pro and anti marijuana and I respect both sides.”

Robin Collins, owner of Green Road Consulting*, who helped shepherd Mark through the complicated process necessary to obtain a state license explained that very few businesses have yet managed to navigate all the requirements necessary for an annual state license. “There are only five annual indoor licenses in all of California,” he said.

“This is the first locally permitted and made it through all the hoops,” proudly added Kaylie Saxon, General Manager of Green Road Consulting.

Mark, who grows using hydroponics–a method without soil, was less concerned than most newly legal marijuana growers about having a difficult time selling his product in the current difficult market. “It is much easier to place indoor into the market then it is outdoor,” he said. “The consumer’s number one flower choice would be indoor…There is a high demand for what I’m growing.”

Those platic wrapped rockwool slabs are being prepared for planting. Hoses and drip systems are already set up.

Those plastic wrapped rockwool slabs are being prepared for planting. Hoses and drip systems are already set up.

Proxima Investments, Mark’s business, has earned several awards for flower. His Pineapple Sage won 3rd place in the 2017 Humboldt Cup and 2nd place in the 2017 Southern California High Times Cup for a sativa flower.

“We came in on the back-to-the-lander movement,” explained Mark. “We took it indoors when things were scary–a lot of the skills, transition and a lot of the strains, transition.”

As an indoor grower, he says Humboldt County’s strength lies not in its terroir–the complex taste imparted to a wine or marijuana flower by its environment and found only in outdoor cannabis–but, in its networking and knowledge. “We all worked together–the indoor and the outdoor growers–to make the Humboldt name,” he said.

Robin Collins added, “Mark could go to Sacramento and do just as good of job but the skills he learned here are what make him good.”

The flower building shown in full bloom.

The flower building shown in full bloom.

Proxima’s facility has two buildings consisting of around 3600 square feet on the outskirts of Arcata. “One for vege..one for flower,” he explained. When the plants are through vegetative growing, they are moved to the second building where they are encouraged to put out and plump up their buds. They still continue to grow during the flower stage. “They triple in size during the first three weeks of flowering,” he explained.

Mark said that an indoor license is more difficult to get than an outdoor license. “l have a lot more restrictions,” he said.

Kaylie Saxon noted that “meeting employee standards is difficult when you are working with existing infrastructure.”

But Mark insists that his four part-time employees that have worked for him for years are critical to what he does and he values them. “I’m really proud of being able to provide sustainable jobs,” he explained.

Mark said he pays higher than the industry standard. “I provide very real wages to my employees,” he pointed out. “I value not having any type of turnover.”  He said he believes that new employees can make costly mistakes. In the end he says, that “can be more expensive than retaining people who are already trained. The best way to retain them is to pay them well.”

One of the difficulties Mark said he faced as an indoor grower is having to “completely offset all of our energy use.”

In order to offset the energy consumed in producing flowers under the bright lights and blowing fans of an indoor grow, Mark chose to use PG&E’s solar buy in program. “All of the energy we are using comes from solar power,” he explained. “The extra premium we are paying for that privilege allows PG&E to grow their renewable energy structure.”

Mark argues that his hydroponics operation consumes less water than that of traditional outdoor grows. “We operate 100% off of rain catchment and well water,” he said. “The system we use–conservatively uses half the amount of water that it would take to grow the same gram of outdoor flower.” This is an estimate he said he came up with by “canvassing some of my friends [and] its not supported by any scientific journal.”

Mark, who also does hydroponic cannabis consulting throughout the state believes that indoor is cleaner than outdoor. “Another great advantage is our microbial [count level.] We have really low microbial levels. We don’t have dust. We don’t have fertilizer.” He also says he uses no pesticides.

A heap of manicured flowers from Proxima.

A heap of manicured flowers from Proxima.

While Mark said he feels good about where he is currently positioned at the forefront of the market, he does have some concerns about the county he says he never wants to leave. “I’m very nervous about whether Humboldt is going to survive or thrive.” But, he said, “This is where I am raising my kids. I’m not leaving…I’m watching businesses go out of business. I feel other counties are doing a much better job of ensuring their cannabis businesses’ futures.”

But, he said, “I’m cautiously optimistic for Humboldt’s future.”

*Note: Green Road Consulting is an advertiser.

 

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For Real
Guest
For Real
5 years ago

Some nasty indoor hydro weed that sucks more electricity than a fucking NFL stadium. Good luck dude!

hmm
Guest
hmm
5 years ago
Reply to  For Real

We have a natural gas power plant. They are very clean. The carbon footprint of indoor is much lower than outdoor typically, even more so when no soil is transported.

some peoples children
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

that isnt true

Joe Dirt
Guest
Joe Dirt
5 years ago

Restoring Peace and Freedom
For the healing of the Nations
No permit required
The inalienable right to smoke and grow marijuana
For religious and spiritual practices for ceremonial and as a sacrament
For medical and social well-being in a Time that we need to work in unity and provide a stable environment
For everyone and all living things I believe that aa 30 plant maximum for those who are caregivers
And keeping a promise that was made for Mom and Pops is crucial
for the coming times of economic uncertainty
and the transition off of fossil fuels
Learning how to live on sacred ground
The sharing of food
And marijuana

Well help the coming times
Working and playing together
And developing the future

itsthebearj
Guest
itsthebearj
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Dirt

ruining the world, one regulation at a time! Thanks guys!

reminds me of the geo-engineering to “stop” climate change.

Swine
Guest
Swine
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Come on dude…

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  For Real

Great job Mark! Looks good, can’t wait to try your product. I’ll look for it at the local dispensaries. Don’t mind the crazy haters on here, they have serious mental issues & greatly enjoy being derogatory hateful bigots. Help our local economy & hire local employees, women etc.

Herc
Guest
Herc
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

You simply cannot cultivate cannabis in Rockwell without synthetic fertilizer that are full of salts. ….where in nature do you see cannabis growing in water?!?… even if you flush properly…there’s still a nasty taste that is harsh to inhale….true cannabis connoisseurs will stay FAR away from this…

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
5 years ago
Reply to  Herc

It’s when food or medicine becomes commodities. We all suffer from the corporate model. What people fail to see, is that most of your our lives depend on commerce from all over the world. Shut off your gas, power, and water, and talk your wife about using a chamber pot and growing, raising, everything you need to survive, and you’ll know just how far from the garden you’ve we’ve strayed.

So much soil is depleted, and the air, and water is full of things people can’t pronounce.

We are the world’s filters….and the slaves on the corporate government farm.

Sharpen your pencil
Guest
Sharpen your pencil
5 years ago
Reply to  Herc

Yeah, because you are smoking that plant hermed out growing naturally…. If you know what you are doing everything you said is false. Obviously you are behind the curve!

Skeptic
Guest
Skeptic
5 years ago
Reply to  For Real

Almost like you cannot read.

Russell
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Skeptic

Congradualtions Mark!
I’m Happy for you and hope you do well. I started growing indoor long ago. Now I’m just a small time outdoor grower praying that I get my annual. And along with that continue pay my employees well!
I use my indoor techniques outdoors with very little water use compared to others. Would love to try one of your strains outside:) emerald cup 2018 perrin
Best wishes!

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
5 years ago

Sweet. They can sell indoor on the black market unchecked for up to 2,000 a lb. congrats!

questions need answers
Guest
questions need answers
5 years ago

Will the effluent discharges from this indoor grow be treated before it hits our municipalities and watersheds? The nitrification issues may be problematic if not treated.

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
5 years ago

That’s what I wondered; what happens to the runoff water? He says no fertilizer, I call BS. Also, solar power in Arcata?

WOW
Guest
WOW
5 years ago

Hey Mark your quote that “businesses go out of business. ” is crapola, you know why? It is because prop 64 came only on board 14 months ago and if businesses are folding in that time period, then they have a crappy business plan, 1,3,5,10 year outlook and need to be weeded out. However, what I hear from you is that businesses thrived in the black market and once the regulator light came on board, these business that thrived with minimal or no taxation, regulations, oversight are not doing well. Sound about right?

Starting a business is rolling up your sleeves, working 50-60 hrs a week for years, missing important dates in order to create a long-term viable plan for your family, employees, and community. You should not be folding in 8-14 months unless you are doing it wrong, OR the financial loophole you reaped and benefited from, got closed. Sorry, Costa Rica is likely crying for you, but those of us who have successful non-cannabis business in the area are not shedding a tear…. welcome to the real world my friend.

WOW
Guest
WOW
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

I agree on this point Kym, but will add that if you built your business off the model that you are fully [that you will fold without] supported by industry from the black market, then you too will fold. However, if you build your model with the price points and availability for non-cannabis and cannabis industry community members, you will survive. Nothing different from the rape of natural resources by timber companies or the vast amount of wealth that industry brought to selected community members working in the timber industry. When environmental regulations to protect natural resources prohibited the pillage of lands, many businesses folded due to the drop of expendable funds. However many businesses survived due to a realistic business model. Our community now needs to embrace a business model where we strive to create a business that is fully supported by a non-black market or illegal use of the resources industry funding source.

WOW
Guest
WOW
5 years ago
Reply to  WOW

Again, I am stating those non-cannabis businesses that are folding that are not doing well post prop 64. If they are folding after 14 months, well they were not adaptive, kinetic and were diversifying their market base or their price points.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
5 years ago
Reply to  WOW

dont know hmwhat you think growing consitists of, but 50 hour weeks hell even 60 hour weeks sounds like a vacation in my book. as for missing important dates ? the only important dates….. yeah …. those i used to know what those were half the time you dont even realise what day og the week it is untill you have to run into town.

Economist
Guest
Economist
5 years ago
Reply to  WOW

Wow, you sound like MY eighth graders. Blissfully clueless. It is cute, though. But, when you get home from school today ask your Dad about his thoughts on the local economy, and listen, because one day you too are going to have to make it on your own. Good luck Wow

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

It’s happening all over humboldt. White market money will not be spent here, Sadly enough. The system was designed to fail and kill humboldt, it’s working great!

Swine
Guest
Swine
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

What in garberville has shut down that isnt aome frivolous money cleanrr?

Swine
Guest
Swine
5 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Yes king range is gone but kids dont read books much and if those older folks and it is a loss but not the end of thebworld. I got to agree i guess that no music store amd no bool store are not juat a sign of economic thinga but also social things. Maybe theyll come back.. Maybe if josh sweet lowers some rent before he owns all of garberville some decent mom and pop biz could show up… Now we got a cig store. Nice.

Muddy Black Dodge
Guest
Muddy Black Dodge
5 years ago
Reply to  WOW

“Wow” you literally have no idea what you are talking about. [edit]

Sheesh
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  WOW

Seems like he’s just an entrepreneur following in the footsteps of Joseph Kennedy. It’s way more risky to run an outlaw buisness than a square one. Congratulations mark!!

Jayne
Guest
Jayne
5 years ago

Indoor grown pot sucks!

hmm
Guest
hmm
5 years ago
Reply to  Jayne

It is simply the very best quality there is.

BonnieBlue
Guest
BonnieBlue
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Each to their own…I prefer high quality organic sun grown buds and products. I do believe it’s a matter of individual taste, opinion and choice.

bearj
Guest
bearj
5 years ago
Reply to  BonnieBlue

indoor is wasteful, outdoor is conducive to back to the land mom and pop… which do you think wins?

Big Bang
Guest
5 years ago

Welcome to the beginning of the end of the ” Great Medicine Shit Show”, and good riddance! Now we can quit calling it cannabis, and go back to calling weed, what it really is…

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Bang

Cannibis is for medical patients. Weed and marijuana is for dipsticks who want to buy it in a “safe location” for overinflated prices so they can legally smoke it behind closed doors

Sparkelmahn
Guest
Sparkelmahn
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMP

Missed this extremely accurate comment first time through. Not everyone talks outta their behind.

Hope for a better future in humboldt
Guest
Hope for a better future in humboldt
5 years ago

Yes kym most definitely been doing my own question slipping at everywhere I go most buissnesses are scared to death to see where they’ll be next year at this time.And evan scareder of 2 years from now.prop 64 is shutting down the economy on the north coast.not to mention the people are running elsewhere as fast as they can.evan knowing a couple who have baught elsewhere probably knowing they’ll lose there place here just too run from the funky,grotesque political scene.when o passed they knew our supervisors would use the money to finish this county off which will KILL our economy! !!!!

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago

~the error is to apply mathematical plus-and-minus values to nature, resulting in the separation of mind and body or spirit and matter, into unrelated oppositional domains.

Hope for a better future in humboldt
Guest
Hope for a better future in humboldt
5 years ago

Long live the hill folk of humboldt, and may the revenue machine pigs be voted out of office! !!!!!

Ronaldo
Guest
Ronaldo
5 years ago

Oops, I mean now !

C'mon 2020 elections.C'mon justice
Guest
C'mon 2020 elections.C'mon justice
5 years ago

Only rich people can grow weed now what a sham on the voters!!! Remember this on election day folks! !!!

How it works
Guest
How it works
5 years ago

It was the voters of Prop. 64 that voted this in, not your elected officials. Are you going to run a new CA voter initiative to “fix this problem” because that’s how it would be done.

Ronaldo
Guest
Ronaldo
5 years ago

I don’t live in USA any longer but I bet I can find you !

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
5 years ago

🕯🖖

Pilgrim Son
Guest
Pilgrim Son
5 years ago

The criminal “hill folk” can pass into hippie legend. Good riddance. The cowardly cannabiz punks too afraid to give their last names and fronted by “consultants” can go back to L.A. or Sacramento. Weed = crime. Heroin users plague our streets and tweakers steal all day long from local businesses. Crime = crime. Thanks for the destruction of society via drugs.

bearj
Guest
bearj
5 years ago
Reply to  Pilgrim Son

man pilgrim son you are so ignorant its actually scary.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago

There is no substitute for the Sun and the Moon.

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Yeah, but many people eat Corporate crap food. Since most people don’t have the luxury of a close farm. Our water, air, land is filled with the by product of industrial pollutants. Check into a fella by the name of Charles Ostman. He did an interview years ago with John b Wells. He talked about the future of clean food was going to be hydro/aquaponic. His perspective, was the need for a non polluted environment. Scary thought.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  Sid Vicious

I’ve heard the hydroponic gospel. I think it’s BS. The Earth will remediate herself. Micronutrients, mycorrhiza, the nature of Earth can not be substituted on a sustainable scale.

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

I’m no PhD and I don’t travel the world talking about food sustainability like Charles Ostman. I like my food grown by farmers who aren’t using industrial chemicals to produce good from dead soil. Thumbs up for the mushroom people’s. We are an unsustainable culture, I hope our children’s children will know the difference between food and a product. They’ll be fighting immune system breakdown because of the petrochemical push to modify what shouldn’t be modified. We just can’t help ourselves.

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

I agree, especially if aquaponics are incorporated wherever possible too.

mendo gramma
Guest
mendo gramma
5 years ago

I weep for those poor plants. Never to see the sun or moon. Or to feel the rain, or feel the wind. Like caged zoo animals. Energy sucking enterprise. Hopefully first one in will be first one out.

product of the sun
Guest
product of the sun
5 years ago
Reply to  mendo gramma

This is the most truthful, real and honest comment on this thread. Thank you mendo Grandma!

That Guy
Guest
That Guy
5 years ago

Indoor reap the harvest…

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
5 years ago

That he won’t give his name suggests that he’s shady.

Who’s in a legal occupation that won’t admit what they do? This business has zero credibility in my eyes. News flash Mark: No one believes you’re a carpenter.

A word to the wise: If you don’t grow your own at least get your weed from someone who’s proud to grow it.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago

Government intervention initiates unintended consequences, which sows the seeds for more government intervention.

The hamptser wheel of permit$ and work$hop$ and interim permit$ and more work$hop$ and licen$e$ and more work$hop$ . . .

onrust
Guest
onrust
5 years ago
Reply to  Central HumCo

It’s a system that keeps the bureaucrats working, one of it’s intended consequences. Chaos ensues at the beginning and ending of virtually any new process. Most of us do not know which we are in. Look around at the chaos of the world right now. The only way is to keep playing and dancing on the thin ice.

Anon
Guest
Anon
5 years ago

Co2 offset solar buy in program ?

Sounds like weird pollution credits from dirty countries who have to cough up cash, when they cough up soot.

C'mon 2020 elections.C'mon justice
Guest
C'mon 2020 elections.C'mon justice
5 years ago

REMEMBER THE PERMIT PROGRAM IS ALL FOR THE ENVIRONMENT! !!! bbbblllllaaaa hhhaaaaa hhhhhaaaa.

Farce
Guest
Farce
5 years ago

Here is his Pineapple Sage listed as being a strain grown under Emerald Family Farms. I would not want to publicly disclose that I was involved with that shady group of scammers either!…https://herbanplanet.com/marijuana-grow-facilities/emerald-family-farms.html

Swine
Guest
Swine
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Haters… Dont a be jelous.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

EFF is scientific proof that “d!ck riding” is a real. How many people claimed them and road that publicity, only to get crapped on by them? LOL! Got to hand it to them though, they grew tons of weed using others peoples 215 without compensation, made the growers feel like they were part of the family and EFF would sell their product, only for EFF to grow all of their own and not sell anybody else product.

Swine
Guest
Swine
5 years ago
Reply to  Perspective

Not true buddy.. Maybe your weed couldnt sell cuz it tested bad…

Small Fry
Guest
Small Fry
5 years ago

Hmm…. I personally, a not a huge fan of the indoor.. I think right now, there is a demand for it. I think when conventional AG starts to really kick in, Indoor May be a thing of the past… I am confident that professional Ag companies will soon be pumping out massive amounts of “indoor quality” hybrid greenhouse for “outdoor” or less prices, because it takes far less electricity and expense to grow. This is probably the Bain of all the small farms here in the triangle…On one point, it’s a smaller grow, I think that amount of canopy is reasonable..
However, indoor.. cleaner?? I think that’s a myth.. Mites are unavoidable indoor, and extremely hard to deal with without very toxic chemies..
I would say, that I have concerns of run off as well.. as even organic hydronic solutions are extremely loaded with nutrients, and salts…
Growing hydroponic Organically is a challenge for certain. Personally, I don’t like hydroponic because of the accumulation of heavy metals in the product. Particularly Cadmium which tends to accumulate in trichomes heads… One has to be very very conscious when dealing with this indoor, especially hydro, because there isn’t a soil buffer..
And the last thing I really dislike about Indoor, besides the absence of natural cycles… is the nasty rock wool cubes.. Oaisis are better..but man.. those suckers never break down… you can’t even burn them.. they are horrible horrible little things..
The county wants to give hill folk so much crap over “perilite” in soil, then allow massive use of “rock wool” that stuff should only be used for what it was designed for… Insulation..lol..
But one thing is for certain, personally I would rather raise kids and live in the triangle then be where most of those big green houses will be set up.. that’s for certain.. At least the canopy imprint is fairly reasonable.. Just my take..

hmm
Guest
hmm
5 years ago
Reply to  Small Fry

Mites are absolutely not unavoidable indoor. That’s pure ignorance. They are much easier to control and prevent indoors.

Small Fry
Guest
Small Fry
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Mites are definitely not unavoidable “indoor”.. those little plant vamps. are borderline microscopic… the will infiltrate even the best designed filtration..
and many indoor growers resort to the conventient way of killing them.. massive nasty chemies. This indoor is small enough, it may be able to naturally deal with and control it’s mites… but.. it is no less a concern, at least it would be for me..

JB
Guest
JB
5 years ago
Reply to  Small Fry

I have no idea why people complain about rock wool never breaking down. Why would it … it’s literally ROCK. Same with LECA (expanded clay pebbles), lava rock, etc. Clay, sand, rocks etc. only decompose on geological time.

We don’t see a load of gravel or bricks or concrete going to the landfill and whine “…but it never breaks down”. We’ve no need for it to break down.

hmm
Guest
hmm
5 years ago
Reply to  Small Fry

Run off is easier to avoid indoor and can be treated by our water system, unlike outdoor.

I have degrees in both botany and biology, with an ecology emphasis. What makes you think that hydroponics are in any way inherently more prone to buildup of heavy metals?

Perlite has an incredible carbon footprint and it’s nearly impossible to separate from native soils once they are contaminated with it. where is even the worst of hydroponic mediums like rockwool are easily kept separate from the environment.

Mini hydroponic systems use neither Rockwell or Oasis. Instead that use neoprene plugs. But there are also alternative mediums.

Small Fry
Guest
Small Fry
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Hmm.. seriously if I have to breakdown for you why heavy metals are more readily absorbed in Hydroponics.. you might want to consider going back and getting a refund for those “fancy degrees” your claiming… lol…
First of all.. Phosphates are mined from the earth, when they are mined there are generally two types, the colloidal clay, or “soft rock phosphate” on the top and the hard rock phos on the bottom.. When the hard rock, is processed into “nutrient” solution with phosfuric acids, it also breaks down the heavy metals contained in the rock. The phos. Acid, also then makes these heavy metals highly absorbable to the plant.. Cannabis has a tendency to store.. one of the worst of them, Cadmium, among others, (some actually may be raidioactive) in the tricolm heads. This is very bad. Directly Inhailed into the lungs is really bad..
With hydroponic, there are very few natural buffers from soil components to protect the plant from directly absorbing all these heavy metals…

Small Fry
Guest
Small Fry
5 years ago
Reply to  Small Fry

I am sure ‘Rockwool’ has just as much as a ‘carbon impact’ as it is also a ‘mined’ product. Also, when concrete goes to the dump, it is often recycled and reused as fill.. much different scenario… perlite will break down into its natural environment.. and much faster than Rockwool.. Rock wool.. is not ‘easily separated’ from the environment, it’s akin to aspestos. With fiberours strands that will never ever break down.. But, there are alternatives.. that is certainly true..
Personally, I stoped using perlite, anyway I would rather use rice hauls, or pumice, and bio char anyway..
And hydroponic.. it can not really be considered “runoff” really… more like waste water.. because the solution is very concentrated and then filled with salts after many re uses.. and will still have an impact, because it is extremely nutrient rich, an often with un biodegradable phosphate which persist in the environment.. Why do you think laundry detergent stoped using it? Because even with “treatment” it is still persistent in the environment.. and hydro concentrates this..even if it is run thru “treatments, or minicipalities”… without soil bacteria’s to natural break this down.. it’s definitely has an impact.. to any manicipality..

Hoping 4 Ur Success
Guest
Hoping 4 Ur Success
5 years ago

I support any legal grower that stomps out black market growers.

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago

I like it!

Outdoor has less long term impacts on our environments. No doubt Mark knows that.

But I think there are obviously arguments for indoor being “cleaner” regarding dust especially, among other things.

Congratulations Mark. Whatever business you run, it’s true that high turnover is bad for many reasons.

As long as its testing clean Id try this Humboldt first. Please send me a sample ASAP!

hmm
Guest
hmm
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Outdoor had far more long term environmental impact. Light and noise pollution, forest fragmentation, increased carbon footprint due to transportation of materials. Possible runoff. Possible over spray of pesticides and fertilizers. Increased need for pest control due to lack of environmental controls.

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

I disagree.

You don’t need lights. Ever. Proper farmers can cover GH light with Black if GH light is used.

What noise? Compared to?

Less materials, less footprint.

Never runoff in proper irrigating and water retention, watering.

If your basing your models on smartpots filled with 40% perlite and clones vegged since Feb. than you havnt seen farming and your models stink.

Environmental controls make habitats for bugs and molds constant. Outdoor fluctuations in temperatures, weather, adaptations of plants generally create a need for less pest control because the habitat for pests is not perfect 24/7.

Simple.

But again, I’m happy for this indoor farm.

Life is Good
Guest
Life is Good
5 years ago

What’s Rex and Estelle’s cut?

(The last) Littlefish
Guest
(The last) Littlefish
5 years ago

Anybody remember that time the toughest scalmon creek dudes shut down that guy playing at the school? Name of the song they flipped out on is “Diesel, go home”. The more things change,….

local skeptic thru observation
Guest
local skeptic thru observation
5 years ago

The magic of Humboldt has now been officially dispelled.

I don’t blame “Mike” personally. Really.

Those of us who know – who spent the last 30+ years experimenting, learning, trying, RISKING OUR VERY LIVELIHOODS AND OUR VERY LIVES acquiring knowledge and learning how to do what these “new” folks are “profiting” on – we know better.

Good luck to the “Mikes” out there – you’re gonna need it. REALLY.

You are SO MANY YEARS TOO LATE. I hope you like Estelle and Rex, because they are about to latch on to your jugular and suck you dry.

Come back a year from now and say I was wrong.

Hope for a better future in humboldt
Guest
Hope for a better future in humboldt
5 years ago

Mike’s gonna get milked for sure !!!! :lol.

Mdg
Guest
Mdg
5 years ago

I’m not sure if there is any business advantage to growing indoor in humboldt, but of course we welcome Mark to give it a try.
I’m much more confident we could make an exclusive brand for ourselves with top notch outdoor, which is something we can focus on here.
But anyone who tries to sell indoor as more ‘environmentally friendly’ is blowing smoke up your arse. And he said he doesn’t use fertilizer? Just pure water huh? That’s definitely not true. Giving extra money to pge to develop their solar infrastructure, you might as well be throwing money into their pocket. I understand it’s required, but anyone who knows how business’ work knows that this program, just like carbon offsets, only serve to allay the guilt of the consumer while making people rich.
What about pesticides? It’s very hard/impossible to grow indoor without pesticides. I know the baddys are supposedly banned but what’s the workaround?
Point is, the bullshit runs deep.

Billy Casomorphin
Guest
Billy Casomorphin
5 years ago

Growing marijuana, using the least cost-effective methods, in a location far from the market seems unsustainable.

It is laudable that this company has navigated the regulatory process to the point where it can have a go at profitability, but, market forces and overproduction from the Canadian Border to San Diego, and East to Utah and Arizona, appears to make this idea a non starter.

I hope that all applicable employment law and taxes will be addressed! Also, packaging, transportation, labling and testing, etc. Good luck! Thinking about all these laws gives me a headache!

With legal marijuana now in mass production, everywhere, it will be interesting to see which companies and products survive a 5 year experiment…

Meanwhile, I encourage everyone to grow their 6 plants, just because you can! Enjoy!

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
5 years ago

With your logic, smart cities are the best way to control the market to consumer relationship. Living hundreds of miles from distribution channels, extra cost should be passed on to the consumer because how far goods must travel to get here.

Swine
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Swine
5 years ago

Most folks who work in the industry wont buy weed from stores. The underground market thrives

Legaleyez
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Legaleyez
5 years ago

Everyone can argue on here if indoor is better or outdoor
Fact is nobody’s paying more furcoutdoor. Nobody ever has. Unless they were humboldt hustled. “ yeah it’s indoor” lol

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago

“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.” Cree Indian prophecy.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago

It’s the old Order out of Chaos application.

Order Out Of Chaos: The Doctrine That Runs The World
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-15/order-out-chaos-doctrine-runs-world

Sparkelmahn
Guest
Sparkelmahn
5 years ago

“The consumer’s number one flower choice would be indoor…”

No artificial light can replace the sun, and no artificial environment can replace that of the Emerald Triangle.

Cool but...
Guest
Cool but...
5 years ago

I have no qualms with this grower or his scene. However, a tangent subject and an aspect of “legalization” that needs to go away but won’t, is corporate commercial bullshitting around methodology. For example, this article says this grow is “100% solar”. Cough bullshit cough. What a crock that too many companies get away with. Should be illegal to promote like that. Two football fields covered with solar panels couldn’t keep all the lights in those photos running for more than a few seconds at a time, let alone 12 hours a day. The language around “carbon offsets” etc. is beyond misleading, it’s feel good bullshit that allows more industry to pollute more and consume more energy. It’s as ass backwards as it gets, to pretend that increasing resource consumption can be “offset” to begin with, and subsidizing alternatives in addition to new consumption doesn’t negate either. More power to the people, grow your own, sell it on the cheap to friends and neighbors, free the weed!

Sid Vicious
Guest
Sid Vicious
5 years ago
Reply to  Cool but...

Tell me more about this feel good bullshit

Future
Guest
Future
5 years ago

How can You compete with Farms that will switch over from crops profiting $100 per acre to Cannabis at $10000 per acre at $50 lb.

Farce
Guest
Farce
5 years ago

Hmm…According to Mark himself he came here 25 years ago. So that means…1994. Then he claims “We came in on the back-to-the-lander movement,” explained Mark. “We took it indoors when things were scary–…”. I’m calling BULLSHIT. I came here in 1981 and although I would like to believe it was “back-to the lander” times that phase was pretty much over already. I emulated the older hippies but by ’81 that trip had dwindled and I shouldn’t claim it. He talks about having to deal with “when things got scary” like he was also an active resister to CAMP days. These guys always want to claim the romantic and nostalgic days of yore so they can push how truly “legitimate Humboldt” they are and I for one am friggin’ sick of it. Dude- you are pretty much the early wave of greenrusher, the wave that rolled off of Grateful Dead tour and came here specifically to blow up scenes for cash, maybe with a small veggie garden thrown in. Back-to-the-land?! You’re growing indoors!! Please just stop blowing smoke up everybody’s ass. I know- it’s called “marketing” and “establishing a brand”. That is Emerald Scamily’s big lie. Wrap it up in all the code words that steal the popular parts of the Humboldt mystique and then sell it off to foreign investors and most people won’t even notice your game. But some of us really do notice and we know what you’re doing. It’s bullshit. And you know it. Or have you deluded yourselves while creating and affirming each others’ bullshit credentials? ps.- When you are selling product off the books (outside of track-n-trace) you might not want to advertise so loudly and swagger so publicly. All that crap about “good players” and “dirty black-market criminals” is just government propaganda and the off-sales endemic to the permitted scenes are about to “come into the light”. It will be funny.

Bob
Guest
Bob
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Agreed. I was going to post remarks to the same effect. Trying to acquire “street cred” for something that was over long before he showed up.

F your indoor
Guest
F your indoor
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Yeah, back-to-the-lander my ass. More like straight off of Dead tour, or right outta Ohio chasing the green $$. Do illegal trade for decades and then benefit from your black market experience…welcome to Humboldt. Indoor is grown for love of money, not love of the plant nor farming.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago

At least he isn’t claiming his rock wool, salt grown weed is “craft”.

Duh
Guest
Duh
5 years ago

All you have to do is look up his LLC on the California Secretary of State business search to see his name and address.

reality
Guest
reality
5 years ago

There are 123 power plants running so liberals can use heat/ac in the cities, type about global warming on their phones, watch YouTube videos about global warming…How many power plants are running so we can grow weed indoors so we can get high and forget about the harm running all of those power plants are causing?

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  reality

You’ve never been outside of the coast?

Redding, Anderson, Red Bluff.

All red cities.

All use A.C.

Just to name 3 out of 3 thousand.

I mean, I shouldn’t even waste my time saying it, but you’re either joking or?

No Names Needed for Truth
Guest
No Names Needed for Truth
5 years ago

Too bad he likely had to pay his con artist of a “engineer” to get him that permit likely 10’s of thousands of dollars for work product looks like a high school student put it together. Don’t let labels fool you. A license doesn’t make you a professional.

Highly dissatisfied with work product, their ethics, and how they treat their staff. This company “Greed Road” is the word on the streets is highly unprofessional and should be reported to every agency.

It is funny how time unveils all truth. I’ve heard this same thing about other shady “consulting/engineering” companies and it’s just a matter of time for their reputations to supercede themselves.

No Names Needed for Truth
Guest
No Names Needed for Truth
5 years ago

It’s also really cute that he’s got his name plastered on this as an advertiser, so he has the ability to get name recognition in this article.

Kym, I thought you didn’t advertise local businesses in your editorials? When did that change? And since when did you start advertising local scam artists? Just saying.

I guess for the right price anyone can get their name put up.

No Names Needed for Truth
Guest
No Names Needed for Truth
5 years ago

Oh and liars too.

There was already an indoor facility permitted in Humboldt (at least one), so you aren’t as special as they told you.

Sorry Mark, but congrats. Might work with different professionals in the future. It wouldn’t have taken as long perhaps.