With one of the first new licenses in the state, Medici has been operating as a cultivator since January 2017. As a pioneer in the Rhode Island medical marijuana program, Medici is setting the standard for wholesale growers in product quality, sanitation and innovation. Medici is a small but ambitious company, owned by Chris Roy and John Rogue, with eight full-time employees.
On Innovation
One of the most groundbreaking features at the Medici center is its vertical grow racks. Cultivation centers have a large plant count limit, but are confined by the square footage of their license type. To solve this problem, Medici uses four-tiered vertical racks to house all of their plants in the vegetative stage of growing. Plants in this stage can be moved around frequently and do not require trellising, making them perfect for this type of storage system. Medici also recently installed a drip irrigation system in their flower room, which greatly reduces the risk of human error and drastically cuts back on labor. Watering and feeding a plant correctly during the flowering stage is crucial to its final development, and automated systems like this can provide more consistent results.
On Sustainability
Medici is always looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Currently they are trialing a flower room with all LED lights, which use far less electricity than traditional HID lights and produce less heat. This means you need less air conditioning to keep your grow at optimal temperatures. Electricity and climate control are two very expensive parts of growing cannabis, and consume considerable resources. Medici also recently switched their growing medium from a peat moss and perlite mixture to coconut husk fiber, or coir. Using coir is a far more sustainable option for sourcing growing medium as it is widely available, and coconut trees grow quickly compared to the minimum of 20 years that it takes to restore peat bogs after they have been mined.
On Sanitation
Sanitation is a major priority at Medici, and employees take extra steps to ensure that patients receive the cleanest products possible. These extra steps have allowed the grow room to completely avoid common issues like spider mites and powdery mildew, with daily scheduled cleaning and diligent plant health inspection.
On CBD
Medici is currently phenotyping several different high CBD strains. This means that a grower will plant a multitude of seeds of a strain (all of which will turn out differently) and then select and clone the best cuts. Medici hopes to find several keepers with differing ratios of CBD to THC. Providing CBD products to patients is essential in medical marijuana programs, and Medici hopes to inspire other cultivators to prioritize offering CBD varieties in addition to classic high THC strains.
On the Future
Medici has big plans, with a kitchen currently being built that will produce edibles, topicals and more. They hope to expand to concentrates at some point, and to be able to offer a full range of products to the compassion centers. In the meantime, keep an eye out for their high quality strains on your local dispensary shelves, including Akorn Snowbud, Animal Cookies, Girl Scout Cookies, Kushberry, SFV OG, Super Silver Haze, Cornbread, Cherry Diesel, Granddaddy Purps, Querkle and more!
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