FITCHBURG — As organic and earth-friendly products continue to enter the marketplace, the city-based Local Roots aims to bring this mindset to the state’s cannabis industry.
“In a nutshell, we’re just attempting to replicate what mother nature is doing right outside,” said Kelsey Brach, director of cultivation at Local Roots.
Local Roots, which has dispensary locations in Fitchburg, Sturbridge and Marlborough, grows its cannabis locally and in-house, with the goal of providing a more organic and sustainable cannabis product than other cultivators. The operation is split between two cultivation centers, in Framingham and Barre, totaling 42,500 square feet in growing space.
Brach said significant work goes into ensuring that both the plant and the soil housing it are of the highest quality.
“We take the mindset that we’re feeding the soil, not the plant,” she said.
Local Roots employs several methods to enrich its soil, including dry amendments (material added to soil to improve its physical properties), composting and earthworm castings. Brach said these things help create a suitable ecosystem for the cannabis plant, noting that growing this way is often cheaper for them than using standard cultivation methods.
“It really loops in with our aim to make that cleanest, most natural product the consumer can get their hands on,” Brach said.
For Local Roots’ cultivation process, it takes about a month for the cannabis plant to begin flowering from the first planting. Branch said the plants usually flower for around nine weeks, sometimes longer depending on the plant’s needs.
“I’ll go in and look at the trichomes (sticky, hair-like appendages) and see what (the plant) is doing. And if a strain needs a longer time or shorter time, we harvest based on what the plant is telling us.”
Brach said one of the things Local Roots does to help with sustainability other cultivators don’t do is reuse the soil media rather than replacing it with every new plant.
“Our pots will stay put,” she said. “We fill them up one time, and they’ll stay there for eternity. We’ll keep building them up, and after a plant gets cut down to harvest, we plant right back into that pot.”
Additionally, Local Roots use cover crops that grow in the same pot as the marijuana. The cover crops provide numerous benefits to both the soil and the cannabis plant, according to Brach.
“They add green manure and fix nitrogen, so we don’t necessarily have to spend money on additional amendments or fertilizers,” she said. “Everything is housed in the soil pot, and it’s more of a buffet. The cover crops also house our beneficial insects and they help retain water.”
Several different kinds of cover crops are used, such as buckwheat, clovers and alfalfa.
“Sometimes we even grow some fun things, like tomatoes or peppers in there, too,” she said.
Brach said working closely with the plants and carefully crafting an organic and sustainable ecosystem is worthwhile for the business and enjoyable.
“It makes the end product have more of a soul to me,” she said. “Leaving work covered head to toe in soil really is rewarding to me and makes me feel connected to it all.”
Those interested in learning more about Local Roots can visit its website at localroots.cc
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