AT a tour Tuesday, July 23, of CannaSaipan’s 5,000 square foot indoor growing facility, General Manager Louis Rodgers emphasized the operation’s cleanliness and efficiency.
“I think what’s most important for CannaSaipan is that we want our customers to know that we’re rolling in a clean, pest-free, no pesticide environment,” he said. “The way that this has been built, we have significantly less of a risk of insect, pest, or mold problems inside this facility. This translates to a product that our customers can feel safe to consume, knowing that we’re not putting any foreign ingredients in there that can potentially cause them harm.”
Rodgers, CannaSaipan owner Connie Palacios, and their retail staff accompanied Variety during the tour.
Variety was shown multiple grow rooms that are fitted with systems that automatically control temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. The rooms also have automatic light controls and plumbing for irrigation.
CannaSaipan can grow thousands of plants at full capacity, although they are not doing so at this time.
In the grow room, there were 98 plants in the budding stage that are around four weeks away from harvest. The plant varieties are known as Candy Candy, Dirty Diana, Holy Smokes, and Catalina Wine Mixer.
The harvested buds will be dried and processed on site, then packed and moved to Garapan for retail sale.
In a separate room, CannaSaipan is growing Purple Haze, Grandaddy Purp, Durban Poison, Cake Bomb, and Moby Dick with the intent to clone them.
The facility has “extra thick” concrete walls to enable the cooling systems “to be able to function most efficiently,” Rodgers said, adding that it also protects the facility from typhoon damage.
The site has five water catchment tanks to deliver 43,000 gallons of water into the facility.
Rodgers said automation allows one person to handle day-to-day operation at the site. More staff can be included when it’s time to process or transport the cannabis.
Variety asked Rodgers how CannaSaipan can be successful given the CNMI’s current economic state.
He said the growing facility is versatile enough to survive.
Regarding their utility costs, Rodgers said it was a “comfortable number” for a facility of their size.
“I think Connie [Palacios] says it best: there are always options for what can be done with this building,” he said. “This is an indoor growing facility, so where can the future go with a place like this if the market shrivels — think about self-sustainment, think about having an indoor farm that is impervious to storms…. You can grow anything in here.”
These plants are a few weeks away from harvest, and will eventually be sold at the CannaSaipan store in Garapan.
Purple Crunch strain cannabis grows in a climate controlled green room at CannaSaipan’s indoor farm.
Connie Palacios owns CannaSaipan.
Louis Rodgers, general manager of CannaSaipan, looks at some of cannabis at the indoor farm.
In a separate room, these mother plants are being grown in order to create clones.
These commercial tanks are where CannaSaipan grow staff mix plant food to hydrate the cannabis.
Roger Renguul, CannaSaipan store supervisor, inspects some cannabis that he will eventually process by the time it is harvested and transported to the storefront.
