In the Ozark mountains of Missouri is one of the biggest cannabis farms in the state: OG Yields. With a sealed glass roof hybrid greenhouse, as well as an indoor facility, they're combining natural sunlight and modern technology to produce high-quality cannabis. In their latest episode, CannaCribs got a tour of their facility.
Propagation
The tour starts with propagation. Ben Friedenberg, Director of Cultivation and Production, explains the important difference between the genotype and phenotype. "The genotype is the genetics, whereas the phenotype is how those genetics are expressed visually: branch angles, flower structure, etc. We take the approach of genotype before phenotype. Oftentimes, people breed and select things based on how the plant looks. We did that as well, but after we did our genotype work. We check everything early on, with the first leaf that comes out of the seedling, and we identify the seed population that has the genetic traits that we're looking for. Then, we go back through and phenotype that population."
The company currently has 26 cultivars in production, with another 15 for R&D purposes. "We do around 10,000 clones per week, and we have a short vegetation process of about 14 days," Ben says.
IPM
Nick Lovell, Veg Lead, explains how they are able to keep the plants healthy and clean. "The very first step is hygiene. Any staff who comes through the doors needs to wear a fresh, clean set of clothes and their shoes never leave the facility. Guests wear protective coats, shoe protectors, and gloves."
When it comes to IPM, OG Yields uses beneficial insects. "The bugs are a really safe, natural way for us to manage our IPM. We spray chemicals as few times as possible, and beneficial insects allow us to do that," Nick says. "Moreover, every morning, each of our growers gets an assigned area to look through their plants very thoroughly. We also de-fan and prune our canopies in a way that will reduce the possibility of pests becoming a problem."
Flower
With 15,000 square feet of canopy, there are a lot of plants to manage. Jake Notle, Flower Lead, explains that their hybrid greenhouse facility allows them to take detailed control over the environment while also getting to use natural sunlight. "We don't allow outside air in, for example. Everything is pumped in with our HVAC units so that it's all filtered and clean. Since the greenhouse is 100% sealed, we can also run CO2 in here."
In the last two weeks, the company does a flush where the nitrogen levels are dropped, and they do 7 days of just RO water. "That really pushes everything to its fullest potential."
For more information:
OG Yields 
www.ogyields.com
CannaCribs
www.cannacribs.org
A look inside one of Missouri's largest cannabis farms: