It was only in April of this year that one of the first cannabis operators in Colorado, Terrapin Care Station, sold its operations in the state. Cannabis revenue in Colorado has been declining, making it less attractive to large players such as Terrapin, which shut down its production lines and closed all six of its retail locations. Cannabis sales in Colorado reached just over $1.5 billion in 2023, a significantly lower figure than the $2.2 billion recorded in 2021. Terrapin's locations were subsequently acquired by Sun Theory, a company actively purchasing businesses in the state that are seeking opportunities elsewhere, and Terrapin was one such company.
"Terrapin Care Station has been a longtime leader in Colorado's cannabis industry, with a history of innovation and a commitment to customers and community that is legendary," Sun Theory CEO Connor Oman said. "This acquisition is a perfect complement to Sun Theory's existing portfolio, which is focused squarely on businesses driven to deliver next-generation products and the retail experiences cannabis consumers increasingly demand today."
After leaving Colorado, Terrapin shifted its focus to Pennsylvania, where the company obtained a medical license in 2017. Now solely focused on serving Pennsylvania patients, the question arises: how is the cannabis grower doing now? In a recently released video, we were given a tour of Terrapin's operation in the Commonwealth.
Terrapin Pennsylvania spans over 60,000 square feet, with an additional 90,000 square feet reserved for future expansion. On the cultivation side, the Terrapin PA garden features 50,000 square feet of grow space.
The facility's veg room houses 150 mother plants consisting of 50 different strains. Aeroponic cloners are used to propagate clones from the mother plants. The cloners fill the bunked LED-lit flood tables, which maximize the use of space by allowing more plants to grow in a smaller area. At full capacity, the veg room contains approximately 5,000 plants, including mother plants, clones, and veg plants.
In total, there are two large flower rooms at the Terrapin garden. Each room is divided into four sections, enabling the company to harvest on a weekly basis. Rolling flood tables are mounted on a track system, allowing them to be moved easily at any time. With 384 plants per round under 48 HPS lights, the company can achieve weekly harvests of over 200 pounds of usable product. There are more than 3,000 plants in the flower rooms. Once the product is harvested, the next step is the drying and curing process. After drying and curing, the harvest team trims only the best buds for flower sales, while the rest are sent to the lab to create concentrates and extracts.
The PA lab occupies approximately 5,600 square feet and is divided into five suites, each dedicated to specialized processes.
The final stage of the operation is packaging. Flowers are run through a bottling machine that weighs each unit to the hundredth of a gram, producing up to 30 bottles per minute on a conveyor belt. Each bottle receives a moisture pack to help control the flower's moisture content. After this step, the product moves to shipping. In the shipping department, the bottled whole flower is labeled with all the necessary information, sealed with tamper-evident shrink wrap, and packed for distribution.
For more information:
Terrapin Care Station
terrapincarestation.com