The Recipe Behind the Flower: Facility Design, Crop Steering & Post-Harvest with Culture Farms | Ep 31
Send us Fan MailCultivation experience is valuable. Turning more than three decades of knowledge into repeatable systems that can support hundreds of lights, multiple rooms, and an entire team is something else entirely.That idea sits at the center of this episode of the GroShow Podcast, as the conversation explores how Culture Farms combines years of hands-on experience with a structured, modern approach to producing premium cannabis at scale.In this episode, Riley is joined by Kenny Woodward, COO and Director of Cultivation at Culture Farms, alongside Grodan Retail and Commercial Account Manager Andrew Wilmerding, for a conversation about facility design, crop steering, substrate selection, automation, post-harvest management, and the systems behind Culture Farms’ cultivation approach.Kenny shares how his cultivation journey began in Texas before eventually bringing him to Oregon, where he became part of the state’s early medical cannabis community. After years of working across different facilities and production models, he joined Culture Farms and helped develop the operation into a roughly 750-light facility with three nurseries and nine flowering rooms.The discussion covers centralized nutrient mixing, workflow automation, room resets, plant spacing, canopy density, drybacks, root zone monitoring, substrate sizing, and irrigation strategy. Kenny also explains how Culture Farms evaluates growing media configurations based on vegetative time, plant size, room layout, and cultivar requirements.Repeatability is a major focus throughout the episode. Drawing from his experience working in fine dining, Kenny explains how preparation, timing, teamwork, and attention to detail can reduce mistakes and keep production moving consistently. Shared cultivation calendars, dedicated fill stations, and standardized workflows help the team stay organized and understand what needs to happen each day.Kenny and Andrew also discuss Culture Farms’ transition to Grodan Improved stone wool and how accurate root zone data has helped Kenny evaluate irrigation timing and dryback strategies with greater confidence. Rather than treating technology as a replacement for grower experience, he uses data alongside plant observation and decades of practical knowledge to refine his approach.The conversation also explores harvest scheduling, sanitation, drying and curing, bag appeal, cultivar selection, and Kenny’s comparison between cannabis cultivation and fine dining, where quality ingredients are only the starting point and the final result depends on execution.For cultivators interested in facility design, crop steering, root zone management, workflow automation, and post-harvest strategy, this episode offers a practical look inside Culture Farms’ approach to premium cannabis production.
