Medical Cannabis

Summit Medical - Growing Cannabis in Rhode Island

With only 3 retail outlets and 75 growers, the competition is very high.

The Rhode Island state is experiencing a very peculiar situation, at the time of this publication. In the whole state, there are only 3 retail outlets, and 75 growers. Therefore, the competition is very high, and only those growers that can achieve high quality with consistency can participate in the game. Mike Pendleton is one of those growers that put consistent quality and patient safety at first place. He is an assistant cultivation manager with Summit Medical Compassion Centre, a medical cannabis cultivator and supplier based in the state of Rhode Island, and he has been active in the cannabis industry for more than 10 years. According to him, one of the ingredients for consistent and healthy production is the high availability of oxygen to the root zone, achieved through O2 Grow solutions.

Summit Medical Cannabis - Mike Pendelton (right)
Dr. John Pierce and Mike Pendleton

“We are a fully vertically integrated cannabis supplier for the state of Rhode Island. The situation is very competitive here: there are only 3 retail outlets, and each of them has their own grow. And then, there are 75 growers that have to sell to other retailers.”

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The benefits of oxygen availability

Mike is very much aware of the importance of oxygen for the root zone: “Cannabis roots love oxygen more than other plants,” he says. “This also explains the success of fabric pots instead of plastic pots within the cannabis industry, as the former afford a better air circulation and more oxygen to the root zone, thus stimulating the plant growth.”

According to Mike, providing high oxygen levels to the root zone allows plants to grow better and healthier. “This is extremely important as we want to produce the highest quality possible. Without providing enough oxygen to the cannabis plant, it will not thrive thus unlocking its full potential.”

Better nutrients uptake

O2 Grow solutions are particularly suitable for achieving the quality Mike aims for. According to him, there are many benefits to it. “The biggest thing I noticed is that O2 Grow, thanks to the higher oxygen availability, also allows for a higher availability of all the nutrients we are mixing in the solutions: the uptake happens a lot faster, that is,” he says. “Once I started using the proper oxygen levels, I was able to back off my liquid nutrients by a 50% more, and I have picked up maybe 25% in production, in both quantity and quality aspects.”

O2 Grow solutions make use of bubble technology. According to Mike, many researches have been conducted on the topic, illustrating the benefits of such technology. “A lot of universities did researches on bubble technology in general,” he remarks. “Nanobubble technology is very interesting and more agricultural people should be aware of the benefits this brings to large scale operations,” he concludes.