Deep Roots Harvest dispensary celebrates 4/20

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

With 4/20 come and gone, Deep Roots in Mesquite celebrated with an open tour for the media showing the company’s innovative process as a standard for the cannabis industry.
“It is all about the quality of the product,” Senior Director of Cultivation Chris OFerrell said.

The tour began with the flowering rooms. This is where the process begins. The plants are divided up to two strains per room with pairings done according to whether the strains are able to be grown together.

“We have implemented top technological advances to help be more energy efficient and more top product in quicker time and less expense,” OFerrell said.

The spectrum of how far the science of cannabis production has come is constantly evolving, he explained. To keep up with the constant change Deep Roots has recently completed a $3 million investment and upgrades at its Mesquite facility.

OFerrell said the whole project began in early 2023 with full completion expected later this month. The process was divided into two phases and involved a huge overhaul of the 25,000 square foot cultivation facility which opened in 2014.

This overhaul included 15,000 square feet of perpetual flower canopy and a 4,000 square foot two-tier vegetation and nursery, improving all stages of cultivation and post-harvest of the marijuana plants.
“The upgrades included all lighting fixtures,” OFerrell said. “This helps to help reduce energy use and cost, and helps efficiency of the process.”

Each flowering room now has more capacity than in the past with one room able to hold about 750 plants.

The company also added a new drying room to remove addedmoisture in plants and help avoid growth of microbials, keeping each product safe for consumption.

In addition, more space within the “mother room” and the “cure room” has been added to help with control of humidity and temperature to the plants.

The facility now has a total of nine flowering rooms, one recently added, which have helped add an additional five harvests per year, translating into millions of dollars in additional revenue per year.

More equipment was purchased to improve airflow through all cultivation rooms.
“We have also upgraded computer systems and programs to help with maximum crop optimization,” OFerrell said.

The cost of the product has been cut by one-third, he added.
The upgrades have helped in producing a more safe environment for the employees as well.
The quality has extended through each phase of the product including the distillery and the packaging departments.

The products with cannabis include creams, lotions, gummies, taffy candies, cartridges and more.
Every product is examined by employees who look at every single piece of candy, thickness of creams, and ensure top quality. This includes making sure each piece of 20,000 gummies per day is equally coated with sugar and is the right shape and size.

Even the creams and lotions are infused with natural ingredients such as rose cream that has real rose petals infused into it.
“We have to maintain that high quality of handling and processing,” packaging supervisor Cristy Andersen said. “Each product has a small sample from each batch sent for testing. It has to be approved before we release the product for sale.”

Andersen said that the batches are properly sealed and packaged and wait until they are approved by the state test.
“If for any reason a batch is not approved, it is immediately quarantined and properly disposed of,” she said.

The packaging and labeling of each product is personally examined by employees to ensure proper sealing and consumer safety.
“These improvements are to help keep our product in price down and to make sure we maintain a high reputation in the industry,” OFerrell said.
“It is really all about quality,” Andersen said.

For more information about Deep Roots and its multimillion dollar upgrades project, visit their website at www.deeprootsharvest.com.