Roots and stems

This story appeared in the spring 2026 edition of Roots magazine, a collaborative agriculture publication by the Sandusky Register, Norwalk Reflector, Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune, Findlay Courier and Fostoria Review-Times. HURON — In Huron, "down on the farm" can mean a cluster of buildings and greenhouses in a business park that grows thousands of marijuana plants. Firelands Scientific maintains a cannabis growing and processing center at 2300 University Drive East, serving an industry that didn't exist until 10 years ago. Ohio legalized medical marijuana in 2016, and state voters approved recreational marijuana sales in a 2023 state question, with dispensary recreational sales beginning in August 2024. Firelands Scientific is a cannabis company that has a company headquarters in Westlake and which operates more than 13 dispensaries in Ohio and West Virginia, including one retail outlet at 2344 University Drive East in Huron, next to the company's growing and production center. The company has several hundred employees, with about 70 working in the Huron operation. At any one time, about 8,000 plants are being grown in various stages of age, with a crop harvested every week. Growing a cannabis plant takes about 12 weeks from start to finish. Typically, 40 to 50 different marijuana strains are being grown at the same time. The vast majority are not strictly sativa or indica plants but are hybrids. The plants that produce the final product are all female. Firelands has 84,000 square feet of growing space in Huron, with 24,000 square feet of cultivation space that was just added. Ohio marijuana growing operations are allowed up to 100,000 square feet of cultivation area. New strains are introduced all the time, with Firelands striving to find strains that are potent, provide a big yield and are pest-resistant. A brand new strain called Gruntz had just been started when reporters toured the operation. Competition is intense Efficiency and reducing costs are a big concern, as Firelands has plenty of competition, even though all marijuana legally sold in Ohio has to be grown in Ohio. Ohio currently has 37 places licensed by the state to grow cannabis. All must actively produce cannabis to retain a license. "To date, we have not had any cultivators go out of business," said James Crawford, a spokesman for Ohio's Division of Cannabis Control. Ohio dispensaries compete with each other on price and also compete with the black market. They also have to compete with dispensaries in Michigan, although Michigan state officials have helpfully imposed a new 24% wholesale tax on cannabis, making Ohio cannabis more competitive. The dispensaries also have to convince weed fans to buy at the store, rather than growing their own at home. Adults 21 and over in Ohio are allowed to grow six plants per person, with households capped at 12 plants. Ben Abourjeily, director of cultivation for Firelands Scientific, studied biology and plant soil science at the University of Kentucky. He contends that it would be difficult for inexperienced weed gardeners to match a commercial operation for quality. "It's hard to control your environment in your house," he said. Knowing how to dry and cure cannabis is also important, Sean Cifranic, the company's vice president for operations and research and development, said. At the same time, Firelands Scientific officials admit that serious amateurs can produce a good product. Some popular strains Many of the company's strains, often named by the breeders, have developed a following, Cifranic says. Northern Lights, a nationally-popular strain, is an indica plant. Salty Watermelon is a hybrid strain that Firelands is famous for, Cifranic said. Caddy Rainbows, a hybrid, is also popular, while Cifranic also likes Swamwater Fumez, a hybrid. Abourjeily also mentioned Salty Watermelon as a popular strain. Abourjeily said he particularly likes Lilac Diesel, another hybrid, and the GP-20 and Starbux strains. A new crop can begin in two ways. Some are clone cuttings, identical to the original plant, while others are grown from seeds. Plants are not usually grown from seeds unless the company is trying a new strain. Once the plants are harvested and dried — proper drying takes 11 days — the buds are trimmed and put in packages to be sold as flower. Other plants are processed into a variety of products in steps that often involve freezing the plants and extracting their potent oil. Workers at the Huron facility dress in medical scrubs to avoid contamination. Visitors who take a tour are asked to wear lab coats and a head covering and their shoes are also decontaminated. Nutrition from the sun Cifranic says the Huron facility stands out among competing Ohio weed farms because of Firelands Scientific's heavy use of sunlight in the growing process in the greenhouses. While Firelands Scientific does use LED lighting to grow the plants when skies are overcast, it uses sunlight as much as possible, he said. "We are the most committed to the greenhouse model," he said. Sunlight is best for providing the "nutritional balance" for the plants. "There is no replacement for sunlight," said Cifranic, who said plenty of sun helps the plants "fully express" their odors and hundreds of chemical compounds. The heavy reliance on sunlight also helps reduce the farm's carbon footprint, he said. Another "green" aspect of Huron's marijuana farm is that waste plant material that can't be converted into a final product goes into the local Barnes Nursery composting operation. In 2026 so far, 40 tons of waste had been recycled as compost, Abourjeily said. About 200 dispensaries As of mid-February, Ohio had 199 cannabis dispensaries, with more steadily added, and the Firelands Scientific weed farm supplies many of them with various marijuana products. By law, Ohio's dispensaries are capped at 400, so there's still plenty of room for more competition. Marijuana produced at the Huron weed farm is sold in Ohio dispensaries under a variety of names. The products include flower, sold in packages and meant to be smoked and pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes for smokers who don't want to roll their own joints. "We were the first operator to get approval for a preroll," Cifranic said. Marijuana is also converted into vapes and into a variety of edibles, such as flavored gummies. Consumers can also purchase concentrates. Historically, flower sales were dominant, but more recently, the balance of sales between plant material and processed goods has been much closer to 50/50, Cifranic said. Firelands Scientific products are sold not only in different categories but also as different brands. The brands The flagship Firelands Scientific brand offers a wide variety of products and is a holdover from the medical marijuana days. A newer brand, Hillfire, targets the recreational market and won a recent award as the fastest-growing brand. It is viewed as an everyday, mass market product, akin to Budweiser beer. There are also more niche brands, akin to the offerings from craft breweries. Heir is a vape brand touted as offering the "latest in vaporizer technology," while Test Lab Creations offers small batches using cutting-edge technology, such as solventless extraction. All of the products are tracked by a barcode and they are sent out to a third-party laboratory to be tested for potency and contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides and microbes. While the company's products are sold across Ohio in many dispensaries, not just the ones Firelands owns, Cincinnati is a key market where much of Ohio's cannabis is sold. It's a long drive from Michigan, always a plus for an Ohio dispensary, and also near Kentucky and Indiana, where marijuana can't be sold legally.