Late harvest means prime buds for Sonoma Valley cannabis growers

Like most crops this year, cannabis cultivation is a few weeks behind, but the wait may be worth it for a “remarkable” crop, Sonoma Valley grower Mike Benziger said.

Sonoma Valley cannabis farmers adjusted their farming practices throughout the summer to counter a cooler-than-normal growing season, and the suspense to harvest the crop lingers with the threat of wet weather on Monday.

“What we decided to do early on is we decided had to open the plants up and remove leaves, so that we can get more sunshine into the plants to be able to control, you know, any kind of disease pressure,“ Benziger said. “We probably pruned off about 25% of our crop back in July when we saw how far behind we were.”

Benziger cut the secondary and tertiary buds to fortify the remaining plants against disease, but the fruits of his labor are showing promise with his signature strain of La Bomba which is developing an especially flavorful profile this year.

While cannabis is farmed on less than 50 acres in Sonoma County, it remains one of its most lucrative crops, producing more than $122 million in gross value in 2021, according to the Sonoma County Department of Agriculture crop report.

At Benziger’s business, Glentucky Family Farm in Glen Ellen, the slow maturation of plants now puts him on a razor’s edge, set between high-quality buds typically harvested into October and the early rains which could disrupt his crop. He’s preparing tarps that can cover his outdoor crop in the event of rain.

Erich Pearson, the founder of SPARC dispensary, has the same concerns. "Early rains are really bad... Doesn't matter if it rains a tenth of an inch, or a full inch, it all puts the plants at risk. And the mix of moisture and heat creates botrytis,“ he said this week.

Spring showers brought cannabis flowers

Similar to grapes, many Sonoma Valley cannabis farmers in 2023 are cultivating their crops about three weeks later than the last five-year average as a result of a cool growing season.

Most cannabis plants become mature between eight-12 weeks after they’re planted in the late spring or early summer. Pearson cultivates two types of cannabis on 3 acres in Sonoma Valley. That includes auto-flowering cannabis, which is genetically engineered and matures approximately 72 days after sprouting; and full-season cannabis, which grows naturally and is subject to weather conditions.

Pearson anxiously monitored the sprouting of his full-season crop as cold overnight lows in May posed a threat to the ultimate output of his season.

“If you get even one day too cold, or a series of days that have too low of a low, then you can dramatically crush that eventual yield,” Pearson said. “Certainly, you wouldn't want it to freeze even for an instant, or that crop would severely suffer.”

But because of the chillier weather earlier this year, cannabis plants did not get “the signal” to begin growing buds until much later than recent years. And outdoor growers like Benziger allowed plants to grow full and lush over the summer.

“We had unusually cool weather in the spring. And what that did to the plants is that it kept the plants growing,” Benziger said. “It kept the plants green, it kept the plants in vegetation mode at full speed longer than normal. So the plants continued to grow and grow and grow into the summer.”

But all this growing has allowed him to encourage the best of the best buds. Under a scope, Benziger has observed large trichomes — the fine crystal-like hairs that grow from the flower and can enhance its potency and flavor — which he hopes signals more psychoactive resin for La Bomba, a high-energy sativa he bills as the “espresso of pot” for its high levels of limonene terpenes, which are said to produce feelings of euphoria.

“That's what I call authenticity,” Benziger said. “We're not looking to have the highest number of THC (the psychoactive chemical of cannabis) or the highest number of CBD (a non-psychoactive chemical which relieves anxiety). What we're looking to do is to create a plant that has the most intense personality that it can possibly have.”

‘Marching to the same music’

As Benziger and Pearson circle their harvesting dates, the lateness of the season puts the crops at risk of early freezes and rainfall, which could stifle the crop at its most sensitive time in the growing cycle.

“The first half of its life is just growing upward,” Pearson said. “And the last 45 days of its life it’s beginning to grow flowers, you know, the bud on it.”

As cannabis gets closer to the end of its life cycle, it puts more energy into forming buds for the next generation of the plant. In fact, cannabis puts so much energy into producing buds that the rest of the plant begins to wilt with yellow leaves, Benziger said. Typically the change in color occurs in mid-August.

But at Benziger’s Glentucky Farm in Glen Ellen, the leaves remain “green and verdant” as the weather has pushed out these ripening markers.

“We're all kind of marching to the same music, i.e. weather conditions,” Benziger said. “Whether you're growing tomatoes, or whether you're growing pot, whether you're growing grapes, or an apple, you're still going to be affected by these conditions.”

While cannabis consumers will have to wait to see Sonoma County cannabis in local dispensaries, Benziger and Pearson see this year’s crop with a level of delayed gratification.

“The trichomes are starting to form. They're a little bit larger than they have been in the past,” Benziger said. “Hopefully that means more resin which means more terpenes, which means that the plants will have more of the effect that we are trying to get.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.

Correction: A previous version misstated the disease which may harm plants after rain. The article has been updated to reflect botrytis.