Dry farms are rare in California, but the results people like Chrystal Ortiz of High Water Farm are able to pull off without watering their cannabis plants all summer are pretty amazing. Sure it takes a Goldilocks type of microclimate in the middle of Humboldt County just off the Eel River—the same neighborhood that hosts all the state’s dry cannabis farmers—but what those farmers are able to do is pretty impressive. It is certainly a leap of faith to start. Ortiz described the trauma of her first season trying dry farming as she watched the plants wilt before they adjusted to their new life on the dry farm, but it worked out. These days she pumps a lot of the product coming out of High Water Farm in bulk. She estimated about 70% percent of her product goes to brands that will use the flower to fill their jars, and the rest goes to hash companies. Dry-farmed cannabis has crazy terpene profiles that make for great hash.
Ortiz also holds back enough product to make sure she has enough cannabis to run great half-ounce deals at her shop, Herb & Market Humboldt in Arcata, which she runs when she isn’t splitting farm duties with her husband Noah Beck.
“We’ve had great weather so far,” Ortiz told High Times of the 2023 season. “We started super late because the field was wet pretty late. And so we didn’t get the plants in the ground until a week after [summer] solstice.”
Moisture retention in dry cannabis farming is critical, but for young plants too much moisture can still lead to a lot of issues. This year, Humboldt’s rainy winter led to the latest start at High Water Farm since they started dry farming in 2018.
High Times Magazine, …
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Author: Jimi Devine / High Times
