MJBIZ - November/December - 54

Bosky founder Ryan Clark in
the drying room.
Photo courtesy of Bosky
And until very recently, when
a retailer met the guy delivering
Bosky fl ower, they were pleasantly
surprised to discover it was the
brand's owner.
His wife, Jenn, is similarly
involved with Bosky across a range
of responsibilities, from HR and
compliance to running the budget
and building grow benches during
the construction phase.
" I've watched other people in
business fail-including my father,
unfortunately. And the one reason he
failed is he could not do every part of
his business himself, " Clark said.
Staying Positive
Clark had to defy logic and ignore the
" sky-is-falling " prophecies elsewhere
in legal marijuana to launch his own
brand. He'd worked as a head grower
for other, much larger commercial
operations before setting off on his
own in December 2020.
At the big operations that went
bust, Clark saw fi rsthand how
outlandishly sized grows, unrealistic
projections and unnecessary
expenses compounded with general
ignorance of market realities can
thwart large-scale dreams.
" One of the biggest lessons I
have learned in all of my years of
cultivation is to design and build
your grow right the fi rst time
around and not to waste money on
luxury items that are not needed to
grow amazing cannabis, " he said.
So, Clark kept things lean.
The marijuana industry's
COVID-19 sales spike came and
went and was replaced by severe
supply-chain issues and material
shortages, with equipment prices
so volatile a day's hesitation before
fi nalizing a purchase could cost tens
of thousands of dollars.
" It was insane, " Clark said, adding
that by that point, he was too far
along to quit. " It was just one of those
things where we'd already gotten this
started and, you know, let's go. "
Staying Fresh
To build a successful fl ower brand
in California's ultracompetitive
regulated market, which involves
rampant illicit-market competition
as well as tight margins for those
playing it by the book, Clark has
stayed relatively small, maintained
strict effi ciencies with his labor costs
and stayed fresh-in a literal sense.
" It really boils down to what are
your metrics in the grow: How many
grams per square foot can you hit,
and can you maintain quality at that
footage? " he said.
Clark said Bosky has been able to
average between 60 and 70 grams
per square foot. Staying fresh means
harvesting 22.8 times per year,
keeping strict, 64-day cycles-plus
another 32 days post-harvest for
curing and trimming before fl ower
is ready for sale.
All the strains Bosky grows are
developed in-house, with favorites
54 November-December 2024 | MJBizMagazine
including Grip Tape, a proprietary
blend with strong Headband/OG
notes. He is constantly experimenting
with strains-he recently added
a sour cross-and selects a couple
of cuts out of experimental rooms
ranging from 25 to 50 plants a very
old-fashioned way: If it's fi re, it stays.
Part of Bosky's reputation is owed
to the fact that everything is fresh,
often sold out via preorder before
the plants are cut and hung. " Our
average preorder turnaround time
from fi nished and tested fl ower
to the store is 10 days or less from
package date, " he said.
Anything that doesn't sell is sold
at bulk rates or destroyed. " I'd
rather do that than sell someone old
weed, " he said.
Chris Roberts covers
legal and regulatory
issues for MJBizDaily.
Reach him at chris.
roberts@mjbizdaily.com.
MJBIZ - November/December

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