At FarmaceuticalRX, our mission is rooted in organic, craft cannabis cultivation. Behind every flower we grow is a team dedicated to quality, sustainability, and patient well-being. This month, we sat down with our Director of Cultivation & Post-Harvest, Nicholas Ezzo, to hear his story and learn more about the practices that set FRX apart.
Originally from Youngstown, Ohio, Nick has spent the last six years building his career in cannabis cultivation. What drew him to Pennsylvania’s medical program — and specifically FRX — was the opportunity to grow cannabis organically, using living soil and sustainable practices. “I wanted to fully understand living soil and learn how to condition it to grow the highest quality cannabis possible,” Nick shared.
For Nick, cultivation goes far beyond a career. “The main purpose was to find a way to create high-quality medicine that could help me and others achieve better mental health naturally,” he explained. Starting with a background in landscaping and gardening, Nick transitioned into cannabis after experiencing firsthand how it helped with anxiety. This personal connection is what continues to fuel his passion today.
Unlike many cultivators in Pennsylvania, FRX grows cannabis in living soil using KIND Certified Organic inputs. Plants are not force-fed nutrients but instead allowed to uptake what they need from rich, healthy soil. The result? Large, vibrant plants with robust terpene and cannabinoid profiles. “Soil health is everything. It determines vigor, trichome development, and flavor without leaving behind chemical residues. Organics provide patients with a cleaner, more effective product.”
Nick’s personal favorite strain to grow? Black Garlic. With striking purple and orange hues and peppery aromas, it’s a plant that’s as beautiful as it is flavorful. Pennsylvania patients, however, are currently gravitating toward GMO and Scroopy Noopers — both potent cultivars with impressive cannabinoid and terpene profiles.
Patient feedback plays a huge role in how FRX grows. “Events and fests are invaluable. I always listen to what worked — and what didn’t — so we can continuously improve. That feedback is what drives me.”
With new genetics like Crema, MAC, and Cherry Locktite in development and innovations in lighting and cultivation technology on the horizon, Nick is excited about the future. But at the core, his message remains simple: “If you care about medicinal value, organic cannabis is the way to go. Focus on the entourage effect — the cannabinoids and terpenes together — to find what truly works for you. Our job is to provide nothing but pure, clean products, and we take that responsibility seriously.”
There are many different things that have inspired me to become a cannabis grower, but the main purpose was to find a way to create high-quality medicine that would help me and others achieve the best mental state for any type of mental disorder naturally.
I got started in cultivation working at my family’s golf course, applying fertilizers to different types of grass and doing general landscaping. I’ve always had an interest in gardening itself, watching something from a seed grow into its own expression and form of life. When I tried cannabis for my first time, it really helped with anxiety and got me to reach a much-needed state of relaxation. Soon after, I began the journey of cultivating cannabis myself. The practices of organic craft cannabis are what led me to FRX.
What Organic / Craft Cannabis means to me is family, hard work, and not taking the easy road, but the long road that leads to a better destination. Organic practices are not copy and paste with one media and simple bottled nutrients; it is working with the soil to build the best microbiome for cannabis using earth’s natural resources, allowing the plant to uptake what it needs to produce the highest quality flower.
FRX grows using KIND Certified Organic inputs and living soil. Salt-based nutrients or non-organic nutrients force feed plants which could lead to salt buildup, burn, and a less than palatable aftertaste in the product. Organics are more of putting the food on the plate and allowing plants to choose what they need during the life phase of that plant. Our plants flower in large specialized troughs, allowing roots to reach out and work together as a whole, resulting in plants up to 8ft tall.
My favorite strain to grow would be Black Garlic. The structure of the plant is very sturdy, with ideal node spacing allowing light to reach all the way through the plant. Towards the end of the cycle, when the plants are flushed, they have a beautiful hue of purple, orange, and yellow with solid, dense flowers. This plant is very photogenic, but the smell of peppery caryophyllene is even more impressive.
Absolutely! OG strains like Crippy or Ghost OG have more of a wispy structure and are very sensitive to high amounts of light. However, that doesn’t deter me from growing these strains, but it interests me in finding ways to make these strains stronger or more robust. The multiple layers of trellis, feed arrangements, and light adjustments are well worth it at the end with the rewarding OG smell that fills the room.
We decide our genetics that go into production by running them through a phenotype hunt. Multiple seeds are germinated of one strain, giving us numerous phenotypes or expressions to choose from. These plants go through stages of testing, first to be sexed so no males make it into flower. Then remaining female phenos are flowered in small R&D rooms to note overall vigor, structure, node spacing, and flower formation. Once they are finished flowering, we harvest the plant recording weights and send small samples out for cannabinoid terpene testing panels to determine how well they will do in todays market. Once results come back, we cull plants that did not make the cut and run the winners again to ensure stability and results before allowing the plants into main production.
Absolutely! We are currently popping new genetics into R&D to provide some new products to the market. A few strains I am very excited about are Crema, MAC, and Cherry Locktite to name some that have made it through our first couple rounds of pheno hunts.
Cultivation directly dictates the full expression of the plant. The nutrients and amendments transition into how well the plant can produce cannabinoids and terpenes which result in higher testing and better flavors. Harvest times correlate to the effect of the flower, harvesting when trichomes aren’t ripe leads to a more cerebral effect when other cannabinoids are present to balance the THC. Harvesting too late results in CBN from over-ripe trichomes and degrading THC, leading to a heavy “couch lock” effect. While genetic background (Indica / Sativa) plays a big role in effect and terpenes, we can manipulate cannabinoid profiles with lighting and harvest times to enhance one effect over the other, and allow the plant to reach its true expression.
Overall, talking to the patients at cannabis events and fests has brought a lot of insight into what people enjoy. I like to hear the patients’ favorite strains, but more importantly, I listen to what didn’t work for some patients or what they didn’t enjoy about the final product that could be better. I always work to improve the grow to its best potential and make sure patients are getting the best flower I can provide. There have been many changes over the past year. Feedback from the people is what drives me to continue improving and achieving better results.
A typical day in the garden is maintaining the plants in the ground (Feeding/Trimming/Defoliation) and prepping the plants that need to be transplanted (Cloning/Amending/Planting). Our cultivation team is very knowledgeable in all aspects, looking through rooms as they feed or trim to find any issues that could arise. Our IPM team and leads ensure we are pest-free with no signs of disease or deficiencies. Every day we scope through the grow, ensuring the plants are in the best health they could be with the tools provided.
I think what is most surprising to patients is the size of our plants. Typically, grows have shorter vegetative times and multiple tiers in the flowering rooms. As for us, we use specialized troughs in flowering rooms holding over 4 yards of soil in each row, allowing plants to get to their full potential. The tallest plant recorded was over 8ft tall and weighed 1.2lbs dry.
My favorite memory working in the grow would be my first day on the job. Walking into the cultivation facility, meeting the team and all of the great people on site, and seeing the hundreds of plants in flower that were taller than me for the first time was really something I’ll never forget. Every day, it is still amazing to be a part of this operation, and watching the progress over the years has been truly a rewarding experience.
Cultivation is evolving every day with new lighting, building management systems, new genetics, and new techniques to add to the practice. We are always looking to find ways to enhance our methods and become more efficient to make sure quality is always at standards. We have trialed new sensors showing light spectrums and leaf surface temperatures to form data and improve growth, along with many other new types of equipment that have been released within the past couple of years. Cultivation will always continue to evolve with new technologies and will soon be AI-integrated.
I am very excited to try new LED lights and spectrums. Today’s LED lights offer double what they used to 5 years ago and will only get better. More studies are showing UV integrations and full-spectrum lighting improve growth and health, resulting in higher THC / Terpene percentages. The bar is set high, but new lighting keeps pushing it higher.
From a grower’s point of view, I would like to say organic cannabis might not sound very exciting or impressive, but if you truly care about the medicinal value of the products you buy, organic cannabis is the way to go. Focusing on THC when buying flower, only tells you a portion of what you’re getting. Focus on the entourage effect of all the cannabinoids and terpenes and find what you truly enjoy. It is our duty to provide nothing but pure, clean products for the patients, and we will do our best to do so.
I think patients would most want to know – What happened to all the older strains that were first released? Some strains are still in production, others are due to overall health after 30+ cycles of cloning, or testing high standards do not make the cut, and are kept in genetic holds. We are working to find new ways to incorporate these strains back into production, but it will take some time before they are released back to the market. On the other hand, we have used these older genetics for our in-house breeding experiment. We are actively germinating seeds from this experiment to promote new genetics. So far, we have found a few phenos potentially worthy of making the cut and hopefully will be released by the end of this year!
