Keeping Large Grows on Schedule

Managing a commercial cultivation facility means keeping track of hundreds of moving parts—propagation, transplanting, sanitizing, plant training, and more. In this episode, Egan O’Keefe breaks down how ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems can bring order to the chaos.

Topics covered:
• How ERP software like Canix, Dutchie, BioTrack, and others help with compliance and plant tracking
• Scheduling propagation, topping, culling, and other recurring tasks
• Creating strain-specific profiles for better timing and canopy management
• Apps Vs. Big Dry Erase Calendars
• The importance of daily team meetings to adjust priorities and handle curveballs

Whether you’re using advanced cultivation software or keeping it old-school, the key is having a clear, daily plan that your whole team follows. 

Chapters
0:00 Intro 
0:05 ERP systems and compliance tracking
0:34 Scheduling propagation & rotation tasks
1:18 Strain profiles & canopy management
2:05 Low-tech alternatives that work
2:36 Importance of daily team meetings

About Egan O’Keefe Egan O’Keefe is the Co-Founder of Front Row Ag and the Director of Cultivation at Story, a vertically integrated, multi-state operator. He’s overseen millions of square feet of canopy, built cultivation systems that keep large-scale facilities running smoothly, and solved complex operational challenges across multiple markets. From propagation to post-harvest, Egan knows what it takes to keep big grows organized, compliant, and consistently hitting yield and quality targets. 

Apply for a commercial Trial of Front Row Ag: https://bit.ly/4lCRm7q

Transcript:

An ERP or compliance system—think Canix, Dutchie, BioTrack, Planacan, or Keifa—does more than plant tracking. It lets you build batch schedules, assign teams, and sequence the day-to-day work: propagation, transplanting, sanitizing veg between batches, rotating rooms, plant tagging, topping (if needed), and culling weak extras.

Many platforms support strain profiles, so a manager can load a room schedule, select the strains, and automatically deploy timing—like when to transition from veg to flower or when to defoliate—tailored to each cultivar (e.g., pinch/stretch-prone varieties vs. those that naturally fill a canopy). In perpetual facilities the window is tight, but shifting task timing by strain still matters.

If software isn’t in the cards, a giant dry-erase calendar in every room or the meeting area works—what matters is a visible, shared plan. Modern tools (shared calendars, mobile apps) can also push daily task notifications—“prune Zone 1,” “defoliate Room B,” “drop third trellis,” etc.

Equally important is a short daily huddle. Teams that just “show up and do the list” miss real-time prioritization. Five minutes each morning lets you call audibles: elevate a red-alert issue found yesterday, finish a task that slipped, or reshuffle labor against the day’s highest-impact work. The formula is simple: a clear calendar + actionable assignments + a quick stand-up = a coordinated crew that stays aligned, responsive, and on schedule.