David George-Cosh

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Amid the rush to produce enough cannabis to meet demand in the early days of legal pot in Canada, one licensed producer realized its plant clippings could become a potential new revenue stream. 

Flowr Corp. (FLWR.V) announced Thursday it will soon make millions of its high-quality pot clone plants available for sale in Canada, a byproduct of cannabis plants from its Kelowna, B.C.-based grow facility. 

"This whole thing is a happy accident," Vinay Tolia, chief executive officer of Flowr, told BNN Bloomberg in a phone interview. "We realized early on that there was a vast need for this product." 

Tolia said the pot producer typically wound up with excess biomass material using the "Sea of Green" cultivation technique, a growing method that yields as much as cannabis as possible in a short amount of time. 

Flowr now has three million clone plants – a little piece of plant that has been cut off from the main cannabis plant – which Tolia said the company plans to sell to home growers and micro cultivators for about $10 to $20 per plant in the spring when the outdoor growing season starts.

"It has the potential to be a really nice revenue stream," he said. "It's very high margin and it costs next to nothing for us." 

Tolia said the cloned plants would be well-suited for the cannabis connoisseur with an interest in growing their own pot. Canadians in all provinces – except Manitoba and Quebec where the provincial governments have moved to ban home growing – are legally allowed up to four cannabis plants per household.

"We see customers trying to develop plants themselves and likely demanding premium quality flower, which is our bread and butter," Tolia said. "I draw the comparison with home beer brewers. After brewing your own beer, you're less likely to drink Miller Lite after that." 

After listing on Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange through a reverse takeover in September that raised $36 million, Flowr's shares have dropped 43 per cent from its all-time high as of Wednesday's closing price. The company presents itself as a grower of high-quality cannabis with dried flower priced at about $15 per gram, compared to a weighted average of $10.64 on the Ontario Cannabis Store website. 

Flowr has the backing of U.S.-based gardening giant Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. One of its subsidiaries is collaborating with Flowr on cannabis growing techniques at its B.C. facility. 

Tolia demurred if Scotts and Flowr would further collaborate on providing interested cannabis growers a "garden-in-a-box," where a cloned plant could be sold with all the nutrients and equipment needed to grow pot at home. 

"It's not our core competency but it makes a lot of sense for someone to do something like that," he said. 

Cannabis Canada is BNN Bloomberg’s in-depth series exploring the stunning formation of the entirely new – and controversial – Canadian recreational marijuana industry. Read more from the special series here and subscribe to our Cannabis Canada newsletter to have the latest marijuana news delivered directly to your inbox every day.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included an inaccurate description of Flowr’s handling of its plant clipping material. BNN Bloomberg regrets the error.