Preferred Gardens: Built Not Bought, MSO Grit, Culture Over Clout, Mixed-Light Future

The definition of connoisseur smoke often includes “indoor cultivation,” but what if we told you many of your favorite players have bagged up a particular brand’s mixed light and sold it as indoor? You’re about to find out why this was a blessing in disguise.

Blackleaf sits down in the FSOTD studio with recurring guest and certified legend, Dave of Preferred Gardens, along with his core team, Alex, Mike, Blaine, and Nikki (also Dave’s wife,) to discuss turning a legacy brand into a thriving MSO, winning the $60k Proper Doinks Z Challenge, raising kids and building a brand with your significant other, breeding in-house genetics, and the intricate and mythical nature of Preferred’s methods for Quality Control.

​David Polley founded Preferred Gardens in 2015 in Sacramento, California. The company is renowned for its mixed light growing methods, and cultivating over 260 unique strains, including Sherbanger, Lazer Gun, Znackz, and more. Initially prominent in the medical market, Preferred Gardens now operates in California, Florida, Arizona, and New York, with more new states coming online in the future. They’re even dipping into international markets, as you’ll hear Dave discuss on this episode.

With over two decades of experience in the game, Dave will shed light on how crucial being a cultivator and lowkey breeder has been to his success as a brand owner, allowing him to fully understand quality control, as well as set up his same facilities in different states and be able to make minor adjustments and thrive. He’ll also discuss how he and his team are the sole barrier of quality control in terms of what they’ll put out, and how to develop relationships with retailers and partners where their word is bond and that trust is maintained.

Aside from Dave and his constant game-dropping, the rest of his team that’s in-studio shed tremendous light on how they’re each able to make this global operation work without ever giving into the big investors and corporate hellscape structure. Hustling is an understatement when you get to hear from Preferred’s sales and management team, Mike, Blaine, and Chris, as well as their resident mom and powerhouse accounting, programming, and back-of-house champ, Nikki.

Again, bringing up quality control, Blackleaf rattles off tons of bubbling questions surrounding how they define a keeper, what Dave deems as the proper cure time, if white ash really matters and how they breed for it these days, how important unique genetics are in the legal game, how to establish trustworthy relationships with buyers, their internal voting system for picking fire cuts, how they’ve been able to keep crops A-1 with The Flowery in Florida, and if you really need to be a passionate smoker to run a top-tier flower brand.

Find out more by visiting preferredgardens.com and check back on any of our previous episodes with Dave and Preferred Gardens to learn more about his journey and imminent rise to the top.

Subscribe to our channel and the FSOTD.com site to keep up with other key players and enjoy conversations with trailblazers from the culture you can’t find anywhere else.

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