In this Thursday, April 12, 2018, photo, a worker picks unnecessary leaves from cannabis plants at Glass House Farms in Carpinteria, Calif. Greenhouses that once produced flowers are seen as ideal for growing marijuana. In a climate like Carpinteria's, they heat and cool easily and inexpensively, and the plants thrive. It takes only about three months to grow cannabis in pots of shredded coconut husks, so farmers can get multiple harvests each year. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Santa Rosa Hydroponics sold to Colorado retail chain GrowGeneration

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By Ap McClatchy

During the Gold Rush, it was the merchants selling sifting pans who struck it rich and not the legions of 19th century fortune seekers looking for wealth in California’s rivers.

Santa Rosa brothers Rick and Jason Barretta applied that wisdom to the nascent marijuana industry about 10 years ago when they opened Santa Rosa Hydroponics and Grower Supply in a dilapidated old flower shop on Highway 12 in Rincon Valley. The industry boomed, and so did their business, expanding to a 3-acre property and warehouse in southwest Santa Rosa and reaching annual revenues north of $10 million.

This month, the Barrettas sold Santa Rosa Hydroponics for $1.75 million in cash and $3.5 million in company stock to GrowGeneration, a Colorado-based hydroponic gardening store chain. Jason Barretta said it was a logical next step as California’s new recreational cannabis market brings corporate competition and consolidation to all facets of the industry.

Read the rest of this story on DenverPost.com.