Taylor Reschka
Growing your own legal “tomatoes” By Ian Price Hydroponics: the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil.
Blue Ridge Hydroponics has been around longer than most might have guessed. It was launched inside Happy’s Flea Market in 2004 by a man named Chris Arthur; then he moved to a space on Williamson Road until he wanted to retire in 2018. That’s when Tommy Bryant and his brother Jeremy Poe purchased the business.
walkable - people aren’t really walking down Williamson Road [a very busy, somewhat pedestrian-challenged commercial roadway] right now.”
As to the July 1 date allowing Virginians to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana they grow: “It really just brings the community together,” says Jeremy Poe, “it’ll bring a lot Tommy says they left Williamson Road for a more people in here but it’s also going to more visible storefront at the corner of 5th allow people to learn some new skills.” Street and Marshall Avenue in downtown Bryant says you can feel a change with Roanoke – not far from the YMCA. “Our the customers. “For so long we were in customers drive from all over because we’re ‘prohibition’, for 100 years. We’d have to the only grow shop in [in the immediate go under code names like we’re growing region].” Bryant says when you drive from ‘tomatoes’ because of the very similar grow three counties over, “they don’t care if we’re process … but now people are coming on Williamson Road, downtown or wherever. out of the woodwork and getting more But we wanted to be more visible and more comfortable talking about it.”
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t JULY 2021 / vbFRONT.com
