James A. Glass, James A. Glass Nursery

For more than 50 years James A. Glass has had a hand in the nursery business. 

Starting in Apopka, Florida, James grew up in the business and worked for a plethora of nurseries of all sizes prior to starting his own business to grow greenery including ivy, which he still grows in the greenhouse today. 

In May of 2018, Glass’s wife was diagnosed with estrogen-positive breast cancer.  Three months later, Glass had a heart attack while working at his nursery. The Glass family sought options to improve their lifestyle and health to manage her immunities, cancer, and symptoms.

The Glass family tried CBD as a dietary supplement, to help improve their quality of life and health. After drastically changing their diet, along with a new supplement the Glasses saw positive results in their own life and improved their overall health. 

They have been growing organic vegetables for themselves and now will also grow hemp to both cultivate and to produce a CBD product. 

After their experience with the product and after learning about Florida’s new hemp cultivation license, the Glass family decided to produce their own hemp. With a nursery and horticulture background, growing hemp seemed like a natural fit for Glass. 

“We took some of the practices from growing our own vegetables and from growing other nursery products, we have applied them to hemp. This includes a lot of improvements in soil biology and we believe that the living soil helps to grow the hemp plants. We have even applied the same practices to the ivy that we grow and have made some improvements and are able to cut back on the pesticides and fungicides,” said Glass. 

As a new crop and commodity in Florida, there are some questions that are unanswered. Glass joined forces with Florida Hemp Farmers to have a base of growers and a community to share knowledge and resources.

“The Florida Hemp Farmers are a group of people who are good people and really want to see this crop grow.”

Like many of the hemp pioneers in the area, Glass hopes that this new crop will help to diversify and provide stability to his mature business. 

“Of the hundreds of varieties of foliage that I have grown, this is the most unique.”

Glass said he believes in the future of Florida hemp. He thinks the future is bright for hemp where many alternative uses can be used from hemp one of which, as fiber for building material. 

Glass is growing hemp in both greenhouses and in the field.