Roto-Gro's wheel of cannabis sends its share price into a spin

Hydroponic AgTech Roto-gro jumped 19 per cent on Thursday after an order for 100 of its cannabis rotary farming machines.

Roto-Gro’s (ASX:RGI) aptly named Model 420 is a hydroponic vertical growing system where seedlings rotate in a wheel around a central lamp to optimise electricity, water, food and floor space.

Its shares climbed 15 per cent to 30c on Thursday.

The 100 units, worth a total of $1.1 million, are destined for a Canadian cannabis cultivator where they will be stacked two-high in a 40,000 sq ft facility.

Model 420 boasts up to 10 times the production of traditional flat bed growing in the same amount of floor area, using 40 per cent less electricity.

Trays are motorised, and revolve 24 hours a day with automated monitoring and feed systems to minimise the labour input.

Roto-Gro, which has a market cap of $26 million, hopes to tap into the burgeoning medical cannabis sector, with a secondary emphasis on its broader vertical farming markets.

Roto-gro's spinning nursery promises double the yield of conventional flat bed growing — Roto-gro’s spinning nursery promises double the yield of conventional flat bed growing

“The Roto-Gro System’s ability not only to reduce growing costs but to increase yields significantly has resulted in a flood of inquiries from emerging licensed medical cannabis producers and micro farmers the world over,” director Michael Carli said.

RGI listed on the ASX after raising $3.5 million in February.

It had $2.65 million in the bank at the end of June, with the first of its units delivered in July.

RGI shares have traded between 16c and 56c this year.