Reporting to a regulator
How Metrc counts immature plant batches
What Metrc's plant-batch record asks a tissue-culture lab to report, where the bench record already holds each field, and what stays the operator's own. Record-keeping guidance only, for licensed operations where legally permitted.
The fact that changes the whole contract
Metrc tracks cannabis plants in two ways. Above a size threshold each state sets, every plant carries its own tag and is reported individually. Below it, plants are reported as an immature plant batch: a group name, a count, a strain, a type and a source. Under Metrc's published guidance, no plant tag is required for a batch below the threshold.
A tissue-culture lab's entire output sits below that threshold. Plantlets in a jar are not tagged plants; they are a count in a named batch. So the record Metrc asks a propagation lab for is counts by batch, not tags by plant, and the reporting contract is simpler than the one every cultivation tool is built around.
Metrc's guidance describes tissue cultures as cuttings created from clones in an immature plant batch. That sentence carries the two rules a lab has to design its records around: a batch has one source, and a batch has one strain.
What a plant-batch record asks for, and where the bench already has it
Every field Metrc asks for in an immature plant batch is something a propagation lab already writes down. The work is keeping it on one record, so the report is prepared from it rather than re-typed.
| Metrc asks for | Where a lab already records it |
|---|---|
| Batch name | The lot: a lab code and the week it was cut. A batch name is the stable label the state system knows the lot by. |
| Type | Seed or clone. Under Metrc's guidance a tissue culture is a clone, so a lot started from culture reports as a clone batch. |
| Count | Plants at the stage being reported. In a lab that counts tubs, this is tubs multiplied by the plants-per-tub figure held for that stage, and the record should say the count is derived. |
| Strain | The cultivar on the lot. One batch, one strain: a lot that holds two cultivars is two batches. |
| Planted date | The date the lot was started, or the cut week it belongs to. A week can be turned into a date; a date cannot be turned back into the week the bench plans by, so keep both. |
| Source | The tagged mother plant, or the batch this one was split from. Metrc's guidance gives every batch an origin; a lot with no recorded origin cannot be reported at all. |
| Location | The room or shelf, where the state requires one. Most labs already record it for the inspection walk. |
Where the count comes from, and why the record should say so
Most propagation labs count in tubs, not plants, because a tub is what a controller inspects. The number of plants in a tub changes by stage and by who counted, so a lab holds a plants-per-tub figure per stage. A batch count for Metrc is that figure multiplied out, and a record that says the count is derived, and from what, is one an inspector can follow. A stage with no figure has no count; it is better to say so than to borrow one from another stage.
Losses happen in two places. Some are found by the controller and logged against a lot; some are scouting disposals that never reached a lot at all. Metrc has a place for the first kind: a destroy on the batch, with a reason from the state's own list, and a plant-waste entry beside it. The second kind has nowhere to go until it has been attributed to a lot. A lab whose tub balance reconciles before anything is filed has done the hard part.
None of this is a rule about how to run a lab. It is what the record has to carry so that the report can be prepared from it.
The events Metrc has a word for
Metrc's plant-batch record is a small vocabulary. A propagation lab's week produces these, and nothing else needs reporting from inside the lab:
- A new batch, with its name, type, count, strain, date and source.
- A change of growth phase, when a batch reaches the stage the state counts as vegetative. Most lab stages are not a Metrc phase, and many labs never reach one before plantlets leave.
- A split, when a batch is divided into more than one, under a per-batch cap that is commonly around a hundred plants.
- An adjustment, when a recount changes the number, with a reason from the state's list.
- A destruction, when plants are disposed of, with a reason from the state's list and a plant-waste record beside it.
- A package of immature plants, when plantlets leave the lab for a customer.
Every list is the state's, not Metrc's: The size threshold, the adjustment and destruction reasons, the waste methods and the growth-phase names are configured per state. Two labs reporting to Metrc in two states file different vocabularies for the same event. Check your state's Metrc bulletins and your licence conditions before you rely on any figure in this guide, and keep Metrc as the source of truth for what has been reported.
Questions labs ask
Does a plantlet in culture need a plant tag?
Not below the state's size threshold, under Metrc's published guidance. Below it, plants are reported as an immature plant batch by group name and count. Tags start at a height the state sets, which is above anything in a jar.
Is every subculture a new batch?
Not necessarily. Metrc reports a batch as one strain from one source, under a per-batch cap. A lot that stays under the cap can stay one batch across several transfers; a lot that grows past it is split, and the split is itself a reported event with the origin carried forward. Decide the grain before the first batch is named, because a batch name is hard to change once the state system has it.
Does xPlant Pro report to Metrc for me?
No. xPlant Pro is record-keeping software. It keeps the lot record, meaning lab code, cut week, tubs and plants per stage, losses, transfers and deliveries, that a Metrc report is prepared from. What is filed, and whether it was accepted, is between the licensee and Metrc, and Metrc stays the source of truth. If your lab reports to Metrc or BioTrack, tell us what your state asks for through the contact form on the plans page.
What about a BioTrack state?
The record is the same. BioTrack's partner interface is read-only, so anything filed there is a file a person prepares and uploads, and a lot record that carries the fields above is what that file is prepared from.
Where does hemp fit?
Hemp programmes that report to a state system use the same batch record. The jurisdiction note below applies to hemp as well; check your own rules.
Who this is written for, and where it is written from: This guide is for licensed operations in places where cannabis or hemp tissue culture is lawful: where legally permitted, under a licence the operator holds. xPlant Pro is built and operated from South Korea, where cannabis cultivation is prohibited without a licence under the Narcotics Control Act. Nothing here is an offer, an endorsement or advice to cultivate anywhere it is not permitted. xPlant Pro does not sell plant material, genetics or supplies for cannabis, and does not give cultivation advice; it records what a lab did and does not verify licences or certify anything. Metrc is a trademark of Metrc LLC; xPlant Pro is not affiliated with or endorsed by Metrc. This guide is published in English only and describes Metrc's published guidance as read in September 2026.
Keep the lot record the way the bench writes it
Lab codes, cut weeks, tubs and plants on one record, with every change attributed to a person. The industry page says what xPlant Pro does for a clean-stock programme, and what it does not.