Hawaii’s long-delayed medical marijuana dispensaries could begin growing pot as early as Feb. 1, the day the state Department of Health plans to go live with an online pakalolo tracking system.

Six months after the dispensaries were allowed to begin selling medical marijuana, there is still no date set for when the first legal pot will be sold in the state.

Four dispensary licensees — Manoa Botanicals and Aloha Green on Oahu and Maui’s Pono Life Sciences and Maui Grown Therapies — have indicated that they are ready to start growing, DOH officials said at a news conference Tuesday. The plants could take at least four months to mature, but the law doesn’t preclude dispensaries from obtaining already-mature plants.

The DOH’s seed-to-sale tracking system will provide 24-hour access to real-time data of cannabis inventory, sales and other information required of dispensaries.

“It takes a tremendous amount of effort to put a solid, safe system in place. While it took admittedly longer than we’d like … ultimately we’ll be very happy with the product,” said Keith Ridley, chief of the state Health Department’s Office of Health Care Assurance, which is overseeing the dispensary program.

Teri Gorman of Maui Grown Therapies said her dispensary needs one more state inspection at its production facility before it receives approval to grow cannabis.

“We are certainly happy and relieved that we’ve gotten to this point,” she said. “Certainly, cultivation’s a major step and we’re very thankful for that, but that doesn’t mean that it’s over. This is just one step among many steps that need to happen before patients can have access to medical cannabis.”

Before retail sales can begin, the state must still contract with laboratories to test the potency and purity of the drugs, and the seed-to-sale tracking system must be able to connect with the state’s patient registry system to ensure patients do not purchase more than 4 ounces in a 15-day period. The law is silent on where the dispensaries will get the seeds or plants for cultivation.

The DOH said it is reviewing two applications from testing laboratories seeking to open on Maui and Oahu. The department also anticipates the integration of the seed-to-sale tracking system with the patient registry will take eight to 12 weeks.

Brian Goldstein, founder and CEO of Manoa Botanicals, said his company expects to begin cultivation in its nursery next week.

“It is exciting, but there’s some critical milestones ahead of us,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to sell until a lab is certified, and there is uncertainty as to when that’s going to happen. The final step in the seed-to-sale system is connectivity to the state’s patient registry. We are hopeful that these critical milestones by DOH and the labs will be met in a timely manner and that we’ll be able to open our retail dispensary before the end of the year.”

Hawaii legalized medical cannabis in 2000, but patients did not have a legal way to obtain the drug. Act 241, passed in 2015, allowed the state to issue eight licenses for 16 production centers and 16 dispensaries that were allowed to open as early as July 15.

There were 15,334 medical marijuana patients registered with the state as of Dec. 31, more than 40 percent of them on Hawaii island.