Grow rooms often provide a safe harbor for invasive insects, molds, fungus, and microbial pathogens. While one option is building a hyper-clean cannabis cultivation room, below we provide more economical production solutions which dramatically reduce grow room contamination.
Foggers for Fungus, Molds, & Pathogens Between Grows
Peracetic acid-based, hydrogen peroxide blended sporicides are products originally developed for the cleaning of critical water systems and sterilization of production environments. Specifically, those used in medical applications. For example, membranes that filter and diffuse blood during renal therapies.
Medically orientated cleaning regimes represent a gold standard in cleaning and contamination control. Not only does the delivery system need to remain clean and free of any pathogens or mold spores, but it also cannot have residual contamination from cleaning solutions such as bleach, formaldehyde, quaternary ammonias, and alcohols.
Advantages of PA over Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide
The half-life of vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) is often problematic for large-scale room decontamination. VHP must reach a target surface within 10 – 20 seconds for its properties to remain effective. This requires numerous vaporizers, large quantities of chemical use, and more advanced dispersion processes. VHP is not capable of penetrating dust and dirt-laden surfaces and requires a spotless room baked to high temperature over 6 – 12 hours. VHP requires that every surface is re-wiped down after deploying a fogging system, which also includes ceilings.
Actril is specifically formulated to
A) Not require to wipe down after fogging use
B) Supports use with water systems
C) FDA and organically approved, green friendly, water & sewage system safe
D) Provide an affordable and mobile dispersion system with options for hardwired placement
There are many examples of Peracetic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide formulations on the market. However, very few provide substantiated data on the efficacy of their formulation blends. The core of Actril technology is its proprietary blend that improves shelf life, reduces concentrate use, and is proven for kills of bacterial and fungal spores.
Are there downsides to Peracetic Acid formulations?
Sometimes, yes, but most are benign in comparison to any other leading fungicide and stericide options.
Actril it’s not appropriate for use with brass or copper fittings, materials, or surfaces.
Because the solution breaks down acetic acid (vinegar) we would not recommend the solutions for those extremely sensitive to vinegary odors.
In its concentrated form, the substance can cause nausea, chemical burns, and skin irritation, but does not require any hazmat or extraordinary precaution measures beyond what you would use with bleach or other fungicides.
Dry foggers produce droplets as small as 7.5 microns which reduce condensation, surface wetting, and possible corrosion. Area coverage is more uniform and the fog penetrates cracks, crevices, ventilation systems and other challenging areas like high corners, cracks, seams, and underneath furniture.
Dry fogging penetrates normally inaccessible areas resulting in more thorough disinfection. The fog is capable of reaching underneath furniture and up to high corners and ceiling surfaces.
Reduce Mold Spores with Antimicrobial Sticky Mats
Plants, soil, and people account for the majority of cannabis contamination sources. Transport carts, dollies, and tools must also be acknowledged as carriers. At 60 microns, a dust speck in a sliver of sunlight is visible unlike spores, allergens, and pathogens within a range of 1-10 micron.
In clean grows, floor-mounted contamination control mats, also known as “sticky mats”, capture spores and grit from feet and carts at critical entryways for later cleaning. The mat captures 99% of particles as small as 0.5 microns in just three steps or three full rotations of a wheel. Polymeric tack-regenerating materials allow easier cleaning and prevent further contamination sprawl. Unlike traditional “peel-off” designs which require hand removal of plastic strips, a quick mop and squeegee return tackiness without plastic waste.
Simplifying Garment Donning and Standard Practices
Most people don’t believe us when we tell that saving one employee just 1 – 2 minutes per day adds up to thousands of dollars in time savings over the course of a year. Previously we’ve written about how automated shoe cover machines improve the throughput of personnel, reduce safety hazards, and produce a rapid return on investment.
Shoe covers reduce foot-borne pests, spores, and grit. Automated garment dispensers are a popular option for faster, cleaner donning of protective apparel.
An automatic shoe cover machine applies and removes shoe covers hands-free, thus avoiding a hop-and-balance act or contact with the dirty floors. Dispensers are available with commercial sizes for large facilities and also low-to-medium sizes for economical use in small facilities. A separate unit (not required) provides a vacuum system that removes the shoe cover and holds dirty garments in an easily emptied receptacle.
Pressurized Air Showers for Cleaner Garments & Equipment
Air Showers
A clean corridor isolates a grow room from a parallel space. Plants, equipment, and personnel can all pass through these showers to remove any hitchhiking plant materials. High-pressure air jets remove external contaminants residing on garments such as fungal spores, mites, mildews, and other human-borne contaminants.
An air shower is a double-door air chamber which prevents dirty air from entering the grow room during entry and exit. Air showers scrub garments, tools, and carts with high-pressure HEPA filtered air as a final decontamination barrier.
Depending on the size, these systems also support passage of large, dirty items such as benches, equipment, tools, soil bags, containers, and pallets. Integrated card scanners prevent unauthorized grow room access as required by most state laws.
Similar in design to an airlock, air showers typically have two doors that cannot be opened at the same time – accommodating only one person at a time. Workers enter one side and exit on the opposite side. When one door is opened, the other door’s magnet is energized which prevent the door from opening. During the cleaning cycle, both doors are energized (locked) to prevent anyone from entering or leaving before the cycle is completed.
Need help configuring your drying room based on product weight and square footage? We’ll help you customize your hemp or cannabis drying process to get the most amount of output without worrying about buds clumping, sticking, or flattening. Growers are able to harvest and dry cannabis with much smaller footprints, better throughput, and don’t worry about mold or flattening caused by solid trays.
