sterile environment for a medium sized grow

I live in california and will eventually get a license to grow and distribute recreational weed, but before that i need to make sure my weed is 100% clean. that means a procedure to keep bugs, molds, fungus', and other things that hurt the brain and lungs

so far ive figured out that i need a sterile suit, gloves, and a grow area bleached then wiped down with warm water after every harvest

ill be growing a 12 site ebb and flow with floranova grow and bloom, protekt, big bud, b52, voodoo juice, overdrive, maxigrow and diamond nectar

And the question is? Think you will want some hepa filters for the air intake.

Follow CFR21



dank.Frank

dank.frank said:

Follow CFR21



dank.Frank

Click to expand...

thanks frank! k+!

I am a licensed grower in Colorado. I am also a licensed pesticide applicator.

Although Bleach sodium hypochlorite has been widely used and is readily available - it has some draw backs. Make sure you read how to properly use bleach and that you give the bleach enough contact time at the proper dilution rate.
"[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Cold water should be used for dilution as hot water decomposes the active ingredient of bleach and renders it ineffective. "[/SIZE][/FONT] http://www.info.gov.hk/info/sars/en/useofbleach.htm

There are new products on the market that offer more effective cleaning with shorter contact times. Check out Sanidate for example.. This is commonly used to clean tables, floors, scissors, etc.
http://www.biosafesystems.com/sanidate-5/

Microbial contamination must be prevented in a production environment. As you may know, product that I produce from our licensed facilities is tested for microbial contamination. There are products you can use on your plants directly to help minimize microbial contamination. Zerotol is approved for use by the Colorado Dept. of Agriculture and it is gaining in popularity.
http://www.biosafesystems.com/zerotol-2-0/

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of... well you know...

Step through sanitizer on your way into your grow space. You can use a shallow tub of it at the door. Use a clean tyvek suit when working with your plants. Wipe the suit down with alcohol between rooms to avoid cross contamination. Always clean your hands before and after working with your plants. Wear new clean gloves.. Stay clean in general. No green waste on your tables and no dead leaves in your canopy. Avoid using wood as a structural material because it is a vector of disease. When you harvest your product, you can contaminate it in the cure room or while you are trimming it. Be very careful to keep these areas clean and clean all your tools. UV light is popular as a way to sterilize your incoming air or your circulating air. UV can also be used to sanitize surfaces.

I could go on and on... Let me know if you have more questions.

dont mistake "sterile" with sanitized or disinfected or hygenic...

if your grow room were truely sterile, the plant would need to be reduced to ash.

a sterile polyethylene syringe body is bathed in radiation to something like log9... or what ever the medical equivelant is to CT logs. non heat sensitive stuff is autoclaved at like 250f at 15psi for 15 minutes minimum. i think you see where im going here.

i would love to see some of these supposedly sterile growing environments.

What is cfr21? I'll google it obviously, just want to know what I'm looking for a little first. Thanks.

larry badiner said:

I live in california and will eventually get a license to grow and distribute recreational weed, but before that i need to make sure my weed is 100% clean. that means a procedure to keep bugs, molds, fungus', and other things that hurt the brain and lungs

so far ive figured out that i need a sterile suit, gloves, and a grow area bleached then wiped down with warm water after every harvest

ill be growing a 12 site ebb and flow with floranova grow and bloom, protekt, big bud, b52, voodoo juice, overdrive, maxigrow and diamond nectar

Click to expand...

Are you trying to achieve a certain level of testing in your tent before scaling up? Seems like a weird strategy since a bigger operation is going to be much different than a tent. Good luck, I'll be following along to learn as you go. What part of California?

I don't think anyone but the mushroom growers, need sterile enviroments.

For growing weed, you want a clean area indeed. Dust filters should do the trick, and keep the room neat and clean. You can use white 3M suits, hair net and gloves to prevent hair and crap from you getting on the buds.

Good luck

Positive pressure, HEPA filtered air. I found fibers in my flowers from the tent I used. Screw tents for flowering.

BakedBandit said:

Are you trying to achieve a certain level of testing in your tent before scaling up? Seems like a weird strategy since a bigger operation is going to be much different than a tent. Good luck, I'll be following along to learn as you go. What part of California?

Click to expand...

I just want to compete with the connoisseur market and packaged marijuana. I don't normally sell marijuana, but if I do I want to make sure nothing happens to my buyer

Palindrome said:

I don't think anyone but the mushroom growers, need sterile enviroments.

For growing weed, you want a clean area indeed. Dust filters should do the trick, and keep the room neat and clean. You can use white 3M suits, hair net and gloves to prevent hair and crap from you getting on the buds.

Good luck

Click to expand...

jfc those 3m suits are like 5$/ea, im gonna score like 100$ worth lol

by dust filter you mean that white fuzzy filter on carbon scrubbers ?

Douglas.Curtis said:

Positive pressure, HEPA filtered air. I found fibers in my flowers from the tent I used. Screw tents for flowering.

Click to expand...

what's positive pressure? could i get a link to a hepa filter that would work with a 6'' duct

tents have served me well over the past 10 years, they rip easily though

google has an amazing number of links to positive pressure information. I make my own HEPA class air filters. IMO, anything less than HEPA lowers quality significantly when there's only a light dust load in the local area. You can taste the burnt dust smell in non-HEPA cannabis, with side by side smoking tests.

how are you building your own HEPA filters?

do you know what HEPA actually is btw? not trying to be a dick, for what its worth... im just pointing out how 99% of what is marketed as hepa is certainly not HEPA by actual established standards...

actual HEPA ratings start at like the equivelant of MERV 26 or something around there... the horse power you need to develop any flow through even a very large cross section of HEPA filter is insane... literally like 2hp blower needed to move a few hundred SCFM at like 2-4" of static pressure.

and thats not even counting the prefiltration.... hepa is so fine that you are basically throwing money away if you dont prefilter at like merv16 to prevent actual dust particles and hair and large shit like that from conatminating and hence fouling the performance...

i also seriously doubt that you can tell the difference between HEPA grown cannabis and that of cannabis that is otherwise grown with a modicum of care.

not a cannabis guy though so i admit that i have no legs to stand on there.

In normal commercial organic farming, the idea is there is a higher population of disease causing organisms, and also disease inhibiting organisms.

I'd say there is a harmony to prevention.

I think what has been largely lost in more recent 'breeding', is productive disease resistant plants. In favor of potency and terps and density (bag appeal). This is an error.

If feds ever legalize, the midwest and plain states will out produce any other states. What was fields of corn will be rows and fields of 2 pound plants. Indoors will only be able to compete niche markets. Free light and free water and free soil is hard to beat. The only cost being ferts, and machines.

queequeg152 said:

how are you building your own HEPA filters?

do you know what HEPA actually is btw? not trying to be a dick, for what its worth... im just pointing out how 99% of what is marketed as hepa is certainly not HEPA by actual established standards...

Click to expand...

HEPA rated furnace filters. They may not be true HEPA but they make a significantly greater difference over simple dust covers. Rather simple to build a large surface area filter mount, so you can easily change them out.

The difference, imo, is gross and stupidly noticeable on a few levels. I've been using these for over a decade now.