Jesse and Jeremy Elkins, of Elkins Inc., stand with Sundance Benjestorf, owner of Deepwater Botanicals, at Benjestorf’s Bellingham, Washington grow operation.
By Jeremy Elkins
Why would states mandate consumer safety regulations on production facilities? That is a question producers are now starting to ask. The answer is not something your typical grower is enthusiastic about hearing. Senior chemical engineer Bjoern Fritzsche, from Rose City Laboratories in Portland, Oregon (www.rosecitylabs.com), said on average, 15-20 percent of all cannabis tested is being rejected due to high levels of toxic molds. The testing is part of the requirement of House Bill 3460, Oregon’s legalized medical marijuana law.
In addition, senior micro biologist Steven McNalley, of Analytical 360, in Seattle (www.analytical360.com) reported similar results. McNalley added that this number is actually much higher than the test results reveal. He explained that the 20 percent rejection rate only accounts for the final product that is submitted for testing. Anyone with a couple hundred dollars to spend can purchase a novice level microscope and look at their own product onsite to determine whether or not there is a significant amount of mold present. Once mold has been identified by the producer or processor, they simply remove the affected plants to be used elsewhere, such as oil extraction.
Why seal your operation?
After talking with one licensed recreational cannabis producer in Washington, a few reasons become clear why there’s been a shift toward what most consider a “sealed room,” and why growers are trying to curb the high percentage of production loss due to outdoor contaminants.
Sundance Benjestorf, the owner and operator of Deepwater Botanicals in Bellingham, shared his past experience with vented rooms in comparison to his latest sealed room operation.
The first advantage Benjestorf pointed out was that there is no way to control CO2 levels in a vented room or an outdoor grow.
When asked why this was an important factor for his operation, his response was clear: Normal outdoor CO2 levels are typically 300-400 parts per million, compared to the 1,200-1,500 parts per million most strains of cannabis desire.
By having a sealed room environment, Benjestorf is able to completely regulate and control the CO2 levels in his grow, which in turn produces a higher quality plant and increased production of his facility.
Another great advantage of a sealed environment is being able to control the humidity level of an operation. Depending on what region of the country you live in, humidity can play a large role in your growing process and end product. Typically in the Northwest, humidity levels outdoors will range from 70-80 percent. Although most strains of cannabis are not greatly affected by humidity in terms of quality, it does play an important role in production. If you are not able to control your humidity levels effectively, then you are setting your operation up for possible failure by inviting in a recipe for thriving mold and damaging insects.
Contaminants such as mold and insects are all around us on a daily basis; yet, they largely go unnoticed unless they have an environment that allows them to fulfill their role in nature of breaking down matter of a distressed plant or animal. The most common toxic mold being found through testing is Aspergillus. According to the Center for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov), “Aspergillus is a common fungus that can be found in indoor and outdoor environments. … Aspergillosis is a disease caused by this fungus. … The spectrum of illness includes allergic reactions, lung infections and infections in other organs.”
Other gray molds such as Botrytis cinerea, more commonly known as “bud rot,” can greatly affect your crop as well — a fact many outdoor growers know all too well. By maintaining humidity levels at a lower level such as 35-40 percent, growers can limit their plants’ risk of exposure to nature’s recycling process. Having less moisture in the air and on plants will help keep insects and molds away from being attracted to them in the first place, resulting in less contamination overall.
Prior to adopting a sealed room design, Benjestorf had the unfortunate experience of having an entire crop infected by Polyhagotarsonemus latus, also known as “broad mites.”
Broad mites are smaller than two-tenths of a millimeter long and very hard to detect. They’re typically found on the legs of gnats and other similar insects. Common symptoms of infected plants include yellowing tops, slow and stunted growth, curling of the leaves (often concentrated on new growth), pale stem hue and blotches or destroyed pistils. Theses mites damage plants by attacking the soft underside of the leaf structure, causing hardening and distortion. By the time most growers have identified the infection, it is already too late to do anything about eradicating the mites, which usually results in a complete loss of their crop. The best way to prevent such an infestation is to prevent insects from entering an operation in the first place by using a sealed room application.
One other advantage Benjestorf pointed out about having a sealed room grow is the ability to maintain your ideal room temperature both when your lights are on and when they’re off. It’s important for growers to identify their desired room temperature when setting up an operation. The majority want a temperature between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Whether you prefer 60 degrees or 90 degrees, the best way to maintain your ideal temperature is to not rely on ambient temperature outdoors. Benjestorf said he prefers to keep his plants’ room temperature at 75 degrees Fahrenheit, which is another reason for him to seal off his rooms.
“Controlling your environment provides consistency, which increases production and quality by limiting your exposure and risk,” Benjestorf said.
The methods employed at Deepwater Botanicals appear to have done the job. Benjestorf’s latest product test results from Confidence Analytics in Seattle (www.cat-g.com) showed THC percentages higher than 20 percent and foreign matter at 0 percent. The Deepwater products also received passing scores across the board for aerobic bacteria, yeast, mold, coliform, E. coli and salmonella.
Is a sealed room application working better for Benjestorf? The proof is in the product.
Steps for sealing your grow
So what determines a sealed room grow? In order to have a completely sealed operation, it would take quite a bit of resources and time to manage. Facilities that have taken such precautions include everything from 2,000 cubic feet per minute fans over door entrances, pre-room air locks, and even iodine sanitizing sand for employees and visitors to walk through. All of which comes after entrants have donned a laboratory jacket, hair and beard nets, and sanitized shoe covers. Although these extreme measures are necessary for some breeders and other aspects of the cannabis industry, they are not necessary for maintaining a well-fit environment for your average marijuana producer. There are companies that specialize in the market for sealed rooms, but there are also some less expensive and more manageable methods for sealing up a room on your own, and with the help of professionals.
For Deepwater Botanicals owner Sundance Benjestorf and many other growers who are making the switch in recent years to a sealed room environment, it can be as simple as preventing air that is not properly filtered to enter or leave your space. Providing an avenue for air through the use of exhaust fans and in conjunction with charcoal filters, allows for the room to maintain a slight positive pressure when installed properly within your HVAC ductwork. By having a slight positive pressure in your room, you will not allow outside containments the ability to enter your room, which happens with a negative pressure, and yet is still filtered for odor control. CO2 burners and pressurized CO2 systems provide the right amount of concentration for your plants, while also being cost-effective and easy to manage. Climate control, such as forced-air packaged units with spiral/rectangular ducting, or ductless mini split, is the most common and effective method for controlling your temperature when properly sized to latent heat loads (which are generally higher than sensible heat loads of 3.4 British thermal units per watt of HID lighting). All sorts of lighting are available for supplementing the sun with an outdoor grow, including the usual metal halide, high-pressure sodium, plasma, etc. Vented lights for a sealed room environment can work at times, but can reduce production value up to 30 percent from the light bulb due to being behind a plate of glass, and the fact that light bulbs were never meant to be cooled down. Also remember that you still have to be dependent on the out outdoor ambient temperatures in order to cool your lights. This also allows for more points of entry for outdoor contaminants to enter your operation on each connection along the daisy chain of lights. Humidity control now being built directly into HVAC equipment, but also can be easily supplemented by a properly-sized dehumidifier, which allows you to choose your humidity percentage with ease.
Caulking your rooms from top to bottom on every point of contact is a cheap and easy way to ensure a tight air seal. Foundation spray foam is better for larger holes and cracks, making sure that air will not escape, or allow outside containments to invade your environment. The list of methods and resources available for a sealed room environment continues far past this point, but this is a good starting point for most growing applications.
Conclusion
Over the many years of being involved in the world of cannabis, one thing I have learned is that every grower has their own opinion and experience on what works best. What I tell people when they ask me about my opinion on a certain aspect of growing, whether it’s about lights, climate control or room design, is that I am only an expert in one field, but I am happy to share with them what has been working well for others. When it comes to deciding what type of growing application is best for you, just take a look at those who are most successful in the industry. Despite any new legislation on testing, recently developed resources for growing, or new ideas on how to revolutionize the industry, those who are most successful have most likely experienced that anything can and will go wrong with a grow. Producers such as Deepwater Botanicals and many others just like them, who are already thriving in this new recreational and medical market, are ones to take notice of. They have made their fair share of mistakes along the way, and learned from each mistake, so as not to repeat them again. And most importantly, they have evolved with the industry by adapting toward what works best, and incorporating those fundamentals into their own grow.
For thousands of years, cannabis had been grown outdoors, and enjoyed by many with relatively few unwanted side effects. Now in the last decade, a large portion of growers have picked up their entire operations and moved indoors. There is nothing wrong with this approach as long as you know the risks involved — and how to avoid them — so as not be a health hazard to the consumer, and failure as a producer.
State officials in Washington and Oregon have made their opinions well-known by implementing new consumer safety testing regulations. These laws were set into place for the production, processing and sales of recreational and medical marijuana. State officials have been petitioned for many years on the legalization of marijuana; now Colorado and Washington have opened their doors to recreational use by those of legal age. Many other states, such as Oregon, allow marijuana for medicinal use.
The stipulation for producers in Washington wishing to participate in this endeavor is that they will be highly taxed and highly regulated. Since Initiative 502 was implemented in Washington, most producers have not been surprised at how cannabis is highly taxed at three levels, and possibly a fourth, as well.
Washington State is already taxing producers, processors, retailers and consumers, for recreational sales, but the federal government also wants in on the action, seeking tax penalties on medical marijuana via a Reagan-era tax code aimed at drug traffickers (Internal Revenue Code 280E).
There is a strong, growing opposition to this current tax code, but never underestimate the federal government’s ambition to collect their share of the revenue pie, even if that industry is deemed an “illegal trade” by that same government. Taxes on Marijuana? Most everyone saw that coming. Consumer safety testing? Not so much.
Jesse Elkins, Jeremy’s brother and co-owner of Elkins Inc., is the founder and developer of the proven cannabis climate control system, ClimaGrow (www.climagrow.com). He has more than nine years of experience helping growers increase quality and quantity through proper climate control and monitoring methods.