Start Clean, Stay Clean: Root Zone Management, Microbial Balance & Input Timing with BioSafe Systems | Ep 24

Today I'm joined by Zach Riccardi , cannabis Key Account Manager for North America at Biosafe Systems , and our very own John Jurakowicz , crop Specialist at Grodan , as we break down why a clean system is the foundation of effective crop steering .

From algae control and water testing to line shocks , biosecurity and fertigation best practices , this episode is jam-packed with practical tips to help you save time , money and headaches . If you're looking to level up your root zone strategy or dial in water treatment without disrupting your fertigation , this one is for you .

And , hey , big thanks to everyone who's been tuning in and supporting the show . If you're enjoying the podcast , don't forget to like , follow , share , leave a quick review . It all helps . So , without further ado , here's my conversation with Zach and John .

And , you know , help people with my experience and you know , kind of amirate all the knowledge from the different growers that I encounter and , you know , just basically try to have a best practice SOP for the industry so that folks can mitigate issues effectively but safely .

And , you know , make sure that there's an ROI on whatever it is they're putting out , because if we are , you know , introducing a new chemistry into the environment , it needs to make sense . And , you know , something that I really like about BioSafe is that our , you know , focus is on solutions for growers . We don't just put out products to put them out .

When we have something that comes to market , there's been a lot of research behind it and even though there are some chemistries that are similar to products that are already on the market , we always find something that's a little bit different .

I don't want to necessarily say better , but just , you know , something that separates us from the herd , so to speak , and allows those products to perform in a way that is superior to other chemistries . And you know , the cool thing about BioSafe is that anything that has to do with water we're involved in it .

We've got a lake pond municipal division , we've got a pre and post harvest ag division , we've got the horticulture division , which is the umbrella that cannabis falls under , and then we've even got a meat , poultry and seafood division . So if it has to do with microbes and water , we're making sure that we can help folks the best that we can .

So really appreciate that and I think that goes a long way , because I know you're super passionate about what you do .

algae , how to maintain that as well just everything under the sun in the root zone . So there's just a lot of really useful information here and it'll kind of build upon with that second episode as well . I guess where we get started today is the basics of root zone and the stages of crop steering .

So how would you define a clean and consistent root zone and why is it such a fundamental step for crop steering ? So how ?

You know they're positive microbes that can impact plant health in a good way , and you know you're able to have replicatable results . The biggest thing with steering is having a consistent environment . If you have variables , then you're steering , you're basically driving blind .

At that point you may have some success , you may have some failures , but it's really hard to replicate things if your environment is not completely consistent . And so , before we even get into the root zone , we want to make sure that you know our environmentals are on point . If we set our dehu to 15% humidity , can it reach it ?

If we set our AC to , you know , 58 degrees , can it pull that off ? If you know there are environmental parameters , if we put our AC on 58 and it only gets to 62 , that means that we may not have , you know , the environmental controls that we need to properly steer the root zone , because VPD plays into that as well . It all has to do with transpiration .

And so a healthy root zone is going to be part of a healthy environment . And we can't have a healthy root zone unless the environment is on point as well . Because uptake and you know irrigation shots and you know being able to dial in the maximum irrigation versus you know maximum growth pattern , all depends on the environment being dialed as well .

But you know , once we know the environment is dialed , the first thing a grower wants to do is get a water test , because until we have a water test , we are essentially just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks . That can be very expensive . It could be one step forward , two steps back , so to speak .

If you've got a microbial in your water column that could be resistant to the chemistry you're putting out , You're just , in essence , almost creating a dominant microbe in that environment .

There are some chemistries on the market that you know don't necessarily touch every single pathogen that's in the water , and so if we can eliminate 98% of what's in that column but we leave that 2% , that 2% is going to become a dominant bad microbe because of the fact that there's no internal competition going on at that point , and so we can almost create an

environment where we are being counterproductive , even though we think we're doing the right thing .

And so by having that water test , you know exactly what you're dealing with and you can move forward with an educated approach in terms of options with sanitizer , fertilizer recommendations , irrigation shots , temperature in the room , pcs , it all kind of just it's a big picture type of thing .

But I do want to point out here that our product is clean when it comes out of the oven and once the raw material is spun into the fibers that become the Stonewool .

However , once it leaves the manufacturing plant and goes through the distributors or through a hydro shop , we don't always know what's happening between leaving the factory and then getting to the customer .

So , as we recommend , like with any media , it's always a good idea to use something to sterilize the plugs this could be something like sodium hypochlorite or xeritol prior to use and then once you start to see roots , introducing beneficial microbes that will help out-compete bad microbes is also a big recommendation and big advantage with stonewool .

So I think that's extremely important and that's why we always talk about the application timing for microbes .

They maybe were cut , you know , further down the plant so they're a little woodier . They just they take a little bit longer , they're not on par with the rest of them and so you get a little bit of algae in your AOK block and they transplant that into a four inch and then it just proliferates from there .

There are a couple options growers can do to basically mitigate that . In the beginning , like you said , using something like a Xeritol 2.0 at like a one to 3,000 . That's the general rule of thumb , for water treatment Gives you about seven parts per million of peroxyacetic acid .

That's enough to treat any zoospore , filamentous algae or cyanobacteria that could be in said water column . And so you know if you're wetting your cubes you're wetting them with water that has been treated and basically at that point you are able to stop a problem before it starts . If

we can keep the prop clean , then the likelihood of algae developing in later stages is a lot smaller , because the plants are going to be a lot more uniform at that point . They're going to be drinking more , you know . They're going to be on the same schedule for the most part .

And so the proliferation of algae in later stages , if we can stop it in the beginning , it's less likely to pop up later on . And so you know , utilizing that water treatment is definitely a good way to keep it from getting there . And there is one thing I want to touch on just real quick .

There's a common misconception that if you treat your water you can't use microbes . That's not true . Doing its job in the water , it's not enough to effectively sterilize a block or a container .

And so if we were to hot shot in some microbes into the block and then still use the water treatment , you might get a little bit of mortality around your dripper in terms of microbial activity , but it's not going to sanitize the entire thing .

And so if you can keep any new inoculum from getting to your block and then you've got some positive inoculum there , such as bacillus inoculum from getting to your block , and then you've got some positive inoculum there , such as bacillus .

You can also hamper algae growth by utilizing a biological protection layer and then treat your water at the same time , and then you basically have a one-two punch at that point , making sure that the column is sterile as possible and then when you get to the block , you have , you know , that layer to basically inhibit anything from being able to adhere and grow

itself have you know , that layer to basically inhibit anything from being able to adhere and grow itself .

So you know , mentioning using beneficial microbes and the timing of a product like Xeritol , you know what does that look like from your perspective on application so typically we would like to see you do a application of microbes within like 24 hours of a xeritol application .

So if we do an irrigation shot in the beginning of the day and you know we let our blocks dry down accordingly by the end of the day , and we let our blocks dry down accordingly by the end of the day , there probably isn't going to be any xeritol left in that environment . So you could do an inoculation with some type of beneficial microbe .

But the way we really like to approach it is take out the bad , put back the good .

So we always do a xeritol application first to basically kind of clean the slate and then , if we put positive biology back in there , you're actually going to get superior colonization because if they have healthy tissue to colonize on , they're going to proliferate much better than if they're trying to compete against disease .

So if you don't have something to out-compete the bad microbes , that's where you run into risk of resilience in the crop and crop vigor , health and all of those things that are so important , definitely .

I've seen it where something pops up and then growers try six different things and then at that point they don't know what works or what exacerbated the problem because you're not doing one thing at a time . You've strayed from your SOP . You've basically gone into panic mode .

Biosecurity to me is just basically having a solid plan for whatever comes up and being aware of the threats that are in existence .

Planning and being proactive are key to success . You don't want to steer blind , even with IPM , so you have to make sure that you cover all of your bases and are able to success . You don't want to steer blind , even with IPM , so you have to make sure that you cover all of your bases and are able to provide a clean , quality product consistently .

There are some other medias out there that are awesome hosts for microbials , whether they're dehydrated or shipped as a expanded you know media , shipped as a expanded media . The next thing you want to do is make sure that whatever stock you're growing is as disease-free as possible .

I know , getting back to testing again , test your moms because of the prevalence of things like hop , latent thyroid xanthomonas there's a bunch of different pathogens that can be passed around and so , you know , ensuring that you're starting with clean stock , having that water test and then basically having an outline for said crop before it even gets put into

production . You know what you're doing week one , week two , week three . Basically , what we want to do is minimize surprises . Something's always going to happen . An AC is going to fail , somebody's going to get sick . You know , lights are going to go out . Something's always going to happen .

An AC is going to fail , somebody's going to get sick , lights are going to go out .

There's always going to be issues , and so the best thing growers can do is basically have a plan , and I don't want to say rehearse the harvest before it's done , but if you can visualize everything that you've got to do before you do it , it makes it a lot easier and you actually have a roadmap to success .

At that point , instead of okay , it's Monday , what am I doing this week , you flip to week three in your chart and say okay , it's Monday . Today we do this .

They actually make cards that when they get wet they turn blue . And so I know some high growers , like higher up in management , that will actually test their spray people and not let them know that they put those cards in the canopy and then they will go in and test those cards just to make sure that those guys are doing their jobs .

There is a lot with IPM that kind of makes it the redheaded stepchild of the industry . We're always the first to get blamed and the last to get credit . So you know , it's one of those things that the more you can kind of just have checks and balances with your guys , the better they're going to do .

I've seen a lot of growers start to pay attention to water columns a little bit more , start to pay attention to irrigation frequency a little bit more and realize that algae is an indicator of disease . It's not necessarily the worst thing in the world , but it shows you that something's off in the brook . It's like the tire light on your car .

You can still drive the car , but there's something that needs to be addressed .

So that's where we want to really take a look at algae and make sure that we are doing what we can to combat it and not just accepting it for something that be considered an eyesore in a facility .

We want to have enough of a chemistry to address anything that could be present in said column , but we don't want to overdo it to the point where that sanitizer is actually coming out of the emitters and possibly sanitizing our media and so like . In the case of something like a Xeritol 2.0 , the rate varies a little bit .

It's a 1 to 5,000 on the real low end to maybe about a 1 to 1,200 on the high end . A water test will tell us the inoculum load in said column .

But if we can address that inoculum load with the correct amount , then we know that our microbial activity in our block is going to be the effect on it is going to be negligible , because chemistry is doing its job in the call you know what I'm saying Like we're basically cleaning the water as it goes , but by the time it gets to the dripper there's going to

be little to no chemistry left to negatively affect that biology .

And so in a way we're almost reinforcing that biology by allowing , you know the xeritol in this instance to break down , because the byproduct of xeritol 2.0 is oxygen and water that can actually be utilized by the plant , where there are some other chemistries that folks utilize that will break down into unavailable EC ie salt and at that point you know the shant's

not necessarily utilizing it and it could be almost like a unwanted byproduct of , you know , sanitation , whereas with something like a PAA or an H2O2 , the byproduct is actually quite available . So , zach , how do you recommend doing a Xerofal drench or any root zone drench , and can you touch on the timing for

microbe application once more , so if we're going to do a drench , we want to typically time that in the middle of the day so that we are applying wet to wet , we make sure that we get even permeation and the osmotic pressure and processes in the plant are already kicking .

We don't necessarily want to do it as the first irrigation of the day just because getting a media from a dry back to wet , the plant is going to be the thirstiest at that point and so we may see some undesirable effects if we do it as the first shot . But you know being able to utilize that in , you know , most of the feeds .

The only time you wouldn't want to do it is if you are irrigating some type of orthosilicic acid like a PowerSci or a Vitalize or a Faciliter or any type of microbe . They can be used independently . You just don't want to put them in conjunction Again . When Xeritol is dry , it's done .

And so if you were to do a Xeritol application as like your second shot of the day and then a microbial shot for like your last shot of the day , or even if you wanted to wait 24 hours , you could ensure nothing's going to be left after that 24 hour period .

But basically , once the chemistry has done its job , it's gone , and so if we were using that very low water treatment rate , you could infer for sure that that morning irrigation is not going to have any effect on that later microbial application , because we're only using enough to treat the column .

So from the research in terms of bacterial populations , we see similar numbers for colonization in stonewall as we do in other organic growing medias . And then , when it comes to fungi , higher levels of fungi are found in organic media due to fungi's ability to degrade organic compounds and make carbon available again .

The minute you mix it up , your ORP starts to drop , and so what that essentially means is that we started a stopwatch , and if you can't finish whatever your application is within that timeline , you're , in essence , adding fuel to the fire .

If we're fighting a fungal pathogen because we're just adding residual moisture and what a mold and mildew and fungus really like damp , so if we're putting out , you know , residual humidity , it's just going to exacerbate the problem .

What we've done with PAA is it's literally hydrogen peroxide and glacial grade acetic acid , which is just the purest vinegar that you can get , so the vinegar and peroxide that have been stabilized in solution just to create a higher level disinfectant .

Paa still breaks down into inerts oxygen and water , but it has a longer staying period , so it's kind of like H2O2 on steroids . It allows it to stick around for a longer period of time and it will keep your level of ORP more consistent .

So even if it takes a grower two to three hours to do an application , they'll have that consistent level that entire time , whereas with regular H2O2 , it's going like this and so by the end of that application they may be , like I said , adding fuel to the fire . By utilizing the PAA , they just ensure that whatever they're doing is going to be effective .

But the fact that it's just vinegar and peroxide make it a very safe chemistry . In terms of residuals , it's MPS color code , white , which is the safest designation you can have for a chemistry . That is a professional chemistry , and the one thing that I always stress with growers is obviously always wear all your PPE .

But the most important thing is make sure you put on your goggles . If you get Xeritol or Sanidate , any high strength oxidizer , in the aqueous membrane of your eye , it can cause blindness , and so you know , always make sure that you treat these chemistries with the respect that they deserve , because they are professional chemistries .

But in terms of residuals , they have a minimal impact on the environment . You know , we don't hurt bees , we don't hurt fish , we're not , you know , putting stuff into the ground that's going to be there in 50 years that they're going to have to remediate at some point .

You know , what we try to do at BioSafe is kind of leave the world better than we found it .

If you are a customer of BioSafe , we will actually do the test for you and do efficacy testing with our products so that we can dial in that rate and know exactly what the inoculum load is , so that we have that maximum ROI , you know , and get those numbers of coliform E coli , pithium , whatever it may be in that column down to as close to zero as we

can get it . And then at that point you know the only thing that typically needs to be adjusted in a fertigation skid is possibly lowering the amount of pH down . That's going into said solution , because PAA is an acid . It's a weak acid but it's still an acid .

You may see a little bit of drop in pH and so by just reducing that pH down , input a little bit , you can compensate and still have that same desirable range that you're going for . But at that point you know that what's going to the plant has been treated for filamentous algae , cyanobacteria , zoospore , et cetera , so it's clean when it gets there .

Talk to them about doing a line shock so that we could start clean and then basically stay clean from that point . So we did a water test for them , we did the line shock , we started doing the Xeritol as a direct inject and they had much more you know crop that made it to full term .

They weren't losing plants and they said that overall it was about a 15 to 20% increase in biomass because the plants were actually able to drink what they were being fed .

The problem with a lot of root zone pathogens is they slowly kind of choke the plant's ability to feed , and if your plant can't uptake what it needs as effectively as it can , then your harvest isn't going to be on point , and so that root zone aspect of making sure that your house has a solid foundation keeps everything above ground from toppling over .

So if we talk about a 15 to 20% increase in biomass .

That definitely will pay for the you know amount of labor that it took to install the injector at the end and the minimal amount of xeritol that's going into those plants , because now they're not chasing their tail , they're not doing you know things later on in harvest to try to save plants that become expensive and compromise the crop .

If we can deal with it on the front end again , acs fail , people quit , stuff happens that we do not expect . Address those variables before they become problems and you're able to have a much smoother harvest . By eliminating that root zone issue , they were able to focus on other aspects of the plant .

They weren't playing catch up , they weren't letting that snowball get bigger , and so plant maintenance was on point . You know . The health was on point because if something was going wrong they could address it right then and there , instead of

putting it on the checklist to do tomorrow , so to speak . And by having that root zone go the way that it was supposed to , it made everything else that much more streamlined .

Paa is an acid , and so if we were to inject it first , not only are we possibly compromising the seals on our other injectors , because Xeritol is an oxidizer , but we are degrading the solution as it goes through and our pH is not going to be stable because we just added an acid to dead water .

In essence , there's no buffer there , and so by doing that first , it puts everything else out of whack . If we can get our fertilizer in there first , then that PAA from the Xeritol has something to interact with .

You don't see that dramatic drop and the sanitizer is able to do its job , whereas if we inject it first and then we have to bring that pH up right away , if we mix an acid in the base in dead water , we just created very expensive water .

You know you'll get there . But the thing about keeping logs and charting stuff is so that you can go back and look at it at another point . And you know you'll get there . But the thing about keeping logs and charting stuff is so that you can go back and look at it at another point .

And you know , if every June thrips pop up , be proactive , treat for thrips in late May so that they never get a foothold .

You know , if every August the aquifer gets super hot and there's algae that's coming out of your water source , then you know , hey , when that season comes around , we need to make sure we do a water test so that we're injecting at the rate that we need to to be able to effectively eliminate this issue .

Basically , just you know , having the foresight to know what could go wrong and try to address it ahead of time . Again , having that schedule where you know what you're doing before you're doing . It allows people to really stay on that proactive path instead of waiting for something to go wrong and then addressing it , because that's when stuff gets expensive .

Man , if you can be on the front end , then you are going to save money in the long run because you're mitigating things before they become problems .

If you ship it on Friday it's going to sit at a DC over the weekend and more than likely the sample will get compromised . So Monday through Thursday we ask that you ship it with ice packs . Typically it takes one to two weeks for us to get results because we have to see what grows on the agar .

But with that efficacy test we can say this is what the water that you sent us , this is what we did with Xeritol at . You know , one to 10,000 , one to 5,000 , one to 3,000 . These are the numbers that came out , and then that allows us to basically tell a grower okay , at one to 3,000 , you were at zeros across the board .

So we know this is a good rate . Or at one to 5,000 , it was very minimal numbers . 1 to 3,000 was zero . So maybe we try in the middle and do like a 1 to 4 and see what that does .

It gives us a roadmap so that we know , to the best of our ability , to maximize that ROI for the growers , so that they're effectively eliminating anything in that column without adding excess sanitizer and wasting money .

In my mind , having two on a table is really the best way to do it .

You know , find a really healthy plant and then find the worst looking plant and then you can compare and contrast on that table and assume that everybody else is going to be kind of in the middle of that , like if you've got the scrawniest looking one and then the best looking one , you can kind of amrate that data and say , okay , this is kind of where we

need to be here in the middle . And that , you know , allows them to dial in their irrigation frequency so that they can increase that biomass . Tracking clogged drippers , clagging , you know , problem plants If we start to see plants that are wilting in an environment , that's an indicator that something could be in the irrigation system .

You know , tracking abiotic versus biotic stress Did that plant get sick over two weeks or was it overnight ? And you know that really allows us to dial in ? Was it nutrient related or pathogen related , or did an environmental thing happen that caused these plants to wilt overnight ?

You know , just basically I don't want to say keeping track of your failures , but just stuff that looks out of the ordinary , and basically you just want that to be on a downward trend .

Once you start treating water , you're going to see less and less of those issues , because the plants are going to have the ability to exist in an environment for a longer period , with less suppression .

Because if not , if we're not at the top of the food chain , other stuff is going to dominate the environment . The top of the food chain , other stuff is going to dominate the environment .

And so , by you know , knowing that Stonewall can be susceptible to certain things because of this optimal environment that we've created , we just have to be , you know , the intermediary in that scenario and realize that if anything goes wrong , it's not going to fix itself .

Like we have to be on the forefront , making sure that everything is under our control , because if we leave it up to nature , she's going to run amok , so to speak , like if there's no . It's almost like the gray wolves here in Colorado . They don't have any natural predators now and they're spreading like wildfire .

When you don't have those checks and balances , stuff can get out of control .

And what can happen , especially in a slow drip system where it's only coming on for 30 seconds every however long that residual can sit in that tube and basically start to cause issues because that PAA doesn't have anything to interact with so it starts to fall out of solution .

The lower amount of PAA , that 2% that's in the Xeritol , really is good or drip irrigation , because it has that higher amount of H2O2 to address any of that bile burden that could be there . And then that 2% PAA gives it just enough oomph to where it's , that higher level than even , say , like a 40% H2O2 .

That 27% in Xeritol with a 2% PAA is actually better than a 40% hydrogen peroxide by itself . That lower amount of PAA doesn't necessarily gum up drippers , doesn't cause the issues that the higher amount of PAA necessarily would . Gum up drippers , doesn't cause the issues that the higher amount of QAA necessarily would . It's really designed for set application .

So like drip tape , netafim drippers , anything that's going to stop and start . Zeratol 2.0 really is the best option for that type of application .

At that point , if the plant can do exactly what it's supposed to do and it doesn't have any road blocks , then it will perform better than a plant that could have some type of hindrance possibly .

So this is where , in my opinion , math meets science and it brings it all together , which makes it very exciting and makes it fun to be able to apply science and math to something that we're doing and something that we're cultivating . So that's where I get a lot of benefit and a lot of gratification from .

You know it's a great food source for fungus gnats . It could potentially lead into a shorefly infestation . You don't necessarily have pythium if you have algae , but they like to hang out together . They have the same conducive environment . So if you see algae , there's a good chance that you know pythium might be hanging out as well .

And at that point you know the ability for the plant to do its job is diminished greatly

because it's sitting in a stagnant , rotting environment . You don't have the oxygen in that rhizosphere that's needed for . You know healthy metabolic processes and that again , I use this term a few times . But that snowball just gets exponentially bigger the longer that issue sticks around .

I see it pretty frequently in our smaller blocks and you can still produce a pretty healthy plant with it , but you're still accepting its other risks .

You're potentially bringing , like you said , fungus , gnats and shore flies anything else like that that just can create issues in the root zone and that makes it harder for our plants to uptake nutrients at optimal levels , so that can exacerbate problems later on in flower as well .

So if you don't need to spend extra resources battling algae , you know there are other ways to combat that through irrigation practices , using things like , you know , the e-grow system or root zone monitoring systems , so that we can actually manage our irrigations correctly and our drybacks correctly , so that we don't end up overfeeding , overwatering .

You know not utilizing our resources correctly and you know that all comes at a cost . So if we can implement better practices into the root zone comes at a cost . So if we can implement better practices into the root zone , we're also creating more favorable environments for proliferation of things like beneficial microbes .

So I think we've got to look at it holistically and say , hey , you know , like let's you know , even though this is acceptable to an extent and we can make it work in this system . What other risks is that bringing to the table and how should we approach it to manage our resources better ?

You know that's just extremely important in this industry right now , with everyone struggling with price compression and market contraction and things that are happening . So everything we can do to manage our substrate better and our IPM and our environment , that's going to produce a healthier crop .

It's going to take oxygen away from the block and any mineral nutrition that can you , that can potentially come in contact with , could be a potential food source . So if you had an employee that was stealing from you , you'd fire them . If you look at algae almost like a thief , it's stealing from your plant's potential .

By doing so , any bio burden or mineral scale or anything that could have accumulated during said run is going to be flushed out , so that we're basically starting that run with as close to virgin material as possible .

The cleaner we start , the cleaner will stay , and so by utilizing that to start the run and then putting a water treatment protocol in place , we are minimizing the potential of anything occurring during the run . So that's just the preventative maintenance aspect .

By doing the water treatment , it's addressing the daily load , and the line shocks are basically like a room reset . I like to see growers do it after each run , but I know sometimes that's not practical . They should at least be doing it quarterly , to do it after each run , but I know sometimes that's not practical .

And then you wouldn't want to tank mix any type of microbial in with your chemistry of choice to clean your water , because then again we're just creating very expensive water . The sanitizer is going to eat up the microbes and then there's not going to be anything of benefit left in that water column .

But in terms of mineral nutrition it's compatible with 99% of the mineral nutrition that's out there . The only time I've really seen issues is if the formulation has really high magnesium and is allowed to sit for a long period of time . Typically with direct inject it's not a problem .

But I have seen it in stock tanks in the past where there will be a little bit of fallout just from the oxidizer reaction in the tank . Oxidizer reaction in the tank . If growers are going to treat their water , I am a very big proponent of doing a direct inject over a stock tank solution , because Xeritol is a peroxidal based chemistry .

The longer it sits , the less efficable it's going to be . And if you don't use that tank within 24 hours , you're not actually applying anything that would be beneficial to said crop .

By putting an injector into the setup , you can have a replicatable amount that's going into the column every time , and so , again , you know your results are consistent , whereas if we dose the tank , that first feed of the day is going to have more you know xeritol in it than that last feed of the day , and so it's really hard to just stay consistent .

And you know , getting back to that whole , you don't know what you've lost until you fix it . If you're not consistent , you don't have data to look back on to set your metrics .

It means controlled and sustainable inputs and precision growing are not at odds , they're partners . So just remember , these guys are very helpful , very approachable , and if you need to get ahold of them , there's lots of ways to do that .

So just , we'll have that at the end of the show , but just remember that there's no bad questions and these guys have a lot of the solutions . So never feel afraid to kind of reach out to these guys and approach them as we move on to these kind of not so rapid fire questions . Just want to again thank everybody for being on the show .

Zach , John , I really appreciate you guys . So we'll start here . Uh , one of our favorites , Zach . Um , what's your all time favorite ?

She was the first commercial strain , and there are other strains that I like to smoke better . But in terms of just being like , yep , this is when you had a table of blue dream . It always looked better than everything else in the grow . When you had a table of Blue Dream .

So they're pretty stoked on the numbers and it seems like the market is demanding it again .

My first successful harvest , though , was Black Widow . I had gotten a cut from Harborside in Oakland , and to this day that's one of my favorite smokes . It only tested at 18% THC , but it was 31% overall cannabinoid content . Love it .

You can do a lot of research and educate yourself and you know I know it sounds kind of silly , but that tool has so many different applications in a grow . That being said , keep it out of the cure room , because everybody does go in the bathroom with their phones and we don't want testing to be failed or anything like that .

I owe everything in my life to it , from my life to it , from my career to my wife , to my friend circle , to my health . The plant has provided 100% .

You know there's a lot to be said about fungi . Just like they help the plants , they help us as well , and just the the diversity that they have . Like , when you look at some of the strains that are grown like cordyceps , for example , those are insane , man .

When you look at them they almost look like stalagmites that come out of the ground rather than an actual living organism if you could give one piece of advice to new growers , what would it be ? Check your ego at the door . There's a lot of knowledge out there and you're not going to learn it if you feel like you already know everything .

Why are you doing this For new growers ? Be receptive to new information , be willing to learn and realize that your greatest successes will be a result of BPS failures . Again , it's not a mistake if you learn from it , and there's not one successful cultivator on this planet that hasn't had some major setbacks . Don't give up .

And I asked him . I said could you say that again ? He goes yeah , root apids , I got root apids , and so that was pretty funny . I don't know , there's been some stuff that I've just shaken my head at .

That I would say not necessarily the funniest , but like just the thing that made me shake my head worse than anything is I was at a facility and the head grower and I were talking in the parking lot and he had workers taking bags out to the dumpster and he got cited for that dumpster not being locked , even though there was people walking from the building

actively putting trash in it . The inspector told them that he needed to lock it every time he walked away from it , which is just ridiculous , yeah . Yeah that's absurd .

So you know , if I'm showing up and I'm giving you this advice because I want you to succeed and I want you to do the best that you can and I think people see that , because there aren't very many reps in the world today that will recommend competitor chemistries that'll fix the problem .

And I'm all about just making sure that you're around next year so that you know you can grow more crops . And if I can't fix that , I will be forthright with you and say , hey , you need to use this , this and this and I make none of those .

It's more about grower success than sales for me and I think that that's really what's allowed me to flourish in this industry , because people know when you're sincere and they know when you're just blowing smoke and being able to look back at the last 10 years in the commercial cannabis space and still be in the position that I am .

It shows that you know I'm I'm giving good advice , I'm following through with what I say I'm going to do and you know growers are successful if they follow the protocols . I like that .

A lot of times when I talk to people about video games or you know nerdy stuff , they kind of look at me like what .

They thought they didn't need X amount of tonnage for ACs or what have you , and if you don't do it right the first time , you're going to end up doing it twice , and so , even though it might seem like the hard thing is the right thing , because in the long run it's going to be less work for you , even if it's a hell of a challenge right away .

Have that forethought to say if I do this today , what is my life going to look like in three months , six months , a year , and will this benefit me ? And if the answer is yes ,

then put in the work , because your future self will thank you .

They can always hit me up on Instagram ZachTheGrowGuy underscore Biosafe . I'm always posting educational stuff on there . Safe , I'm always posting , you know , educational stuff on there and , uh , you know they can always hit up the bio safe Instagram as well .

Um , I've got a lot of YouTube videos and then , uh , because I am only one man , last year I did put out a book on Amazon called clean growing . That is a great resource for uh folks to basically address any issues that could pop up in the grow .

It's not necessarily a cover to cover read , but you know , if you're dealing with russet mites , you can turn to chapter three and then you've got every protocol that's available to a cannabis grower to effectively eliminate russet mites or , you know , whatever the issue is that they're dealing with , there is in-depth knowledge on treating it conventionally on like a

home grower level and with like beneficial insects . If they want to go that route as well .

They're just incredible resources and it's always a good way to have a little bit of background when you come in . Then you talk to Zach about a question . You've already kind of read a little bit about it , so that's perfect . Anything coming up or exciting in the next couple of months .

We've talked about OSHA compliance and facilities , which is going to be something that is coming very soon . We've talked about different types of water treatment chemistries .

We've talked about how endophytes , which are a type of organism that can actually grow in symbiosis with the plant and not necessarily be parasitic , can be beneficial to you know , cannabis growth and how different microbes can positively impact your plant's ability to do its job .

You know there's just a plethora of stuff that we're going to be putting out so that if something piques my interest , I'm going to let you guys know about it , so that we can have an educated conversation over some hash or something .

It'll be really focused around the canopy this time , so if you have any questions , reach out to us , because maybe we can answer them on the next episode and until then , thank you again . Everybody Cheers you .