Ask Me Anything: Jill Ellsworth from Willow Industries [Wednesday, Feb 21st, 11 am MST]

Vendor Connect Willow Industries
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Hey everyone!

Growers Network is hosting an Ask Me Anything event on Wednesday, February 21st, 2018 at 11 am MST with Jill Ellsworth from Willow Industries!

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Jill is a serial and creative entrepreneur, fueled by a passion to innovate new products and companies when she finds that a need isn’t being met. In 2016, Jill sold a successful beverage distribution company, Vibrant Earth Distribution, and was the only distributor in the state of Colorado to sell alcohol kombucha. They worked with King Soopers, Whole Foods, and Alfalfa’s. Prior to that, she founded Vibrant Earth Juices (VEJ), a cold-pressed organic juice company in Santa Barbara, CA. VEJ was the first fresh juice company to launch in SB, which became very successful. She was named Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Emerging Business in 2013 and was featured in many different online and print publications.

In 2013, she re-launched the company in Denver, CO and became an instant success as one of the first cold-pressed juice companies in the state. With a juice truck, and a thriving direct-to-consumer juice cleanse business, VEJ was also on the shelves in Safeway, Natural Grocers, Lucky’s, and numerous yoga studios, gyms, coffee shops, and healthy eating establishments. It was during her entrance into retail that she became passionate about pasteurization techniques and employed High Pressure Processing (HPP) to prevent microbial growth, increase the shelf life and freshness for her nutrient-dense juice line. She was the HPP keynote speaker at Hope Foods when they launched their HPP toll processing company. In 2015, Jill sold VEJ and the cleanse business.

Jill holds a Master’s of Science in Nutrition, Dietetics, & Food Science, a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, and a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from California State University, Northridge. She is also a Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist, having done her residency in Santa Barbara, CA and San Luis Obispo, CA. She has 3 dogs, 4 chickens, loves to exercise, and is raising a baby girl!

From Willow Industries vendor category:

Willow Industries offers post-harvest microbial prevention and decontamination. Based in Denver, Colorado, we provide state-of-the-art technology to clean and purify flower & trim. Our patent-pending technology, WillowPure, uses a scientifically researched method to reduce yeast, mold, pathogens, and trace pesticide residues while protecting the medicinal properties of the plant. Most importantly, we deliver a finished product that is safe for consumers.

Willow Industries Contact Information

Willow Industries has @JoshWillow here in the community available to help you out after the AMA. Feel free to @ tag him in your questions to alert him beyond the AMA!

Feel free if you have any questions you would like to post now in advance for Jill and we’re looking forward to seeing the community at the AMA!

See you on the 21st!

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Hi, Josh & Jill! :slight_smile:

It’s great to see you on here.

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Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or 1 horse-sized duck?

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Tim Ferriss question!

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I’ll start off a few pre-questions here!

For starters, why ozone? What makes that the superior selection for prevention/decontamination?

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-is there an affect to terpines?
And what affect (if any) is there on the whole,
ie.
Is there a percentage loss of “qaulity/quantity” of cannabinoids.
Or just end ups at a safer product.

What is the method in which it can remove chemical residues from pesticides?
It this including systemic pesticides?

I had visited a client once and had damage done to plants. I hadn’t seen anything like it before.
He had recently purchased an ozone unit to deal with odor in the room (had no charcoal filters, semi closed space)
Is this possibly damage from the ozone machine?

How are these machines implemented as to not affect plant growth if used in same facility or in growing environembt. (Are they used?)

Do they affect microbiology in the soil and on plant surfaces if used in said environment?

I apologize I don’t remember the details of the machine. Nor have I been back, which I’m guessing taking that unit of line may have worked then.
But it was open and only a few feet away from from. Looked like a long can plugged in.

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When you decontaminate product, are there mycotoxins that still get left behind?

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Hey guys! Great to be here and thanks for joining!

Ozone is the best selection for decontamination because it will destroy yeast and mold without effecting potency or terpene profiles, at the right levels of course which our machine uses.

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Hey good morning and thanks for joining us!

What are considered to be safe concentration levels? What is a minimum amount that is still effective and what is a level that is considered to be too high (or damaging to the plant?)

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Josh, we are concerned about excess moisture on plants using dissolved CO2 water foliar sprays for faster veg growth. Would like to discus further for cannabis. 416-315-7477. Thx Sam.

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Hey everyone! This is Jill, as well. This is a longer question…which I will answer in depth but I want to get some info to you now.

We see very little loss in terpenes or potency after our treatment times. Our treatment times range between 1-4 hours depending on contamination levels. There are some clients where we will run their product 6 hours + and we haven’t had issues with a drastic decline in potency. Yes, there will be about a 1-2% loss in cannabinoids but the most important thing is having a clean, safe product for consumers.

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We have spent the past 2 1/2 years perfecting the concentration of ozone and treatment times to see the most amount of microbial degradation with little change to the medicinal properties of the plant. Since our machine is fully enclosed, our ozone levels are fairly high and our machine is very powerful. Since it is product that has already been harvested, we found that levels higher than we operate at can damage the trichomes. So we found the sweet spot.

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Is there a demand for post-harvest decontamination? Is that demand rising (and if so, why do you think that might be?) What kind of scenarios are presented to you via phone/e-mail when clients call saying they have a problem and need this service?

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Hi Hunter: We are currently working on testing that shows our process destroys mycotoxins. From our research on ozone and produce, ozone is a great medium for getting rid of mycotoxins. Obviously this is something that is top of mind since all the states will be testing for these toxins in the coming year. We believe our process is effective at destroying mycotoxins but we should have solid data in the next few months

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Hi Jordan…Jill here! My computer is back up and running. Yes, there is a huge demand for decontamination. Especially our service business. We are booked every day and have a 3 week wait time to get into new facilities. The demand is rising for many reasons - new testing regulations for medical in Colorado, more rigorous testing across the country and in states that are up and coming, and the extreme challenge presented when growing in artificial environments.
Most of our clients have either failed their microbial tests and need us to help them pass the re-test or they want to make sure they dont fail from the beginning.

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Hi Sam: We can definitely give you a call after the forum to discuss your concern.

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K thx Jill

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What are the drawbacks to using Ozone as a decontaminant? Obviously it’s not safe to breathe, but I imagine its reactive nature also affects the product quality.

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Hey awesome, very nice to meet you Jill (not that we haven’t enjoyed the pleasure of @JoshWillow haha!)

Is there a ballpark cost on the service? I hadn’t thought of the preventative part of it, seems like an interesting insurance policy from that standpoint!

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