Hi we recently failed microbial testing for aspergillus all three strains they were testing for. I have no signs of pm on any plants and have no idea why we failed. I think this happening after harvest during drying and curing, but Im not sure. Some samples from the same batches passed and some failed testing. Any ideas or info that you can share would truly be appreciated.
We are in Nevada and microbial testing has become a huge problem for growers here. Its to the point where people are irradiating there buds exposing them to all different possibly harmful stuff just to pass microbial testing.
Anybody with any knowledge or experience with this please let me know.
We are a closed system grow, we use uv light in AC’s to sterilize. and run carbon filtration constantly.
There are absolutely no signs of PM or Budrot anywhere while plants are growing.
I would stop using that uv light that produces ozone and change them out and install Activepure. Activepure produces Hydrogen Peroxide, Hydroxyls and Super Oxides with no ozone leaving residue on your plants. You would need Activepure where you are drying and curing as well.
Terry McConn
Hi, I’m the COO for PathogenDx.
If we send you a bunch of swabs, we would recommend swabbing those areas in the closed look system. You can send the swabs back to us and we will see if and where you have contamination.
So long as no plant material on swabs, you can send cross state lines to us and we can analyze. This will allow you to target clean if necessary or if you are clean, we will send that back to you as well.
Environmental Screening Array.
My email is elachance@pathogendx.com if you are interested.
When our partners have these sorts of issues, we swab at their facility to locate the source of the contamination.
We can only work with Colorado businesses, but see if you can find a local lab to come by and swab. Their microbiologists may think to swab places that you didn’t even consider, especially in cure and trim rooms.
Thank you everyone for your responses. How many swabs do you suggest we take. What are the best areas to swab?
You will have 100% pass rate usIng our Air Water Light solutions at a cost of $2 per plant from clone to cure. More info at www.spectrumgro.com Larry Lucas 951-551-3052
Use Ziel radio frequency treatment of your contaminated batch.
That has got to be some if the coolest technology I have seen in a long time!
Anyone can tell me the cost of the ziel technology?
It’s not cheap it’s around $120K for complete assembled system from Germany. The wise thing to do is to get together collective of several growers and invest in one of those machines. The capacity of this machine is enormous. After the treatment when you test the cannabis it’s definitely within the limits.
@Alex can you tag in Ziel on this thread once their profile is set up? Looks like they recently got a vendor corner #vendor-corner:ziel so I know they are in the process of on boarding. You might want to give them a call so they can jump into this thread while it’s active. 
An interesting side note:
Aspergilus sp. Produce a powerful set of toxins, aflotoxin.
In the big 5 crops the aflotoxin limits for demestic consumption is redicusly small. We at not allowed to be sold in the USA is often diluted and sent overseas.
Also remember spores of Aspergilus like botritus and mildew can be found in almost every air sample.
Aflotoxin have a very high mamaliun toxsicidy. In the 1960’s Malencrote chemicals tried to develop an incecticide based on aflotoxins. Very excellent at controlling mites. They only problem was they poisened the everyone in the lab.
The spice/herb industry has dealt with aflotoxin contamination for many decades. Black pepper always has some aflotoxin contamination. preground pepper is exempt from aflotoxin testing. In the 1980’s we tested 10 store purchased samples of preground pepper, all samples failed. I have ground my own black pepper ever since.
I would think Bill Penzey of Penzey spices might have some ideas on Aspergilus control metiods.
Yes, remember spores of Aspergilus like mildew can be found in almost every air sample. This is why treating the air with our product that will attack and kill these problems before reaching your plant. Please call if interested in hearing more.
Terry McConn
Pantec, LLC
713-306-8355
Visit www.spectrumgro.com as our natural solutions Eliminates Aspergillus. All of our growers using our technology pass 100%. Results are all Non Detected. Cost is cheap cheap. Only $2 per plant from clone to cure. Cheap insurance for a guaranteed crop. Larry Lucas 951-551-3052 Larry.Lucas@spectrumgro.com
I agree with most of the comments above about cleaning your air. Aspergillus is everywhere!
Not to hijack, but has anyone used radiofrequency tech on their flower? I’ve heard its much more damaging to terpenes, color, etc than advertised…but not first hand.
We can definitely vouch for the Ziel technology, but I think the best method is outlined by @agrisciencetesting and @elachance. Always best to identify the source problem area so you don’t need to treat products. [@sali78619]
*Sorry for the late reply, hope everyone had a great Labor Day!
Thank you everyone for your replies. Apparently our local lab does the swab testing. They said they will comes out and swab everything next week.
Question, since aspergillus is everywhere and is not like pm, are there certain levels that are safe? It seems as though we automatically failed test simply because it was detected. Not any specific levels.