Anyone ever use any devices from Willow? Over here in the MA market there are incredibly stringent regs on microbials and I’m dubious about using ozone to remediate flower, but the only other options I’ve really found involve radiation. Trying to find out more about the machines and people’s experience before we spend money on renting a device from them.
We use a rad source x-ray radiation machine and its pre and post test results are practically identical and would fall closer to lab variance than actual change of potency and terps.
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I appreciate the feedback on the radsource, I’ve used it before and it works fine but my employers are looking for alternatives.
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I would personally avoid Willow. Unless they’ve changed their technology significantly, it always seemed to add a very faint but unique odor to the material and from my experience there was some level of discoloration. I never liked how the product came out.
If you are looking to remediate microbials there are really only a few methods that I think are adequate at scale:
- Ozone (willow)
- Radiation (Radsource)
- RF waves (Ziel)
They all have various pros and cons. I would completely avoid peroxide dipping and chlorine dioxide. Both are great at sterilization but I don’t think they are as efficacious for cannabis as the other three options and have their own problems that I believe are much more significantly difficult to overcome than the main three I listed.
I am with @thesk8nmidget that the Radsource is definitely the best option and having tested a plethora of types of remediation myself, seems to produce the most consistent pre-remediation/post-remediation test results. I would have your employers look at Ziel with RF technology as the other option if you don’t like ozone (I didn’t).
My problem with Ziel was they had no small sized machines they would let me trial. They only kept insisting that they have data to show it is successful (at the time we were looking at them the only data they had was from Nevada which are significantly different growing conditions than outdoor in Michigan). They also wouldn’t provide me any type of guarantee and would not be willing to take the machine back if we weren’t satisfied with it. So I can’t speak on how well it works as they talked themselves out of a sale…wasn’t going to try to spend that kind of money for a piece of equipment I couldn’t even get a guarantee on.
Besides RF I have done everything else so feel free to DM me with any specific questions and I’ll be happy to share my experiences with each type of method (peroxide dipping, chlorine dioxide, ozone and radsource).
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That’s a brilliant response, thank you so much for your candor. I might take you up on your offer as a resource, and I really appreciate the help. It seems that you’re of the same mindset as we are, as a startup we can’t really afford to shell out the kind of cash it takes for us to even rent one of these machines without some guarantee of it working, it’s too risky for us. Thanks again, I’ll be in touch with a direct message.
First, full disclosure. I work for Rad Source.
A recent survey was done by the Colorado MED about decontamination methods. Of the respondents 90 % where using irradiation (from one manufacture) and 2% of respondents where using ozone
Of those respondents
- 67% Ozone users said they showed terp loss
- No terpene loss show with Irradiation
Thank you, that is consistent with what we hear from all our customers.
RF is also radiation but its non-ionizing radiation and does cause atoms to vibrate which can cause heat. I have heard from many RF users that they see significant heat which causes terpene loss.
Depending on your state, I can get you set up with a demo where you can have some of your product run through a Rad Source device.
you can contact me using mbroxterman at Radsource
or send a DM
More information about Decontamination can also be found here
https://demandsafercannabis.com/
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A lot of smaller operations that cannot afford the large upfront cost of the machine will use a place that can toll process their material for them for a per pound fee. The right choice isnt cheap but it can be wrapped up into your manufacturing costs a little easier than it is to take the big upfront cost hit.
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