Can Coco Coir Contribute to Aspergillus Problems in Cannabis?

Could Your Coco Be Part of Your Aspergillus Problem?

When cannabis repeatedly fails Aspergillus testing, operators often focus on the flower, grow room or sanitation program.

But there is another part of the cultivation system worth evaluating:

The material your plants are growing in.

Coco coir is widely used in commercial cannabis cultivation.

That doesn't mean coco is automatically responsible for an Aspergillus failure.

It does mean growing media should be included in a comprehensive contamination investigation.

Growing Media Is Part of Your Facility's Microbial Environment

Cannabis cultivation isn't a sterile process.

Growing media can contain microorganisms, and organic materials are handled, stored, hydrated and transported throughout cultivation operations.

The important question isn't:

“Is coco bad?”

It's:

“How is our growing media being managed from the time it enters the facility until the crop is finished?”

That's a much more useful question.

Don't Just Investigate the Manufacturer

If growing media becomes a suspected contamination pathway, operators sometimes immediately blame the supplier.

But contamination risk should be evaluated across the entire chain.

Consider:

How is the coco delivered?

Where is it stored?

Is it exposed to moisture during storage?

Are opened bags protected?

How is it hydrated?

What water is being used?

What tools and containers contact it?

How is used media handled?

Can employees move between used and unused materials?

The supplier is only one part of that pathway.

Moisture Changes the Equation

Dry material sitting in protected storage presents a different situation than wet organic material sitting inside a warm cultivation environment.

Once growing media is hydrated, it becomes part of the plant's biological environment.

That's why contamination assessments should consider the interaction between:

media + water + temperature + moisture + handling + sanitation.

Looking at any one of those factors independently may miss the larger picture.

Should You Test Your Coco for Aspergillus?

Sometimes testing growing media can provide useful information.

But randomly testing bags of coco without an investigation strategy may not answer the question you're actually trying to solve.

Before testing, determine:

What hypothesis are we investigating?

Are you comparing unused and used media?

Investigating a storage area?

Looking at media before it enters cultivation?

Comparing rooms?

Investigating water used to hydrate it?

Trying to determine whether contamination appears at a particular production stage?

Testing becomes much more valuable when the sample is designed to answer a question.

Don't Replace Your Entire Growing-Media Program Based on a Guess

Changing coco suppliers across a commercial cultivation operation can be expensive and disruptive.

Before making a major operational change, gather evidence.

The source could involve media.

It could involve water.

It could involve storage.

It could involve employee handling.

Or the dominant contamination pathway could be somewhere else entirely.

That's why Cannabis Contamination Solutions evaluates the entire cultivation system before recommending major corrective actions.

Find Out Whether Your Growing Media Is Part of the Pathway

Our Facility Contamination Risk Assessment evaluates growing media alongside water, HVAC, environmental conditions, sanitation, employee movement, harvest and post-harvest production.

If your facility is experiencing recurring Aspergillus failures, don't automatically blame the flower — or the coco.

Follow the contamination pathway.

Schedule a Facility Contamination Risk Assessment

Cannabis Contamination Solutions
CannabisContaminationSolutions.com