"We have two grow rooms with many plants in them: 3,200 plants per room. The high plant density, in combination with high humidity, leads to a higher risk of problems like mold and powdery mildew. As we aim for the highest quality production, we knew we needed a solution that effectively prevents such issues," says Benjamin Gutsch, Head Grower at Grow Motion. The facility is located in Switzerland and is, according to Benjamin, one of the most advanced cannabis facilities in Europe. "Something that is a great help for our production is the ProGuard technology. It turns the moisture in the air into an ionized H202 vapor that actively kills pathogens. As a result, we don't have to worry about mold and mildew and can focus on producing the best products possible." 
From 2 to 10 rooms
Grow Motion currently grows in two rooms that have a 3-tier vertical system. "It's very high, almost 5 meters. We work with a lift and catwalks to reach the highest plants," Benjamin says. While this allows them to pack a lot of plants into just two grow rooms, the plan is to expand significantly. "The goal is to have 10 rooms in total. At the moment, we are just growing CBD, but we are working on expanding to medical THC cultivars as well."
While the current production is doing well, things are not as easy as they may seem. "We've been growing for a year now. It's a difficult time to be a grower, as we're all experiencing high costs and low margins," Benjamin says. "You need to calculate your expenses very well. Moreover, you need to have your production at the highest level of quality possible to be able to make it as a company. It took years of hard work for us, but it resulted in our first year of cultivation being very successful."
Benjamin Gutsch
Air sanitization
"One of the keys to taking our cultivation to the next level is growing a very clean product," says Benjamin. "We did a lot of research and chose to work with ProGuard. We have 8 pieces of the DXB 100 in each grow room. We need this capacity because of the amount of plants we have and the high humidity. At the beginning of the plant's life cycle, we start at 75% humidity. In combination with the plant density, that could lead to issues. One of the reasons we chose ProGuard was because it was specifically designed for high-humidity, high-density cannabis environments. ProGuard technology increases its sanitization output as the humidity levels increase, which makes it ideal for commercial grow environments."
ProGuard combines two unique sanitization technologies that work together to actively destroy mold, mildew, and bacteria pathogens. "ProGuard's Bi-Polar Ionization (BPI) technology combines with a proprietary photocatalytic oxidation process, which converts humidity into an ionized hydro-peroxide vapor that gets distributed throughout the room," explains Mike D'Ambra, founder of Innovative Solutions. "Our proactive sanitization process is able to seek out and kill pathogens right at the point of origin, even on surfaces, which includes eliminating mold and mildew spores on the plants, benches, lights, and in the air, creating a clean room environment that helps growers pass their microbial lab tests without any negative impact on terpenes or product quality and meet GMP and EU GMP standards. It's also safe for plants and people, which gives 24/7 protection for the facility."
Benjamin has 18 years of experience as a cannabis grower. He explains that working with ProGuard for the first time has been very helpful in his job as Head Grower at Grow Motion. "Since implementing ProGuard, we definitely notice a difference. It's constantly sanitizing the air so that we don't have to worry about pathogenic issues such as Botrytis. As a commercial cannabis grower, you're dealing with a high-value crop on a large scale. Any disease issues can have major consequences for your company. This is why ProGuard is so important to us: it reduces mold and mildew issues, which saves us valuable time and costs and allows us to have better quality and yields. Seeing that the ProGuard is working effectively gives us peace of mind," Benjamin says.
For more information:
Grow Motion
www.growmotion.com
Innovative Solutions
Instagram: @proguardofficial
www.innovative-solutions.org