CEA Tech Tips: Getting More From Your Cleaners and Sanitizers With Foam

All food and medicinal crop growers take great care to keep their production spaces clean. Often, this process involves a full sanitation protocol for the production space at the end of a crop cycle to reduce the risk of carryover pests and pathogens. The complete process involves four steps: Physical cleaning (remove the debris), chemical cleaning, rinsing with clear water and sanitizing.

It’s important to include the physical and chemical cleaning steps in the process prior to sanitizing. Favorite sanitizers, including ZeroTol 2.0, SaniDate 5.0 and Kleengrow, treat the surfaces they contact. If the surface is dirty, the sanitizers will treat the debris, but not penetrate to the surface below. If the sanitizer can’t contact the surface, the surface can’t get clean!

We can all increase the efficacy of our cleaners and sanitizers by utilizing the power of foam. Foaming makes the application more effective by increasing coverage and contact time. Foams also make it a lot easier to see where treatments have been applied.

Griffin offers two great foamers from Dramm to get this job done. With both small and large volume options, growers can have the right tools for all needs, from large greenhouses spaces to smaller warehouse production rooms. The Foam8L is a 5 liter compression foamer that is highly portable and great for small spaces. Expect to treat 400-500 sq ft from one full tank. For larger spaces, turn to the FM20-30 foamer. This cart unit has a 20 gallon tank, a 30 foot hose and runs on compressed air*. Both products are compatible with popular cleaners and sanitizers.

Ask your Griffin sales person for a bulletin outlining GGSPro’s recommendations for hard surface sanitation for food and medicinal crops. Your sales person can help you choose the right cleaner and sanitizer for your situation and will let you know if you need to add a foaming agent to the tank