Cultivation Challenges & ?'s

I’m Alex Eckman, finishing up my B.S. in Cannabis Chemistry at Lake Superior State University. It’s a traditional ACS-accredited chemistry degree with added courses in cannabis extraction and analytics. We grow hemp on campus, run hydrocarbon and wiped film distillation, and have access to a full Agilent suite for compliance-level testing, plus additional instrumentation such as SEM and micro XRF. To my knowledge, it’s one of the only programs in the country where undergrads are hands-on with this kind of work. Somewhere along the way I found myself falling deep into organic chemistry, and that’s where most of my focus is now.

I’m currently wrapping up a senior capstone project looking at polymer degradation in vape hardware, which I am planning to submit it for peer review soon! I was first introduced to this research project from my PI, Dr. Derek Wright who knew I had a background producing vape carts for a caregiver lab prior to enrolling at the university. He was interested in developing a novel method of heavy metal analysis via SEM-EDS. I found the project super interesting, even though my passion was more on the orgainc/med synthesis chem side, not metals analysis. During the sample prep development, we ran into many issues which diverted to focus over to polymers - the main being an unknown percipitant from some vapes volitalizing under the SEM beam. That turned out to be a polymer, which is the focus of my current research!

I entered the cannabis space after medically retiring from a short stint as a firefighter. Started as a budtender, moved into extractions, then eventually processing lab management. When I came across this degree, I figured it was time to double down and commit to cannabis as a long-term career path.

Now I’m building Higher State Brands, a research-forward cannabis company focused on product innovation and tech development.

Big shoutout to Dr. Justice and the whole CRC team for creating space like this. The work you’ve all been doing has been a massive source of inspiration for me since day one. Grateful to be part of this community and looking forward to connecting with everyone!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-eckman/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexeckman.eth / https://www.instagram.com/alexeckmancanna YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexEckmanCanna

Allison,

A little late into this thread... we have customers with these same issues in their irrigation systems. Our latest customer that brought this to our attention was having ongoing problems with check valves clogging, servo motor controlled valves breaking and emitters plugging up... In further investigation, it appears that they were getting pieces of sediment and crystalized particles that were breaking loose from somewhere in their irrigation system, but they couldn't track down the exact source. This buildup happened even with periodic line flushes using a number of different acid based products... this particular customer had always thought his lines were clean, but was still had these same issues.

Things really started to change about 2 weeks after starting a regulated injection of PRO-OXINE Horticulture into their irrigation system, At first they were seeing very large pieces of this substance collect in their line filters, then shortly after this observation their entire irrigation system was clean. Since then, with a steady low dose of PRO-OXINE Horticulture their irrigation system is staying clean, with no sign of any sediment deposit buildup. With such good results, they no longer do any after-harvest line soaking/flushing.

I hope this might add a little clarity to this discussion.