Client – The Garden: A multi-site cannabis cultivator, turned to industry and grow operations expert, Willy Gardiner, to solve persistent air quality issues.
Opportunity: Find a reliable, cost-effective solution to reduce exhausted odors and improve the working environment.
Impact: Air+ ionization technology reduced odors, lowered costs, and surprisingly increased yield by 25%.
The Challenge
At The Garden, a leading multi-site cannabis grow operation, odor had become more than a nuisance—it was hurting the business.
Despite significant investments in carbon-based odor control exhaust systems, reducing odor within its facilities was a consistent challenge, and untreated exhaust odors left the company at risk of complaints, fines, and attention from local regulators.
Employees reported frequent allergic reactions due to terpene buildup in the air, and the quality of the plant yields was inconsistent across grow rooms. Poor air quality can allow mold, bacteria, and yeast to grow, circulate, and settle on plant surfaces, so The Garden needed a solution that would also keep the plants healthier from seed to harvest.
On the operations front, they were wasting thousands on labor and replacement carbon filters each year.
They sought industry expert Willy Gardiner’s expertise to lower costs and address critical issues faced by the industry:
- High operational costs from oversized fans and carbon filtration systems
- Poor indoor air quality leading to terpene buildup, allergies, and crop stress
- Cross-contamination between grow zones, disrupting terpene profiles
- Regulatory pressure to reduce odors exhausted from the facilities
The Solution: Air+
Willy turned to the experts at Air+ for an innovative approach—bipolar ionization.
By implementing Air+ bipolar ionizers into the existing HVAC system, The Garden didn’t just filter the exhaust air, they cleaned it at a molecular level, neutralizing odor-causing compounds. Installation into the ductwork was quick and seamless, requiring about an hour per unit.
Once installed, the ionizers began purifying the indoor air, neutralizing odors before being exhausted from the building, and reducing potential contamination of the plants.
“We were tired of spending money on filters that didn’t solve the problem. The ionizers were less expensive and way more effective.”
—Willy Gardiner
The Impact
Odor Mitigation & Air Quality
Indoors, the intense terpene odor that had once blanketed work areas was reduced. Outdoors, Air+ helped The Garden meet odor compliance requirements while protecting its standing in the community.
Improved Volume & Consistency
Reduced pathogen exposure led to cleaner harvests that would pass lab testing with less bacteria and lower irradiation (from 3,500 RADs down to about 1,500). This preserved the product quality, cut post-harvest costs, and helped maintain trust with consumers.
Operational Improvements
The cleaner air led to fewer mold outbreaks and reduced bacteria buildup on plants and surfaces. Maintenance demands dropped significantly, with HVAC coils and ducts remaining cleaner for longer periods.
- Thousands saved by eliminating reliance on Carbon filters
- Reduced energy use and noise without the need for oversized fans
- More comfortable working conditions for employees
- Ionized rooms saw as much as a 25% increase in yield compared to those using traditional exhaust-only filtration.
“With Air+, my air was better and my water was better. My competitors couldn’t figure out how I got such clean yields, but it came down to clean inputs. Air is an input.”
—Willy Gardiner, Operations Specialist
