Cleaning room after Thrips and meldew

[SizzurpSippinLoner]

Hello, I had meldew AND thrips. I don't know how the thrips came. The meldew was my fault. I chopped everything down because I wanted to start a new run anyways. I sprayed and wiped the walls/floor/equipment with a mixture of 99,9 isopropanol and 96% bio ethanol. Should this be enough? I removed the dirt etc into the garden.
(My room gets the fresh air from the garden) should this be enough? I can't imagine thrips randomly walking around in the room. I only know that they are on plants and dirt that get colonized by them.

 

[nivek]

Might I guess you are growing in soil?

Thrips can come into a grow in the soil purchased from stores. Other bugs too

Not the only way to get bugs but one sure way

No reused soil and I cant recommend any method of ensuring bugs are not in the bot soil

Karma sent friend

 

[SizzurpSippinLoner]

Might I guess you are growing in soil?

Thrips can come into a grow in the soil purchased from stores. Other bugs too

Not the only way to get bugs but one sure way

No reused soil and I cant recommend any method of ensuring bugs are not in the bot soil

Karma sent friend

Ohh thank you this helps alot! Sadly I am not able to purchase soil irl. And yes I grow in soil. I tried to see how the stores i ordered the soils from how they storage them. But I didn't found any info. It was weird. I normally reuse my soil and before I didn't had any thrips but now a run with reused soil..all full if thrips. I already threw everything out but I'm still confused. I will try to contact the store I ordered soil from via email now

 

[SmokingWings]

Be careful, watch for problems and take care of them and you should be OK.

Insects of all kinds can wander in when a door is opened. They can fly in or crawl in or they can be carried in on our clothing or shoes. Sometimes they can be on the fresh fruits and vegetables we bought at the market. We might not even notice them coming into the house. Same with mildew and other molds and fungus.

The best thing is to keep everything clean. Most importantly, do not let the problem get out of control.

I do not blame anything except "kismet" when I come across insects or mold in the house.

 

[SizzurpSippinLoner]

Be careful, watch for problems and take care of them and you should be OK.

Insects of all kinds can wander in when a door is opened. They can fly in or crawl in or they can be carried in on our clothing or shoes. Sometimes they can be on the fresh fruits and vegetables we bought at the market. We might not even notice them coming into the house. Same with mildew and other molds and fungus.

The best thing is to keep everything clean. Most importantly, do not let the problem get out of control.

I do not blame anything except "kismet" when I come across insects or mold in the house.

I'm not afraid of mold. Mold is everywhere its just important to don't give it the conditions to grow but when it comes to bugs...it really could be cuz of the dirt or as u said everything else.I'm getting my fresh air from the garden and have a lil "net" before the intake(shown below) and thought about putting another thin layer of fabric over it.
But since my room is pretty big I need to find a fitting exhaust system first

 

[Phytoplankton]

I might suggest using a finer screen than the one in the picture, that one will stop sparrows, but not much else. Consider just rubber banding or zip tying a piece of window screen over the outside of the fitting. Note: You do need to check/clean a fine screen on a regular basis to make sure it doesn't clog with dust/debris and reduce air flow.

If your worried about bugs in the soil there are a few things you can do. You can spray it (I personally don't like to do that, but it works). Another option is the oven/microwave, but that can be time consuming depending on the amount of soil, and messy!! You can also do it using sunlight:

1. Find an area of your garden that gets at least 8 hours of direct sunlight a day. If you are sterilizing an outdoor garden, your area would simply be the garden itself.
2. Place a large BLACK plastic sheet in your designated area. Place your soil on the sheet and spread it out evenly. If you are sterilizing an entire garden, you can skip this step.
3. Wet the soil so that it is moist soil, and cover it with a layer of BLACK plastic. Use rocks to hold the plastic down and create a seal. In a garden, you can also bury the corners of the plastic to create a better seal.
4. Wait several weeks for the solarization process to end and sterilize your soil. The hotter the daily temperatures are, the less time the solarization process will take.

Hope this helps!

 

[SizzurpSippinLoner]

I might suggest using a finer screen than the one in the picture, that one will stop sparrows, but not much else. Consider just rubber banding or zip tying a piece of window screen over the outside of the fitting. Note: You do need to check/clean a fine screen on a regular basis to make sure it doesn't clog with dust/debris and reduce air flow.

If your worried about bugs in the soil there are a few things you can do. You can spray it (I personally don't like to do that, but it works). Another option is the oven/microwave, but that can be time consuming depending on the amount of soil, and messy!! You can also do it using sunlight:

1. Find an area of your garden that gets at least 8 hours of direct sunlight a day. If you are sterilizing an outdoor garden, your area would simply be the garden itself.
2. Place a large BLACK plastic sheet in your designated area. Place your soil on the sheet and spread it out evenly. If you are sterilizing an entire garden, you can skip this step.
3. Wet the soil so that it is moist soil, and cover it with a layer of BLACK plastic. Use rocks to hold the plastic down and create a seal. In a garden, you can also bury the corners of the plastic to create a better seal.
4. Wait several weeks for the solarization process to end and sterilize your soil. The hotter the daily temperatures are, the less time the solarization process will take.

Hope this helps!

Damn this is helpful yea! I would like to try this in the future. Can I also put the soil in black plastic bags and close them and just let them sit out there or put them in a container and let it sit there? Because my pets are often in the garden playing.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Can I also put the soil in black plastic bags and close them and just let them sit out there or put them in a container and let it sit there?

Yes, you can put the soil in black plastic garbage bags, flatten out the bags and try to keep the soil less than about 4" thick, and turn it occasionally. Not sure you'll get enough heat deep down if you put the whole container full of soil in a bag. I've killed huge patches of Bamboo (Arundo) and Pampas Grass, by covering them with black plastic in the sun, after cutting them down to near ground level, it cooked them, roots and all!
,
Edit: This may also kill many (not all) of the beneficial soil microorganisms, so you might want to inoculate the soil with some new soil organisms, if you plan on using the soil immediately. If you can wait a couple weeks the microorganisms will repopulate on their own once they are out of the "heat treatment"..

 

[SmokingWings]

There were several msgs last year (?) from someone who was sterilizing their soil by putting it in trays inside a gas grill for awhile. That way they were able to avoid the weird smell the soil gives off. Plus, it would help avoid all the heat in the house if it was summer time.