Preventative measures?

[HighWaterMark]

I'd love to get a dialogue going on general hygiene and preventative measures to avert pests, bugs, nits and nats from overtaking your greenery.

1. Strip everything from room that doesn't pertain to your enterprise.
2. Wash down ceiling and walls with diluted bleach solution.
3. Change into clean work clothes on the way in an strip 'em on the way out. Wash in hot water and fold up by door.
4. If carpeted, rip it up. If married, cover carpet with some sort of visqueen plastic.
5. Inspect plants daily for invaders.
6. Wash hands on way in & out and keep a bottle or isopropyl germicide on both sides of garden door (the kind you see now by every hospital room in America).
7. If you see the Buddha on the Road, wash him.

Other ideas?

 

[HotLooSey]

HWM,
As a new member, thanks for your timely post. We've been growing for 2 years and this battle is OVER as far as we are concerned and this is what we are doing, ALONG with your preventative list above.

1. Every five days we spray in veg and flower (1st two weeks), alternate SPINOSAD and Einstein Oil with Penetrator/Saturator by Dutch Master. Also, spray trays and floor.

2. Add AxaMax to watering solution, once in veg, and once in early flower, for mites and gnats, and bug larva and eggs.

3. Spot spray with THAT STUFF for PM or Mites.

4. Filter air intake. HEPA would be ideal and we have them but don't use them as they cut air intake by 80% or so. So, we filter with 3M Filtrete filters we cut to fit custom 8x8 boxes we had made.

5. Heavy air circulation.

6. We sulphur burn in veg and in flower, week 3.

And, check your girls daily. Hit them at first sign of bug or mildew.

Hope this helps

 

[ol hippy]

Wow you guys really do prepare !! I just have a small tent and closet so I just wash them out good with bleach and water , spray with Home Defense from H. Depot. I also spray at least once a wk around the house and windows . So far so good, if I ever decided to enlarge my grow I hope I can remember these tips ! Thanks nice posts !

 

[HighWaterMark]

I'm already learning, and I just arrived!

HotLooSey, what's a sulphur burn? Is the following link (thanks, Google) what you're referring to:
The Bed Bug Resource :: View topic - Sulphur to kill bedbugs

. . . and I thought it was "Loose Lucy"

 

[HotLooSey]

ANY good grow shop will have a burner, about $90, and the pellets. it's just for the powdery mildew issue. or look at the online places. also called a vaporizer, NO not that vaporizer

 

[SnowBender]

If married, cover carpet with some sort of visqueen plastic.

Other ideas?

Pond liner.

 

[HotLooSey]

oh yes, visqueen or most anything else will tear.
Pond Liner from Home Depot.... good going SnowBender

 

[SnowBender]

I like to put foam sheeting or bathroom/kitchen vinyl flooring on the pond liner too, just to get rid of the blackness.

It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black. - Nigel Tufnel

 

[HighWaterMark]

Thanks, people. HotLooSey and SnowBender, is there any "pond liner" that reflects and refracts like foylon without tearing? They are all black or my initial Google search. I suppose a grow-tent atop a pond liner is one solution.

Oh, that reminds me:

8. Those little blue (paper) booties that can be ordered from a nursing supply house with scrubs:
Blue Shoe Covers Disposable Anti Skid Large 100 Pc Paper Booties Pro Safety Supplies
$8.50 for fifty pair.

Other ideas?

 

[HighWaterMark]

Even better:
^SHOE COVER, SPP, XL SIZE, BLUE, LFNON-CONDUCTIVE Min.Order is 1 CS ( 2 box / Case; 200 Each / Case; ) | HomeHealthSuperstore
200 pair for $15 USD.

 

[HotLooSey]

Nearly all rooms i've seen have black non-reflective floors. it's the walls you want to reflect. IMO

EVERYTHING ELSE TEARS AND THEN YOU GET WATER UNDERNEATH, THEN MOLD, THEN REAL PROBLEMS.

 

[HighWaterMark]

It's a good argument for a tent.

I'd love a reflective floor. It is in the direct line of fire of every photon not plucked up by the plant. And if it's black, it's receiving more energy than your plants unless you have a wall to wall scrog.

 

[HighWaterMark]

Nobody makes reflective pond liners? It would make for a super-hip pond! I've been looking for an hour and cannot find one.

 

[SnowBender]

fish need a dark bottom to hide from predators, so reflectivity isn't useful for pond builders. it very easy to just put panda, foam sheeting or linoleum over the liner if you want the hospital look.

 

[HighWaterMark]

Well, yea. If anyone has formatted the way to stop the spread of infections and the development of antibiotic resistant bugs - it's the hospital environment. Most of my ideas I got from a nursing magazine.

Their No. 1 tool: wash your hands.

I do want the hospital look; it's cheap and sterile. It just doesn't reflect or refract light so hot.