Experimenting with CO2 as a pest control strategy

[Ordphien]

Very nice. I'm happy it worked for you.
I've used carbon successfully on spider mites.
Just saved an angel trumpet that way.
I've also used it on scale, mealies, aphids, and random other pests.
I have to use dry ice though lol.

[bil]

Gods yes. Persistant reliance on one pesticide will give you resistance faster than you think.

I like to alternate Confidor with CHAS 48 aka Dursban. Be careful with this, and never overdose as some palnts really don't like it. I'd try it on one orchid to start with, as some plants can have a bad reaction.

You could also use helium, if you can't get CO2

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Ordphien

Very nice. I'm happy it worked for you.
I've used carbon successfully on spider mites.
Just saved an angel trumpet that way.
I've also used it on scale, mealies, aphids, and random other pests.
I have to use dry ice though lol.

I'd have no idea where to get dry ice here. My initial idea was to make, based on something I found on a terrarium forum, a CO2 generator, by mixing vinegar and baking soda.

Did you do a one off treatment, or repeat it several times?

[Ordphien]

Here they sell it in grocery stores. Normally up front.

It depends. One normally does the trick. But I usually do two to be safe.
The spider mites took 6 treatments! I've been battling those guys for two years on that stupid tree.

[camille1585]

In grocery stores????? Wow. Here I order it from lab supply companies to use to send frozen leaf samples across Europe. But beats me why someone would need dry ice for everyday use, considering that it is something to use with caution...

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by camille1585

In grocery stores????? Wow. Here I order it from lab supply companies to use to send frozen leaf samples across Europe. But beats me why someone would need dry ice for everyday use, considering that it is something to use with caution...

I can't find any grocery or other retail store in Illinois that sells dry ice to the public, so its not available everywhere.
Keep up with your experiments. I have battled to find something to use on dens so your success is interesting, just have to find dry ice !

[DavidCampen]

These are important experiments that you are doing and I am hoping for a very positive outcome; I really want to try this to get rid of bush snails. I wish I could get Dursban as it will kill bush snails but in the US one needs a pest control applicator license to buy it and it is highly toxic to mammals as well as insects.

In the US dry ice is available from ice houses but here in Southern California, in the past several years (maybe a decade, time flies), dry ice has been sold widely sold in grocery stores; a single company started putting dry ice chests in grocery stores. There is a sign on the chests that you have to be over 18 to purchase the dry ice. Also, the employees don't know how to handle it, the one time I purchased some I brought leather gloves with me but the clerk reached into the chest to grab a brick of dry ice with her bare hands and I had to stop her. It is useful for keeping things frozen when you don't have electricity.

In Southern California and probably much of the rest of the US, carbon dioxide cylinders and regulators are widely available for rent at the many hydroponics shops that have sprung up to service the marijuana growers. I have a cylinder, that I take when I drive my 4WD vehicle off road, that I use to inflate tires; I purchased my cylinder and regulator from a company that sells equipment for off road driving.

[camille1585]

David, I just read another thread today, about killing snails in terrariums. CO2 doesn't work on them apparently...

Snails in cool tank

[bil]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I can't find any grocery or other retail store in Illinois that sells dry ice to the public, so its not available everywhere.
Keep up with your experiments. I have battled to find something to use on dens so your success is interesting, just have to find dry ice !

As I say, you can use helium. It's inert and they sell it to fill party balloons. I don't think it would harm plants, but as always, i'd try in on my least valuable first.

That would suffocate the bugs.

[My Green Pets]

It's important to consider the buoyancy of the gas you are using, too.

Carbon dioxide is heavier than air, so it will sink when pumped into a chamber with plants, slowly displacing the air from the bottom to the top.

Helium, however, rises in air, so it would be a bit more difficult to displace the air in a closed chamber.

Another heavy gas that would displace air and possibly suffocate pests would be nitrous oxide. Not sure how the plant would react though.