Experimenting with CO2 as a pest control strategy

[DavidCampen]

Do you have argon on tap? Many chemistry labs do.

Since I am interested in exterminating bush snails, I googled "snail asphyxiation". Here is the first result that I looked at:
Asphyxiation / Snail Problems

[camille1585]

No, no argon. I work in Entomology so we're all playing with plants and insects all day. Our labs are just for setting up bioassays with them or doing microbiology type work (gene expression studies mostly).

I hope you'll manage to find a solution to deal with those snails!!

[DavidCampen]

Argon is also used in welding (MIG and TIG) so it is commonly available. I had a tank many decades ago but gave it away a couple of moves ago. Perhaps some day I will get another tank and try using it for asphyxiating snails. It might be that argon would do less damage to plants that CO2.

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by camille1585

No, no argon. I work in Entomology so we're all playing with plants and insects all day. Our labs are just for setting up bioassays with them or doing microbiology type work (gene expression studies mostly).

I hope you'll manage to find a solution to deal with those snails!!

have you any ideas on eradicating bulb mites ? I wonder what they do in Europe for this feisty pest.....

[naoki]

Originally Posted by DavidCampen

Argon is also used in welding (MIG and TIG) so it is commonly available. I had a tank many decades ago but gave it away a couple of moves ago. Perhaps some day I will get another tank and try using it for asphyxiating snails. It might be that argon would do less damage to plants that CO2.

David, why argon would do less damaging to plants than CO2? Your goad is to achieve low O2 level for snails and enough O2 for plants, right? Then with CO2, plants can support their respiration needs from photosynthesis at least for the leaves. So it may be better to do it during the day. With CAM, they shouldn't be doing lots of gas exchange during the day, so O2 may not be released to help snails.

[DavidCampen]

My thought is that a pure CO2 atmosphere damages plants due to its reactivity/acidity and that an inert gas such as argon may still kill snails by asphyxiation without causing damage to the plant.

[naoki]

Hmmm, I was wrong; extremely high CO2 level is not good for plants.

This says that plants didn't have much stress up to 10% CO2:
Response of aphids and greenhouse plants to insecticidal concentrations of carbon dioxide - Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection

But this says you need quite a high CO2 level to kill even insects:
http://www.nzpps.org/journal/55/nzpp_553030.pdf
CO2 Meter - Can CO2 Kill Insects and Garden Pests?