Using Carbon Dioxide (Dry Ice) For Pests

[Roberta]

One of the things that the article mentions is removing the plants and other (desired) residents. However, bugs, slugs, etc. tend to hide on the plants. So the treatment won't get those unwanted residents. You certainly would not want to expose the plants the cold, and they probably would not be happy with oxygen deprivation. What are you removing the pests from?

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Roberta

One of the things that the article mentions is removing the plants and other (desired) residents. However, bugs, slugs, etc. tend to hide on the plants. So the treatment won't get those unwanted residents. You certainly would not want to expose the plants the cold, and they probably would not be happy with oxygen deprivation. What are you removing the pests from?

I'm not sure why the removal of the plants is suggested, as it does indeed defeat at least some of the purpose of the treatment. The cold could certainly be an issue, but I've left plants overnight completely submerged in water without harm, so I doubt that oxygen deprivation would be an issue in the short term.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

I'm not sure why the removal of the plants is suggested, as it does indeed defeat at least some of the purpose of the treatment. The cold could certainly be an issue, but I've left plants overnight completely submerged in water without harm, so I doubt that oxygen deprivation would be an issue in the short term.

Dry ice is very cold, so even if the CO2 atmosphere didn't hurt the plants, that's a big issue - you'd have to somehow keep the dry ice far enough from the plants that the CO2 gas would have a chance to warm up before hitting the plants (maybe include a heat source).

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Dry ice is very cold, so even if the CO2 atmosphere didn't hurt the plants, that's a big issue - you'd have to somehow keep the dry ice far enough from the plants that the CO2 gas would have a chance to warm up before hitting the plants (maybe include a heat source).

For certain. Fortunately CO2 is considerably heavier than air, so suspending the dry ice above the container will allow the gas to drop into the container.