Can I kill spider mites with dry ice (CO2) ?

Hi all,

I have 2 plants about 4 weeks into flowering with nice bud formation all over .. I noticed yesterday that I was heavily infested with spider mites.. So much so that there are cobwebs all over the tops of my plants. My eyesight is not the best so that's why it went so long without me detecting and for some reason my plants are growing well so I didn't think I had a problem. So being so late into flowering I didn't want to put any chemicals or any neem oil on them (yet) , because i didn't want to make the flavor and aroma of the smoke to be funky .

I have this idea , well it's not all my idea but the application is my idea. I read that if you fill the grow room full of C02 it will suffocate the little bastards , but it's dangerous because it could kill you and your pets too. Also I don't have a C02 bottle and really don't want to buy one plus it would be difficult for me to seal up my grow space. So here is my idea and I want to see if anybody out there think it will work and if I should try it.
So here we go:

My idea is to get one of those cardboard wardrobe boxes , the kind you buy at UHAUL to hang your clothes in for moving , they are tall boxes . Then in my garage with the door open for good ventilation I put one at a time my plants in the wardrobe box and seal it up real good with tape and cut a small hole in the top of the box to insert one of those clear plastic tubes and seal it up around the insertion hole with tape, then at the other end of the plastic tube outside of the box I take a gallon milk jug and fill it about 1/4 of the way with crushed dry ice then add some water to fill the jug about half way and insert the other end of the plastic tube into the jug and seal it up with tape... Thus the melting dry ice releases the Co2 fog through the plastic tube and it flows into the wardrobe box filling my box with the smoky CO2 and totally saturating my plant in the gas .. Maybe have another hole in the box near the top so that oxygen can escape as the CO2 fills the box and once i see the foggy CO2 piping out the hole I then close the hole, thus making sure there is nothing but CO2 in the box.

Do you guys think this will kill the spider mites? If so how long do they need to be saturated in the box with CO2 for them to all die off? Also will this kill eggs or should I redo this procedure again in about 3 days and maybe another time 3 days later , just to make sure I kill any new hatchlings?

I look forward to any comments , advice or suggestions regarding my idea.

Thank you

No. In a word.

ya this plan won't work.. even if you do end up killing the mites on your plants you will most likely not be able to kill of them in your area and tjey will come back.

mites are a pain, and if youve got them bad enough to where your seeing webs than you already have a huge amount of them.

so I'm screwed huh?

Forbid 4F
look on ebay for small amounts.

The only thing that will work and kill them all, including eggs at this point.
This is used on food you eat all the time and at twice the strength over what you'll get on ebay..
It is not systemic.....and has an effective life shorter then you have left to run.

Doc

Dr. Who said:

Forbid 4F
look on ebay for small amounts.

The only thing that will work and kill them all, including eggs at this point.
This is used on food you eat all the time and at twice the strength over what you'll get on ebay..
It is not systemic.....and has an effective life shorter then you have left to run.

Doc

Click to expand...

I read about that , it sounds nasty .. Don't know if I can get it delivered in time... So i decided to get aggressive with these little bastards. So what I did and am doing is i took the plants out of the grow space and put them in my garage .. for plenty of breathing room , then I doused them with a neem oil concoction heavily , so much that the branches are drooping and it is dripping wet . They are sitting in front of a box fan blowing wind heavily on them to make sure they dry well ... Tomorrow I am going to trim off all the leaves at the bottom and the leaves that look like they are dying so that only fresh green leaves remain. Then I am going to one by one wipe the underside and the top side of each leaf with a qtip (dozens of qtips) and try to wip clean all the eggs and remaining adults that survived the neem. In 3 days I will repeat the process . I am only 4 weeks into flower and have 5 weeks to go .. So it is my hope to try to wipe them out and then just rinse my plants really well with distilled water with a one of those gallon pump insecticide sprayers with the wand that has a nice pressure spray , just to rinse the neem off as much as possible and see what happens. They are pretty hearty plants so I think they will survive if I just don't play around with these shits.

jaytea said:

I read about that , it sounds nasty .. Don't know if I can get it delivered in time... So i decided to get aggressive with these little bastards. So what I did and am doing is i took the plants out of the grow space and put them in my garage .. for plenty of breathing room , then I doused them with a neem oil concoction heavily , so much that the branches are drooping and it is dripping wet . They are sitting in front of a box fan blowing wind heavily on them to make sure they dry well ... Tomorrow I am going to trim off all the leaves at the bottom and the leaves that look like they are dying so that only fresh green leaves remain. Then I am going to one by one wipe the underside and the top side of each leaf with a qtip (dozens of qtips) and try to wip clean all the eggs and remaining adults that survived the neem. In 3 days I will repeat the process . I am only 4 weeks into flower and have 5 weeks to go .. So it is my hope to try to wipe them out and then just rinse my plants really well with distilled water with a one of those gallon pump insecticide sprayers with the wand that has a nice pressure spray , just to rinse the neem off as much as possible and see what happens. They are pretty hearty plants so I think they will survive if I just don't play around with these shits.

Click to expand...

It's actually found as no known hazards to humans over eye and allergic skin reactions......I read toxicology reports, not labels (other then for mixing and application rates)....

Should have used pyrethrin - organic concentrate from mums......
I would throw a "bomb" in the room to kill any off left in there....Dr. Doom's works.

Good luck

jaytea said:

I read about that , it sounds nasty .. Don't know if I can get it delivered in time... So i decided to get aggressive with these little bastards. So what I did and am doing is i took the plants out of the grow space and put them in my garage .. for plenty of breathing room , then I doused them with a neem oil concoction heavily , so much that the branches are drooping and it is dripping wet . They are sitting in front of a box fan blowing wind heavily on them to make sure they dry well ... Tomorrow I am going to trim off all the leaves at the bottom and the leaves that look like they are dying so that only fresh green leaves remain. Then I am going to one by one wipe the underside and the top side of each leaf with a qtip (dozens of qtips) and try to wip clean all the eggs and remaining adults that survived the neem. In 3 days I will repeat the process . I am only 4 weeks into flower and have 5 weeks to go .. So it is my hope to try to wipe them out and then just rinse my plants really well with distilled water with a one of those gallon pump insecticide sprayers with the wand that has a nice pressure spray , just to rinse the neem off as much as possible and see what happens. They are pretty hearty plants so I think they will survive if I just don't play around with these shits.

Click to expand...

You are going to war with these suckers. Take @Dr. Who advice and get a proven weapon like forbid. You will not win with neem oil and isolation. Treat everything when it's young and keep a very sterile and clean grow space, otherwise you will be smoking dead mites and pesticide. If they are in flower it might be too late for a 'clean' crop. Before your next crop, decontaminate everything. Get ocd with it, otherwise problems like this will always come back.

If their covered with cobwebs your pretty much doomed,,, start over' like you said the plants are only four weeks into flower,, so if I were you, i'd pull'm and sterilize the room, pots, fans and so on,, if there that bad on your plants then they are probably all through your house.. Keep your humidity high during veg this helps keep the bastards at bay,,, they are soft bodied and thrive in hot dry climates,, in the future if you catch them early you can spray them with a combo of mild dish soap and diluted Listerine,, this solution will make the mites sterile so they can't reproduce,, the soap allows the alcohol to penetrate the eggs killing them,, repeat then wait,,, this has worked for me in the past on small infestations, I'm not big on systemic or heavy chemical shit,,, My two cents,,lol,

Couple pieces of advice for you. One is mighty wash. Its like 99% water or higher. Rumor has it that one of the reps drinks it everyday to prove its safe as it can possibly be. You can spray it on the plants after harvest and itll be ok.
The second piece of advice is to use a vacuum on the plants if your really close to harvest. Yup, vacuum em. Just the buds that are spidered out. Itll make a slurpy sound as the buds bounce around in the tube, like when you stuck your tongue in the vacuume as a kid, or when you vacuumed the dogs tongue cause it was funny, but ive never seen one come off. The dead mited out leaf tips or dead leaves yes, but buds never.
Also a rag would save you time over qtips and keep the plant hydrated because they love dry plants, and they say silica makes cell walls stronger so mites cant get through as easy. Also lower ambient temps make reproduction slower. Dropper down to 66. Lastly, if your that finatical about nothing on the buds, seal the room, screen the intakes and holes, and release the ladybugs. They are the best shit ever for controlling a mite problem. Dont let the pesticide companies and hydro stores that make 170 a gallon for nukem lie to you. They work and really well for cheap. Amazon 1500 for ten bucks. Two week supply.

Hummm nobody gave you and organic approach huh?
Pepper spray made at home for about $2 works wonders! There are many threads on how to make it, I like to add a pinch of Diaotenacious earth and poof gone in less than 24hrs also ladybugs will eat mites day and night if you can find any at hydro stores in your area.

Buzz Buzzilla said:

Hummm nobody gave you and organic approach huh?
Pepper spray made at home for about $2 works wonders! There are many threads on how to make it, I like to add a pinch of Diaotenacious earth and poof gone in less than 24hrs also ladybugs will eat mites day and night if you can find any at hydro stores in your area.

Click to expand...

Ive done that in the past for rabbits and dear,, sorry for the hijack

it might work... that is how ranchers kill bugs in those big silo storage buildings. i don't know if they are using co2 though. they may just "shut off" and wait. as kids we would catch flies in bags, then gas them with co2, working at dominos i might add. collect a bunch of them and put them in a pizza box, send it out in a stack of orders. the driver opened the box as no address was on it. the flies came to as soon as they got air and filled is car... so it won't kill flies i know.

have you used neem oil with water and dawn soap? mix for a spray and it kills on contact and is organic.
you can add a bit of neem oil to the water for plants so it becomes systemic to the plant. their food supply becomes poisonous to them.
i would love to hear how the dry ice idea works. i would let it go until the ice is gone at least.

jellero said:

it might work... that is how ranchers kill bugs in those big silo storage buildings. i don't know if they are using co2 though. they may just "shut off" and wait. as kids we would catch flies in bags, then gas them with co2, working at dominos i might add. collect a bunch of them and put them in a pizza box, send it out in a stack of orders. the driver opened the box as no address was on it. the flies came to as soon as they got air and filled is car... so it won't kill flies i know.

have you used neem oil with water and dawn soap? mix for a spray and it kills on contact and is organic.
you can add a bit of neem oil to the water for plants so it becomes systemic to the plant. their food supply becomes poisonous to them.
i would love to hear how the dry ice idea works. i would let it go until the ice is gone at least.

Click to expand...

Remind me to never order from Dominoes... LOL

Yeah i put the neem oil/soap concoction on them yesterday and wiped down the leaves best I could .. Gonn redo it all in 3 days but add a little Cayenne pepper and some coriander oil.. I also disinfected the grow space with bleach and lysol and vacuumed and wiped it all down with bleach..... Will let you all know how it goes.... Just checked on the plants and they are still looking fine... Lot's of dead mites under the leaves that I need to wipe down in the next attempt. I thought about vacuuming my plants but I have Dyson and it would suck the whole plant down the suction is so strong.

Are the plants in plantpots?

jaytea said:

Hi all,

I have 2 plants about 4 weeks into flowering with nice bud formation all over .. I noticed yesterday that I was heavily infested with spider mites.. So much so that there are cobwebs all over the tops of my plants. My eyesight is not the best so that's why it went so long without me detecting and for some reason my plants are growing well so I didn't think I had a problem. So being so late into flowering I didn't want to put any chemicals or any neem oil on them (yet) , because i didn't want to make the flavor and aroma of the smoke to be funky .

I have this idea , well it's not all my idea but the application is my idea. I read that if you fill the grow room full of C02 it will suffocate the little bastards , but it's dangerous because it could kill you and your pets too. Also I don't have a C02 bottle and really don't want to buy one plus it would be difficult for me to seal up my grow space. So here is my idea and I want to see if anybody out there think it will work and if I should try it.
So here we go:

My idea is to get one of those cardboard wardrobe boxes , the kind you buy at UHAUL to hang your clothes in for moving , they are tall boxes . Then in my garage with the door open for good ventilation I put one at a time my plants in the wardrobe box and seal it up real good with tape and cut a small hole in the top of the box to insert one of those clear plastic tubes and seal it up around the insertion hole with tape, then at the other end of the plastic tube outside of the box I take a gallon milk jug and fill it about 1/4 of the way with crushed dry ice then add some water to fill the jug about half way and insert the other end of the plastic tube into the jug and seal it up with tape... Thus the melting dry ice releases the Co2 fog through the plastic tube and it flows into the wardrobe box filling my box with the smoky CO2 and totally saturating my plant in the gas .. Maybe have another hole in the box near the top so that oxygen can escape as the CO2 fills the box and once i see the foggy CO2 piping out the hole I then close the hole, thus making sure there is nothing but CO2 in the box.

Do you guys think this will kill the spider mites? If so how long do they need to be saturated in the box with CO2 for them to all die off? Also will this kill eggs or should I redo this procedure again in about 3 days and maybe another time 3 days later , just to make sure I kill any new hatchlings?

I look forward to any comments , advice or suggestions regarding my idea.

Thank you

Click to expand...

yes it will work after you chop down the plant

A soft paint brush is handy for removing the webs. After the webs are removed then the pump up sprayer can be cranked up to blast a whole bunch more of with water or res water. you can bag the plantpot if you don;t want bugs in your mix. Chances are there are already bugs in the mix. After a thorough cleaning in the op take the plant(s) some place where they can be brushed up smore and maybe transplanted while the op is getting the fumagation. All in a days work.

bird mcbride said:

Are the plants in plantpots?

Click to expand...

Yes it's only 2 plants and they are in 5 gallon pots with soil

bird mcbride said:

A soft paint brush is handy for removing the webs. After the webs are removed then the pump up sprayer can be cranked up to blast a whole bunch more of with water or res water. you can bag the plantpot if you don;t want bugs in your mix. Chances are there are already bugs in the mix. After a thorough cleaning in the op take the plant(s) some place where they can be brushed up smore and maybe transplanted while the op is getting the fumagation. All in a days work.

Click to expand...

I got the webs off already.. Killed most of the adults .. Just got to keep fighting till they are gone.

I don't mean any disrespect to anyone but so many people "think" they can just spray the plant with bug killer and get rid of 'em. Don't use anything but water or res water on the plant and use the poison or whatever on the grow-"op".