heat treating for pest control

[OldPhart]

I have a plywood box that I grow in, and I suspect there may be some pests around. There has been a history of fungas gnats, a little mold, and possibly something in the area of mites or thrips. I was thinking about just tossing a heater in the box and bringing it up to say 140F, would that take care of all my concerns? I know it wouldn't have an effect on mold, but I have sprayed all the surfaces down, so that isn't a major concern to me.

Thanks

 

[Farm Hero]

I would think that pests could hide themselves or eggs in the many cracks and crevices on plywood, protecting them from the heat.

My advice would be to identify the pests and go after them individually.

Fungus gnats and mold are easily fixed usually by controlling moisture and airflow. "Catchmaster" fly ribbon does wonders to reduce gnat populations and winter weather helps kill them here. Gnatrol works for protecting your water source too.

I like spraying "Pool Shock" (calcium hypochlorite) to sanitize work areas, it is cheap, kills mold and eventually the chlorine evaporates away, it does leave a bit of calcium residue behind but that's not an issue for me.

For the mites, I would be sure of their presence before acting. It really depends on the severity and type of mite infestation as to what your response should be.


Best of luck.

 

[trichrider]

Biology and Life Cycle
Adult female two-spotted spider mites can live for about one month. During this time, they may lay from 100 to 200 eggs. Mite eggs are small, spherical in shape and are laid on the underside of leaves. Eggs hatch in about three days and the young mite larvae begin feeding. After transitioning through two nymphal stages, mites become adults. Optimum temperatures for spider mite development are between 85 to 95oF; with a lower threshold for development of 54°F and an upper threshold of 104° F. The life cycle from egg to adult can be completed in as little as 7 days at temperatures greater than 85˚ F and low relative humidity levels of 20 to 40%.

https://ipm.uconn.edu/documents/raw2/html/664.php?aid=664

i found that the heater i tried using had an auto-shutoff and could not attain a high enough temperature...for mites.
i clean equipment now with muriatic acid between cycles.
diligence required to avoid infestations.
small areas on plants with signs of larvae can be cleared with application of isopropyl alcohol.

resistance is futile though and annihilation a pipe dream.

 

[OldPhart]

Thanks for the reply guys

Thanks for the reply guys

I was just hoping for an easy 'reset' button. Where I am at the cooler weather is really starting to knock down the bugs and flying critters. I have not ran the box since last spring, and was negligent in leaving some debris in it. Good idea on the pool shock, I have sprayed it down with straight bleach, but that should be a little more violent. The plants have just now been transplanted into 1.5 gal pots, and I'm fixing to do a drench of the soil and spray them with AzaMax. I figure I'll hit them at least 3 times with the AzaMax, I just don't want to deal with problems later on. Am I just being paranoid?

Thanks again