hydrogen peroxide

[Guest]

i had little and i mean very very small white crawling insects in my soil, non jumping trying to infect my clones and seedlings by eating their roots im guessing since they were not on my plants they were strickly soil insects. i used a strong mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide and dreched them in it. surprisingly the bugs are no longer seen. can hydrogen peroxide kill insects? im not sure if their dead or not yet but im guessin ill find out tommorrow. i hope their gone cuz their not fun to deal with. they are very hard to ID. im thinking their some kind of mites. thanks everyone. insect free grows to everyone, bugs suck.

 

[Socrates]

What is a strong mixture? I have a similar problem and some 3% H2O2. How much of that per gallon of water do you think would be good?

 

[Guest]

i actually thought that the h2o2 would work but it didnt, but it didnt hurt the plants. i used a solution of half h2o and half rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. i didnt spray the leaves considering that the pests were in the soil and i didnt use the mist i used the stream. it killed the bugs, but it did burn the clones and seedlings a little bit. the rubbing alcohol was the only thing that i could find in my town that would actually kill the pests. fungus nat killer didnt work, fungicidal spray didnt work, h2o2 didnt work. i even used a teaspoon of bleach to a quart of water (i know its a big no, no) but the bleach didnt even kill those darn things. im still not sure of what kinda insect they were but im hoping they dont come back. they sucked bad. im just glad i saved my blueberry seedlings and juicy fruit clones (orange triangle thia x kush) is a very nice strain, even when its premature. im guessing the insects got into the soil while it was still at the store and i just so happened to bring em home with me. they screwed up everything and i didnt even have to open up the bag. they were in the soil before i opened up the bag. sux so bad. but im pretty sure their dead and im back to a nice sterile op again. if your growing a strain that doesnt take well to stress i would recommend a mix of half rubbing alcohol and half h2o. its always better to ID your insects and take appropriate measures as you go along. but for my certain situation i wasnt for sure of what the insect was but i did know that most root eating insects will not be able to live under certain conditions, especially a h2o x rubbing alcohol drench. but dont take my word for it, just do a little bit of reading about pests and treatments and im sure you'll find your way just perfect. have a good day. peace.

 

[Homegrow3r]

Try spraying with an emulsified solution of neem oil.
It'll take a few applications but with 5 days or so you should be clear.

 

[Guest]

my town doesnt have neem oil anywhere and those insects were killin my plants quick so i had no time to wait for the mail, i simply had to take action. i had already lost 4 females that were about 4 weeks from being finished, i couldnt lose my clones and seedlings along with that i guess it really doesnt matter in the end tho. peace

 

[badmf]

Just thought you may wish to know H2O2 will cause nutes to drop out, also it is not an effective insecticide. Gnatrol, neem and diatoemaceous earth work to rid them. I'm not tryin' to down ya but "you" do call yourself "Soil Expert" , lol. Peace!

 

[ShroomDr]

ive never heard of H2O2 causing nutrient problems, do you have a source?

H2O2 will however kill algae, which is what fungus gnat larva eat, and if the babies cant eat, they cant become adults, cycle broken.

Im not 100% sure it was the H2O2 that finally knocked out my gnat population, but i tried mosquito dunks, cedar oil, for a year+ with little to no sucess.

 

[Socrates]

ShroomDR, what concentration of H2O2 per gallon of water did you use? I have one plant that is being consumed by fungus gnats and I want to take care of it quickly but I don't want to do more harm than good.

 

[gramsci.antonio]

ShroomDR, what concentration of H2O2 per gallon of water did you use? I have one plant that is being consumed by fungus gnats and I want to take care of it quickly but I don't want to do more harm than good.

let the soil go completly dry, eventually water mist the leaves.

Works really good, 4-5 days of drought and you'll see no more gnats.

 

[ShroomDr]

i use coco, and you cant let that go completely dry.

i read that 12.5ml/Gal (2.5 tsp/Gal) was safe, and i used that the first time. Now every 5 or 6 days ive been adding 10ml/Gal.

Again, im not 1000% sure it was the H2O2, but i tried everything short of gnatrol, and the gnat population is a lot less noticable. (I just started the peroxide treatments a month ago.)

 

[Whatever]

ive never heard of H2O2 causing nutrient problems, do you have a source?

I'd like to see that source too but H2O2 is an oxidizer and for sure will react will various compounds. Supposedly the H202 concentration in rainwater has dropped some cause of all the stuff in the air now it reacts with before it can hit the ground. The same can happen in a res or pot of soil I guess...but will say when I started adding H2O2 to my GH nute filled res the plants got healthier and more productive...but that was just my setup.

 

[afghanica]

i use coco, and you cant let that go completely dry.

i read that 12.5ml/Gal (2.5 tsp/Gal) was safe, and i used that the first time. Now every 5 or 6 days ive been adding 10ml/Gal.

Again, im not 1000% sure it was the H2O2, but i tried everything short of gnatrol, and the gnat population is a lot less noticable. (I just started the peroxide treatments a month ago.)

I grow in coco as well. I recall a discussion over in the Coco forum that hydrogen peroxide was destructive to coco grows. Something about it killing off helpful bugs in the coco.

Now that you have been using it occasionally, how do your plants seem to be taking it?

 

[wikidcalibudgrl]

look for a product called SM-90 works wonders. killed hella mites that were on two rooted clones i got from a friend. I used 2 mls/gal. put some in a spray bottle and soaked the hell out of both of them. Did the same the very next day. Then gave them to another friend so he could grow um outdoors... they haven't had one bug on them since, of anykind.
Doubt they're mites in your case. they live on the underside of leaves. look in the Sick plant thread by Stich... got some great pest descriptions in there. :wink:

P.s. SM-90 is like neem oil. But it's derived from the coreander plant. They use the oil (coreander oil). Same concept as neem oil, just derived from a different plant. You can alo water it into soils. I grow in an Ebb/Flow system, and just add in a bit at my res change.

 

[inflorescence]

I'd like to see that source too but H2O2 is an oxidizer and for sure will react will various compounds.

h202 will definately react with living organic matter as an oxidizer but I'm no chemist so what would the reaction be with h202 + an inorganic salt or metal.
I guess it could oxidize the metals (micronutes) but I'm unaware of how it could oxidize the N, P or K?

Also, shroomdr, did you try beneficial nematodes for the gnats?

 

[Whatever]

h202 will definately react with living organic matter as an oxidizer but I'm no chemist so what would the reaction be with h202 + an inorganic salt or metal.
I guess it could oxidize the metals (micronutes) but I'm unaware of how it could oxidize the N, P or K?

Also, shroomdr, did you try beneficial nematodes for the gnats?

First off H2O2 is NOT for dealing with visible pest situations. I told someone I was going to use H2O2 in a res with GH nutes and they looked at me real funny. Bottom line is regardless of any interaction with nutes the benefits outweighed the negatives...and didn't see any negatives honestly...just benefits.

 

[ShroomDr]

look for a product called SM-90 works wonders. killed hella mites that were on two rooted clones i got from a friend. I used 2 mls/gal. put some in a spray bottle and soaked the hell out of both of them.

I use sm-90, you can add it to the reservoir @ 3ml/Gal, and foliar up to 1:5 sm90:H20. IMO it is not ANYTHING like neem oil.

I add it to both my res and my foliar. The reason for using it in the foliar, is to help emulsify the neem oil (either eistien or k+neem). I believe it is called a surfactant / wetting agent, and that is just about the opposite of neem.
Oh and the kicker SM90 it is not effective against fungus gnat larva, or mites, the neem+sm90 mixture will only control a population. I broke down and bought some flormite.

 

[badmf]

ive never heard of H2O2 causing nutrient problems, do you have a source?

H2O2 will however kill algae, which is what fungus gnat larva eat, and if the babies cant eat, they cant become adults, cycle broken.

Im not 100% sure it was the H2O2 that finally knocked out my gnat population, but i tried mosquito dunks, cedar oil, for a year+ with little to no sucess.

I am the source! If you didn't notice I have been a "Badmf" grower since '65! Been there done that, lol.
SM 90 is one I use too forgot to mention it. But Gnatrol works best they don't eat just algae but roots and are a vector for disease. If you want chemistry lessons; When h2o2 is added to water it creates ozone, ozone will having the oppertunity, react with "any" organic compounds that are present. This is oxidation. H2O2 + h2o =H4)3. The O3 in the equation is Ozone and requires oxidation to break doqwn to O2, which is stable.
For hydro use 1ml per g "without" nutrient solution present. If you add it to nutes, you run the risk of the Ozone reacting with the nutrient salts, which allow them to fall out of the solution. Don't use more than 1ml pg because it may break down the outer layer of root hairs making them susceptible to root disease. This isn't as exact in soil depending on the soils nutrient moisture content.
Bottom line this ain't no insect killer, lol. Peace!

 

[inflorescence]

badmf, I know you've been around (same handle on OG?) and you've always dished out some good info but 1 ml/gal is basically 1/5 tsp/gal. Most people say 1 tsp/gal (3%) is ok and as was posted here people use up to 1 TBS/gal. Are all these people harming the root hairs without knowing it? Maybe, but it just seems like 1 ml/gal is low.

 

[richyrich]

1 ml on the 35%. On the 3% your going to have to convert it.

 

[richyrich]

Oh yeah, just get the gnatrol and your problem is over. Been there done that.