Disinfecting your grow area

If you've been doing this hobby for any length of time, you're bound to have run into problems like powdery mildew, leaf blight and other fungal issues. Once you get one of these it can be tough if not impossible to get rid of depending on your space. Basements can be particularly problematic (especially if unfinished) because you've got a lot of porous surfaces like concrete, cinder block and wood where spores can hide and they last for fucking ever it seems.

So I came across an article a couple of years back that focused on hospitals and all the problems you read about how they are HUGE repositories of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens, which makes sense since that's where sick people go, and unfortunately where some getting sicker and even dying because they got MRSA or some other shite.

One treatment that they were finding very effective was using hydrogen peroxide (roughly 8% concentration) and fumigating rooms with a special fogging machine. That got me curious, because I've been dealing on and off with leaf blight, a fungal infection, for several years, and while yes, keeping humidity under control is a key prevention, it doesn't take much of a spike for it to take hold and then it's tough to deal with, especially once you're well into flower.

Anyway, I'm really curious if anyone else has heard of this and whether this technique might work to disinfect your grow room, how about it?

Here's a link to one company's data on their system, but the salient information is that they use 7.8% peroxide and is effective against the following:

iHP™ can achieve 6-log organism reduction on:

Bactericide

• Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus) (Staph) (ATCC # 653,
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pseudomonas) (ATCC # 15442)
• Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (ATCC #33592)

Virucide

• Influenza A (H1N1) virus (ATCC VR-1469)

Also for use in mold and mildew control and remediation

https://www.cleanroomcleaning.com/hydrogen-peroxide-fogging/

My thought is to use a couple of vaporizing humidifiers filled with 8% h2O2 and circulating fans to try and get as much contact as possible. I'd seal the room as much as possible, run this for a couple of hours, then run the dehumidifier until it's completely dry - with exposed wood maybe 24 hours or turn up the heat and do it faster. Also thinking of doing the same to my ducting system, setting up a humidifier in front of the air intake and just run the fans for 30 minutes or so.

Anyone done this or have any thoughts on that idea?

So anybody heard of or put any thought into this idea?

I've got some 35% peroxide coming, so I'll try it out and hope for the best. It'd be nice not to have to deal with this leaf blight issue, and maybe even prevent bud rot which seems nearly unavioidable with some of the super dense bud structures on many strains.

I had a bottle of h2o2 a grow or 2 back and had trouble with hermies so i used the h2o2 to deep clean my whole tent and fans.

Cant remember what strength it was but was safe to put into hydro systems. Seemed to work pretty well i think lol.

Never used it in a humidifier though

I grow in a greenhouse and I fog with H202 in between crops to sanitize the area. I do not suggest fogging with plants in your room, especially if they are in flower. We fog as well as do a spray application of H202 then a rinse with water, this work excellent and allows us to start the next crop in a fresh, clean environment with ought the worry of contamination from the previous crop.

med123 said:

I grow in a greenhouse and I fog with H202 in between crops to sanitize the area. I do not suggest fogging with plants in your room, especially if they are in flower. We fog as well as do a spray application of H202 then a rinse with water, this work excellent and allows us to start the next crop in a fresh, clean environment with ought the worry of contamination from the previous crop.

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That is great news Med123, and I was thinking the same thing, that while dilute H2o2 can be healthy for plants, too high might oxidize/burn the leaves/flowers. So I'm planning to do the entire grow area before the next crop.

So in the article it says about 8% concentration, is that on par with what you use? I've got a quart of 35% arriving this weekend and am planning on giving it a go. Also any certain length of time recommended? Would 30 min. be enough or is an hour better? Although more isn't always better, in this case maybe it is, cuz I wanna put a massive hurt on these evil fungi ;?D

ThatSpudGuy said:

I had a bottle of h2o2 a grow or 2 back and had trouble with hermies so i used the h2o2 to deep clean my whole tent and fans.

Cant remember what strength it was but was safe to put into hydro systems. Seemed to work pretty well i think lol.

Never used it in a humidifier though

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Yeah, back when I ran straight hydro, I couldn't control the temp of the rez well enough and got root rot, and I just poured several bottles of the 3% peroxide you can get at Wally World, and that eventually cleared it up (don't remember the ratio to tank water, but H2o2 is VERY effective against all kinds of pathogens because the oxidation process (during which the PER-meaning two-OXIDE gives up one of it's oxygen molecules, leaving you with H2o(1) or water) does serious damage and without damaging the plant.

fearnoevil said:

If you've been doing this hobby for any length of time, you're bound to have run into problems like powdery mildew, leaf blight and other fungal issues. Once you get one of these it can be tough if not impossible to get rid of depending on your space. Basements can be particularly problematic (especially if unfinished) because you've got a lot of porous surfaces like concrete, cinder block and wood where spores can hide and they last for fucking ever it seems.

So I came across an article a couple of years back that focused on hospitals and all the problems you read about how they are HUGE repositories of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens, which makes sense since that's where sick people go, and unfortunately where some getting sicker and even dying because they got MRSA or some other shite.

One treatment that they were finding very effective was using hydrogen peroxide (roughly 8% concentration) and fumigating rooms with a special fogging machine. That got me curious, because I've been dealing on and off with leaf blight, a fungal infection, for several years, and while yes, keeping humidity under control is a key prevention, it doesn't take much of a spike for it to take hold and then it's tough to deal with, especially once you're well into flower.

Anyway, I'm really curious if anyone else has heard of this and whether this technique might work to disinfect your grow room, how about it?

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Fungus spores are always present but only grow with the right conditions. The best conditions for weed are the opposite of the right conditions for pretty much all of the types of fungus that you'd have to worry about.

If you have exposed wood seal it with something like Kilz or Gliddens Gripper. You could get extra hardcore about it and use paint meant for sealing a flat roof. Other than that control your environment.

SchmoeJoe said:

Fungus spores are always present but only grow with the right conditions. The best conditions for weed are the opposite of the right conditions for pretty much all of the types of fungus that you'd have to worry about.

If you have exposed wood seal it with something like Kilz or Gliddens Gripper. You could get extra hardcore about it and use paint meant for sealing a flat roof. Other than that control your environment.

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Well I'd have to differ with you a little in that moderate humidity and heat are good for cannabis and also unfortunately good for some types of fungus. Whether it's Botrytis cinerea which causes bud rot, another form of Botrytis that causes leaf blight, Septoria lycopersici which causes leaf spot, and the Pseudoperonospora family responsible for powdery mildew, Root Rot caused by Pythium, and of course Damping Off which can be caused by Botrytis, Pythium, Fusarium or other fungi (there are a few others I can't remember off the top of my head).

There are always a large number of different molds and fungi that surround us, from bread molds to green mold (Aspergillus), our bodies are even covered with a number of them as well, and there's very few environments not suited to fungi as they are well adapted through millions of years of evolution.

And once they're in your house or grow area, they can be very difficult to get rid of - even painting over wood surfaces isn't a permanent fix because just a few missed spores in some nook or cranny, not to mention anywhere else in the house (where they can be brought back later on your shoes/clothing) is all that's necessary for them to recolonize an area when conditions are right.

I'll agree that if you can keep extremely tight control of the environment that you can keep the majority in check, but without higher-end and often expensive controls (or if you're fortunate enough to live in a dryer cooler climate) then it can be extremely difficult to avoid contamination on occasion.

You can do everything right, but it only takes a spike in humidity to give spores a chance to hatch and get a toehold - could be a power failure, or your dehumidifier dies or, as happened to me the last grow, when I started flushing my plants two weeks prior to harvest. This caused a spike that my dehumidifiers couldn't keep up with and the humidity rose above 65% and half my Immense Bulk strain ended up bud rot that I only discovered during the chop (lost almost a pound of bud). And over the past 2-3 years I've been battling leaf blight, a very insidious fungus that has been hard to completely exorcise from my house.

So, whether it's through mistakes made, or unavoidable events out of your control, this is a problem and a threat that I think needs a better solution (and that doesn't involve manually scrubbing down every square inch of your grow room with hazardous chemicals). Fogging with a strong Hydrogen Peroxide solution sounds to me like a perfect one if it turns out to work.

med123 said:

I grow in a greenhouse and I fog with H202 in between crops to sanitize the area.

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One more question Med, what do you use to fog with? I was thinking of using two humidifiers and a couple of fans to try and spread it around, maybe run them for an hour, maybe two even. But I know you can buy fogger equipment (not cheap) but also saw you might be able to rent such equipment from Home Despot and others. Anyone have any experience with these?

Spraying with a strong Hydrogen Peroxide solution sounds to me like a perfect one if it turns out to work.[/QUOTE]

The problem with spraying with hydrogen peroxide is that it turns into water and unless you've thoroughly sealed every surface in garden with the right type of paint it's just going to make the problem worse with standing water in all of those little nooks and crannies you mentioned.

Also, anyone who can name that many specific species of mold by their proper scientific name "off of the top of their heads" wouldn't need to post here asking for advice.

fearnoevil said:

That is great news Med123, and I was thinking the same thing, that while dilute H2o2 can be healthy for plants, too high might oxidize/burn the leaves/flowers. So I'm planning to do the entire grow area before the next crop.

So in the article it says about 8% concentration, is that on par with what you use? I've got a quart of 35% arriving this weekend and am planning on giving it a go. Also any certain length of time recommended? Would 30 min. be enough or is an hour better? Although more isn't always better, in this case maybe it is, cuz I wanna put a massive hurt on these evil fungi ;?D

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I use a Commercial greenhouse fogger ( Dram PulsFog to be exact) at a 5% concentration. I fog until the entire room is visibly full of smoke and let it sit for 20-30 min before venting. I am dealing with a large area so I am unsure how long to fog for in your application.

What about using a sulfur burner? Good - no good? I speaking mainly for veg

I had the PM problem and I now clean everything out with straight 3% h202 and before that 99% isporal alcohol. The PM was not as bad as my herm problem. If you get PM you can do the jorges cervaes plant wash (which I did) and the finaly result tastes great and is PM free.

I learned a lot. I no longer check plants without the light cycle on. I am vigilant on clean too. In a small garden be vigilant (it costs piss all compared to not vigilant)

I am a 18 month doing it newb. I wish all can learn from my errors. Peace out bros and bras !!!

Dr Magill said:

What about using a sulfur burner? Good - no good? I speaking mainly for veg

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Sulfur works great as a preventative against PM not sure about Corrective.

med123 said:

I use a Commercial greenhouse fogger ( Dram PulsFog to be exact) at a 5% concentration. I fog until the entire room is visibly full of smoke and let it sit for 20-30 min before venting. I am dealing with a large area so I am unsure how long to fog for in your application.

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Thanks Med, but whoa, that commercial fogger am not cheap at around $4k, lol. I just have a room in my basement, although to do a thorough job I'd like to fumigate the whole basement.
My 35% peroxide arrived so I'm going to dilute it with tap water to about 8% and then use a couple of humidifiers and two oscillating fans, maybe run it for about an hour, just to be sure all surfaces get exposed.

Just for the science of it I should make up some agar plates and innoculate them with various fungi and bacteria, incubate them until they get well colonized, and then see if this kills em off. Then I could feel more confident that it's doing what I expect it to do. Vamos a ver ;?D

SchmoeJoe said:

Spraying with a strong Hydrogen Peroxide solution sounds to me like a perfect one if it turns out to work.

The problem with spraying with hydrogen peroxide is that it turns into water and unless you've thoroughly sealed every surface in garden with the right type of paint it's just going to make the problem worse with standing water in all of those little nooks and crannies you mentioned.

Also, anyone who can name that many specific species of mold by their proper scientific name "off of the top of their heads" wouldn't need to post here asking for advice.

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I happen to be an amateur mycologist, aka a mushroom grower, so I'm quite familiar with all manner of fungi over my years of experience with the hobby. Also I have used peroxide as both an additive to spawn medium as well as a treatment for some contams, but I've never used it to fog a room before.

And if you knew anything about fogging or peroxide you'd understand that it's not going to create any "standing water" at least not in the amount that can be created by two humidifiers over the space of an hour or so. Of course assuming that it works, then the area would be close to sterile immediately afterwards, and THEN I would simply turn on my dehumidifiers overnight and crank up the heat and the grow room should be bone dry by the next day. Hope that clarifies things a bit ;?)

fearnoevil said:

I happen to be an amateur mycologist, aka a mushroom grower, so I'm quite familiar with all manner of fungi over my years of experience with the hobby. Also I have used peroxide as both an additive to spawn medium as well as a treatment for some contams, but I've never used it to fog a room before.

And if you knew anything about fogging or peroxide you'd understand that it's not going to create any "standing water" at least not in the amount that can be created by two humidifiers over the space of an hour or so. Of course assuming that it works, then the area would be close to sterile immediately afterwards, and THEN I would simply turn on my dehumidifiers overnight and crank up the heat and the grow room should be bone dry by the next day. Hope that clarifies things a bit ;?)

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It sounds like you have it all figured out so I'm still not clear on why you even posted the question.

Of course if it didn't work, then that does create a very warm and humid environment which would be perfect for mold and fungus, I have considered that, which is why I was looking for opinions from growers who, like Med123, actually have experience with the application. I just don't know if humidifiers and fans are going to get the job done and maybe I should just shell out the extra $$ for a small fogger.