E-mail - Out Gassing and Grow Tents

What can you tell me about out gassing? I've read a lot of comments about outgassing killing off plants that were raised in the AgroMax tents that ya'll sell. can you explain/
Thanks,

On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 4:59 PM, <askthedoctor@htgsupply.com> wrote:

Hi,
  Just following up, can you give me more detail, or links to sites  that talk about this out gassing?  I have not heard of this.  I would be more than happy to help if you send me some more info. 

I saw a post online where I was researching info on Grow Tents. Several people had posted about their plants dying which they thought was caused by the material that the Grow Tents were made of. I even emailed one of the company's that they had named (HTGSupply.com) to ask what they could tell me about "offgassing". They said that they had only heard of one Company that had this problem and it was "HydroHut". They also mentioned that this was several years ago and since then from what they knew; HydroHut had changed their material for their tents and had no further problems. They also informed me that when they spoke with clients who had complained about their product "offgassing" they came to the conclusion that they were keeping the temperatures extremely high(100 +) in their tents, therefore causing their plants to turn yellow and die. They assured me that their tents are safe and that if used properly with the correct temperature and ventilation there would be no problems with whatever plants I would want to grow.

Thanks again,

 I usually E-mail Perry at Sales@HTGSupply.com with equipment questions.  He said about 6-7 years ago, one company, started offering grow tents very similar to ones HTGSupply.com had at the time.  These tents were white lined tents, not the silver that is now most common.  Apparently the white poly they used reacted to light, and would emit a toxic gas that apparently kills plants.  So, many people thought this meant that EVERY grow tent made did this, regardless of who made it.

Now HTGSupply.com has the Silver lined tents. This is literally a layer of aluminum over the poly backing.  They have tested the tents.  Basically they set the tent up, with a 1000w light in it and ran it 24/7 for a week of two.  They have not been able to get those tents to off-gas at all! 

Now HTGSupply.com does still get off gas complaints.  They send out at least 50 tents per week.  Per month though we get 1 maybe 2 people claiming the tent the got is out gassing because their plants are dead or dying.  When asked how hot is it in your tent, some people say "I don't know but pretty hot" , or "I do not have a thermostat in it but real hot", or, "I do not have any ventilation in my tent and the thermostat is reading over 100 degrees F”.  If you do not have a thermometer, you need to get one asap, growing in a small space or grow tent without a thermometer, or ventilation is not good growing.

So, it seems this is an old problem that comes up now and again, but HTGSupply.com does not sell the white lined grow tents, and has done testing on the tents they do use.

Thanks for your E-mails’ I hope this was informative,

Good Growing

Dr. E.R. Myers

SOIL GNATS – Revisited –

 I have gotten a few E-mail’s about a pest called a soil gnat or fungus gnat.   I too have had to deal with these pests over the years.  Whenever I buy cheap soil at a store, which I have done now and again, I end up with soil gnats.  This is especially true if the soil’s are stored outside, where wild soil gnats can get in and start their life cycle.   I first recommended watering from the bottom, so that the top of the soil is almost always dry (this is a way to reduce soil gnats, but might not give you the best growth rate - read post on soil moisture).   Unfortunately, what I have noticed is that the soil gnats, which need moist soil to reproduce, simply go and get to their food/nesting areas through the small drain holes in the bottom of the pots. 

If you have noticed this too, one new thing you may want to try is the felt cloth pots.  I have and continue to use these cloth pots.  The idea is the gnats cannot get through the cloth at the bottom.  One warning,  I have noticed the cloth pots, since they are cloth can be flimsy.  I use the ½, 1 and 2 gallon sizes.  I have used the three gallon size, but it would not hold its shape too well  so that whenever I watered it, some water would drip out THROUGH the felt cloth over the tray below.   I ended up transplanting the banana tree in the 3 gallon cloth pot into a larger hard plastic pot.   I recommend trying some non-chemical solutions to dealing with soil gnats, I have listed chemical waysto treat soil gnats in my previous post.

Good Growing,

Dr. E.R. Myers

The Right Depth for Planting Seeds

Depending on where you live, you may already have your plants in the ground, but it not too late to start a few more seeds for your outdoor garden, and there are 365 days of good weather for we indoor growers.
If you are growing something like corn or beans that have a larger seed, you will want to put it 1\4 to \2 of an inch below the soil.  Always read the directions, I am surprised how many people fail to just read the directions on the seeds they by.  You want to be consistent with all your seeds (see my post on scientific tests).  To help with consistency you could use a pen or most anything that is stick like to put holes in your grow medium (I am using a mostly soil with some perlite/vermiculite mixed in here). Click here to see my test for the best medium for seed germination

Simply measure the distance on the pen, wrap some tape around the pen at that distance and you have a handy tool to make consistent holes so that all your seeds will start off at the optimal spot.

Good Growing,

Dr. E.R. Myers

 Click here to see my post on speeding up germination

Click here to read my post about speeding up seedling growth.

E-mail - Flying Insects in Growroom

Doc,
  I have little fruit flies in my garden.  I am using a soil mixture in 3 gallon pots.  I read on your blog about putting sand on top of the soil and I tried putting sand on top of my pots, but it has not gotten rid of them.  I am going to eat my plants so I don’t want to use any chemicals.  What can I do to get rid of these little bugs?

Thanks for the E-mail.  I think you have what I call soil gnats or fungus gnats.  The adults are harmless; they don’t sting or bite you or your plants.  The larvae (like when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly) eat organic matter in the soil and can eat root hairs which would harm the plants and slow growth.  A test to see if your soil is infested with soil gnat larvae is to look very closely (use a magnifying lens if you have one) you will see tiny little white ‘worms’ or larvae.  Another test is to put a piece of raw potato on top of your soil.  In  just one day you should see little black headed larvae under or even on the potato chowing down.  Since you put sand on top of the soil (perlite or any substance free of organic matter and that dries out will work) you might not be able to do this.  The adults live a week or so, so you will still see them flying for that long.  If it has been over a week, or you see MORE adults you still have a problem.  What might happen is that the soil gnats could be laying eggs using the drainage holes.  Pick up the pots.  You should notice some soil gnats flying from ON the plant, but what you want to look for is soil gnats UNDER the pots.  If you see a bunch of gnats under your pots, this is why putting sand on top did not work, they just found another place to lay their eggs in your grow area.  

You should clean out your trays of any plant matter.  You can then fill the trays ½ full with a 1-4 ratio of hydrogen peroxide to water.  One part 3% hydrogen peroxide, and four parts tap water.  This will work better if the plant/soil is dry.  Make sure the mixture covers the drainage holes for a few minutes.  The mixture should kill most of the larvae but won’t harm your plants if you make the 1-4 ratio correctly and only let the plants sit in the solution a few minutes.

Last, you should get some yellow stickytraps from HTGSupply.com to monitor the soil gnat population.  If you could harvest all your plants at once and clean up everything with the hydrogen peroxide (or bleach for the pots and trays) you should try to wait a week to make sure all the adults in your house are dead.  If you have house plants, you may want to treat them with an insecticide otherwise soil gnats in your house plants will find their way to your indoor garden again.

Let me know if this works

Good Growing,

Dr. E.R. Myers

Click here for other options including insecticides to deal with indoor pests.