Hot Water Kills Greenhouse Pests

Hot Water Kills Greenhouse Pests MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals 27-6-20 A University of Maryland researcher says dunking plants in hot water shows promise as a way to kill common greenhouse insects and bacterial diseases. Stanton Gill, a regional extension specialist, says the practice could save growers thousands of dollars in insecticides and fumigation costs. Another big benefit is worker safety and the fact that there is no re-entry time, so work can continue without interruption. And insurance companies might lower rates when chemical use is decreased. Determined to find out if the idea would work on a larger scale, Gill, with help from David Ross, a University of Maryland ag engineer and Chuck Schuster, Montgomery county (Maryland) extension educator, spent the first six months of 2003 putting together a prototype system. They received funding for the work in the form of a grant from the Maryland Nursery and Landscape Association. The system is designed around a 100-gal. stock tank. A pump circulates water from the tank through a propane-fired instant hot water heater and back into the tank through inlets on both sides of the tank. This allows them to maintain a constant water temperature. So far, the researchers have used the system to treat cuttings being used to propagate new plants. They've found that a temperature of 128 degrees F (49 C) for 8 to 12 min. is sufficient to control most plant diseases. Once the cuttings are treated, they're allowed to cool in ambient air for 6 to 8 min. and then placed in a mist chamber. Gill says they expect to fine tune the system a bit more and then take it out to a nursery in Maryland to field test. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stanton Gill, regional specialist, Central Maryland Research and Education, University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, 11975 Homewood Road, Ellicott City, Md. 21042 (ph 301 596-9413; email: sgill@umd.edu).

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