Whether your buddy gave you a few clones or you purchased clones from a supplier, don’t just plop them in your indoor grow area without first sanitizing the plants to ensure no pests enter your grow area.
I mean, you’d be pretty pissed if your buddy just gave you russet mites, right? Yeah, us too. That’s why this simple step is so important! It can save you the heartache of dealing with pests or worse, losing a crop.
Plus, you truly never know for sure if a friend or supplier is battling pests, so it’s always better to be safe!
To start you will want to have the following on hand:
- Water
- Wettable Sulfur
- Bucket
Sanitizing Plants with Sulfur Solution to Eliminate Pests and Disease
Follow these steps every time you bring new plants into the garden and you’ll remain a happy camper:
- Once you get the plants home, you will want to quarantine them somewhere that’s not close to your grow area (preferably outside if it’s not sub-zero temperatures).
- Follow the directions on the wettable sulfur you purchased to mix into the water. Note: Do not expose plants to light until they are dried or you risk burning the plants.
- After the solution is mixed together, simply dunk the clones into the water. Yes, you are drenching the plants. If the plant is too large to dunk, simply ensure all areas of the plant are soaked including the underside of the leaves and stalk.
- Now that the plants have been dunked, you will want to transplant them out of the soil that they’ve been living in. This helps ensure that all pathogens or pests have been removed from the plant’s environment.
- Finally, place your new plants into the garden and enjoy.
Note: If you are fully aware that you are receiving clones with pests or disease, you may find yourself needing to dunk your new plants in sulfur more than once. However, do not perform this method more than once a week.
Otherwise, enjoy happy healthy plants from friends without any headaches of pests in the garden ever again!
How does sulfur eliminate pest and disease?
So some of you may be thinking, sulfur? Really? That’s it? And, it is! It’s just sulfur and water and it works like a charm, but how?
Well, you may be surprised to know that sulfur has been registered as a pesticide in the United States since the 1920s, so in all actuality, this is nothing new. Fancy bottles and brands just got in the way of what Mother Nature has already provided us with.
With the ability to kill insects, fungi, mites, and rodents, sulfur is some seriously powerful stuff!
For insects and mites, they must come into contact with the sulfur or consume it, but once they do, they begin to die. This is due to sulfur interrupting their bodily functions. Ultimately, causing their bodies to stop ATP (energy) production.
For fungi, sulfur kills them as soon as it comes into contact with the fungi. While this process is still not fully understood, it is believed that the sulfur disrupts cellular respiration similar to how it disrupts the insect’s energy production. Therefore, effectively killing the fungi.
Where can I buy sulfur?
When looking to purchase sulfur, it’s important that you purchase wettable sulfur, as this type can be easily mixed into water and sprayed on plants. Personally, we buy the Hi-Yield Wettable Sulfur found here.
Your local hardware or garden store may also have wettable sulfur in stock as well.
Have questions? Ask in the comments below!