Gardening Magazine

How to Kill Spider Mites with Co2 (Carbon Dioxide)

By Stoopidj @spidermitehq

What is Carbon Dioxide exactly?

Co2 is an extremely common, naturally occouring gas in the atmosphere.  In fact, Carbon Dioxide makes up between 300 and 450 parts per million of the air all around you!  It is a organic, colorless, oderless, non-poisnoius, molecule.

Carbon Dioxide Generators are a fairly normal object in indoor or green house gardens.  This is extremely important because using tanks of Co2 gas can be expensive and possibly impossible depending on your grow room size.

Carbon Dioxide Generators produce Co2 by burning a clean gas, such as Propane or Natural Gas.  When these clean fuels are burned they release 2 things

  1. Co2- the targeted product
  2. Water Vapor- this is a GREAT!!! second benefit of Generators.

Because it is organic, and non poisnoius, it is normally considered by growers to be the holy grail of Sprider mite control.To top it off, Using Co2 to kill spider mites is extremely easy and inexpensive.

Why use Co2 to kill spider mites?

It is a common question around the internet.  How do I use my co2 to kill spider mites in my indoor grow room?

co2 generator for killing spider mites

Co2 Generator

  • IT WORKS!-not breathing really kills things
  • IT’S EASY! -set your Co2 monitor and walk way for 1 hour
  • IT’S CHEAP! – propane tank refills cost about $20.  A single “Treatment”  will only use about $2-3 worth of propane

Carbon Dioxide Generators can easily achieve the 10,000-15,000 parts per million (ppm), or 1 hour,  that will be required to kill off the pests in your grow environment.

While it can be said that Co2 is non-poisonious, it will kill.  It does this by amount of oxygen in the air, as a percentage.  This smothers the victim, leaving no lasting residue on your grow equipment, like bug bombs and sprays can.

Also your plants will LOVE the Co2 rich environment.  They will thrive.

How to kill spider mites with Co2 directions:

  1. Ensure that your Room is sealed as well as possible.  Any leaks will lead to wasted carbon dioxide.
  2. Set your Co2 ppm meter to 12,000 ppm.  If your meter does not have that large of a range, you can do the math with a calculator here.
  3. If your Co2 Meter will accept the settings, turn it on and walk away for 1 hour.  I your meter wont accept the settings, Calculate the Co2 required to 15,000 ppm.  This will allow for air leaks in the room.  Turn on Generator for amount of time required by calculator.
  4. When the 1 hour is up.  Turn exhaust fans on BEFORE entering the grow room.  Let these fans run for at least 1/2 hour.
  5. You can now enter the room.
  6. Repeat in 5 days.  This should solve your spider mite problem permanently.

A note of advice about how to kill spider mites with Co2

Please use caution when using Co2 to kill spider mites.  Carbon Dioxide will kill you if you are not careful.  It is highly suggested that you have a friend help when doing this project.  Make sure that only one person goes into the room at a time, just incase the Co2 level is higher than expected.

This gas will make you tired and fall asleep.  Then you will DIE.  If you start to feel tired while using this method you should IMMEDIATELY go OUTSIDE.  Breathe the fresh air.

Hopefully this solves your Spider Mite problems.  If you have other questions about Spider Mites or other products check out the links!

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By John Clemenss
posted on 02 July at 04:20

Can you use this method on outdoor plants by tenting them?