Sulfur Burn for entire basement before starting new grow, preventative... thoughts?

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
I have a small grow area in my basement that during last harvest was stricken with powdery mildew, I have not grown anything for several months now as I was frustrated by the issues last time, although I got usable meds it still sucked and disappointed me. I am currently about to run a sulfur vaporizer in my basement, I do not have a fully sealed room it's just a sectioned off area in my basement so I was planning to do the entire basement rather than only the grow area. I would do this with 2 seperate burns in different corners to cover everything, I want to make sure nothing is in my basement anymore.

I do laundry down here, have a carpeted side (nothing special, but carpet never the less) and I have stored equipment, pots, etc in both areas so I would imagine the entire basement had the stuff floating around, I am wondering how bad this smell or residue will stick to things I don't want it to stick too (furniture, the finished side, washer/dryer/laundry/everything. I know to turn off my furnace/fan prior to burn, I also can suck most of it out for as long as I want w/ one of my fans that leads out a window prior to turning that stuff back on.

Just wondering if I should know anything else, I wouldn't do any crazy '8 hour burns' I think I'd do a couple hours at least a couple times, I have not even germinated anything yet I seriously want to make sure there's no chance of my brand new plants to pick any of this stuff up this time. I am sure I will carry it downstairs because it's probably over my entire house but just wanna do what I can.

Anything else I should know? I am not going to throw away my Carbon Filter and other crap though, I am hoping the Sulfur will take care of everything. I havent even grown since November so maybe the stuff dies on it's own? I am just in the process of getting it nice and tidy down there but I want it to still be livable, I hope sulfur doesn't really mess everything up.
 

topfuel29

Well-Known Member
If you want to prevent mold keep your humidity below 50%
mold can grow in tempatures as low as 39F and RH 50%+
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
My humidity was at ~35% the entire time throughout the whole infestation, that was not enough... It's pretty dry down there right now too, my whole house is at around 36% lately... hopefully I can keep it at bay this time, I did get clones from a third party though maybe they were doomed from the beginning? I have several seeds this time so I know I won't be running into someone else's infestation this time at least. I have 7 strains but only a single feminized seed of each so it's gonna be hit or miss on what actually develops. Just want to make damn sure nothing infects them right from the point of sprouting and it gets dragged out well into the grow.

I want this to go just perfect this time so I am being cautious. Everything was great last time, the only issue being the PM.
 

ounevinsmoke

Well-Known Member
So many strains have been created to be naturally resistant... I would also look into that since you have taken every other measure. Good Luck man!!!:joint:
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the responses, and yes I actually picked some of the seeds I got based on mold/mildew resistance. pretty pumped to get another grow going but also lacking motivation on the whole sanitizing thing. I am trying to determine what other problem areas I might want to put effort into addressing, I was always wondering of the 'dried up scum' in my drain trays (mainly dried up nutrients/film) is a problem area to address because I really don't want to regularly clean these things all the time they fill up quite full when I water (Hempy buckets) and I just shop vac it out every day or so when it gets near the top and dump it in my basement drain.

I don't have a sink or any way to wash things in my basement so carrying all that crap (I have some very large trays too, like 4 foot long) would just be a real pain in the ass. wondering if this stuff is OK as is, I might just throw all that crap in the room and run the sulfur lol. Also debating on what to do with this Perlite, I want to re-use it but it seems like quite a massive chore to sift all the roots out and 'sanitize' it considering I have about 50 gallons of it that I used last time, baking all that would take me days probably and soaking it w/ bleach or something would be just dreadful as well -- buying new stuff and just wasting what I have also seems equally stupid to me.
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
Oh yeah if anyone was curious I got these seeds... only 1 of each though so we'll see which ones make it to round 2.

- AMS
- Chemdog
- The Church
- Cluster Bomb
- Critical Jack
- (freebie) El Alquimista
- (freebie, auto) Supersonic Cristal Storm

I am actually a little excited about the Cristal Storm... never tried an Auto before, It's nice because I can grow that one out in my Veg tent and not have to worry about the light cycle, I saw another journal and that auto seems to grow rather well. I am debating on putting my 600W MH turned down to 75% in my tent or just using my T8's in there, it's not a huge tent by any means and I don't use air-cooled hoods just standard pebble aluminum wings completely open/bare. It's a 24" Deep 48" Wide and 60" Tall tent, I used it only for drying last time.
 

Sir.Ganga

New Member
AMS is a strain that will work well for you. If your room was 35% last time then it was not your house. I do a 4 hour burn twice a year and have no issues in my house. I keep my rooms as dry as I can, running 2 de-humidifiers at a times... sometimes.

Never worry about to low, the lower the better. The only issue running a room 25% or less is the water uptake is increcible, so be prepared .
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
AMS is a strain that will work well for you. If your room was 35% last time then it was not your house. I do a 4 hour burn twice a year and have no issues in my house. I keep my rooms as dry as I can, running 2 de-humidifiers at a times... sometimes.

Never worry about to low, the lower the better. The only issue running a room 25% or less is the water uptake is increcible, so be prepared .

Excellent to hear, that is what I was hoping... if anything w/ the environment I have down here I could see myself actually using a HUMIDIFIER for veg if anything (but I don't plan on it), I am pretty content with keeping it dry in there though and my plants never showed any signs of disliking it, they were just thirsty. All that you said does sound good though and is a little reassuring, I think since I am starting from seeds I am going to have a way better time this round as any problems which occur are really in my control and I am not at the mercy of someone else's plague being brought in here. lol
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
-- I want to do this ASAP so if anyone can answer this stuff --

I finally got things organized and only a few more things to remove before doing this (namely clothes and laundry type stuff) but I have never seen this question addressed anywhere really -- Is it ok to run my Sulfur Vaporizer with a bunch of stuff in the area? Buckets, Hardware, general things I store in the basement, some electronics, and things I generally touch (tools, for example) I have a lot of stuff I worry could be 'contaminated' so I figured I was going to remove all clothes/fabrics or items which come in contact with my mouth and just let it rip with everything else down there.

Will this leave a lasting residue on everything I touch? will smells come out of porous surfaces (and one half of the basement is carpeted, not great carpet but never the less...) just wondering, there's no doors down here everything is open concept with open doorways instead. I was kind of hoping the entire thing would get treated just in case and it seems like the carpeted side would be a worse breeding ground for things like that anyway.

Just want to make sure by leaving things in there I am not going to create issues.

Most importantly, I have 4 seedlings in there (they're in a clear container w/ lid loosely fitted in rockwool cubes, all are about to emerge but have not surfaced yet) I was going to also keep this in there w/ the lid on inside a grow tent that is partially left open but about 4 feet from the vaporizer. Is this OK? I was only going to burn somewhere between 2-4 hours -- Not sure yet, my humidity down there is under 40% and I haven't had anything growing in months.
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
It's concrete everywhere, walls too but there's a finished side (ghetto quality finished, not a nice drywall modern basement or anything) I got it running now though I just got anything I'd smoke off of or clothing out of there, we'll see only running for less than 2 hours to see what happens as this is my first time using one.

I'd say it's been on 5-10 minutes and it hasn't been releasing a visible vapor yet... people who say they run theirs for 5 minutes every day or so (I have seen several) might not be even getting it liquefied in that amount of time based on my vaporizer... unless it stays liquefied. I just went down there because I forgot to grab my jar lol (I am also leaving all my jars down there which had PM bud in them I'll wash them later figure they can be down there too.) It did not smell strong down there yet just a faint matches smell I have a respirator I normally wear when I do anything like this but just had to run down for a second.
 

Trousers

Well-Known Member
If you want to prevent mold keep your humidity below 50%
mold can grow in tempatures as low as 39F and RH 50%+
My rh gets below 20% regularly and never above 35%. I had PM
More important is temperature.

PM grows best between 60-70 degrees. It will not grow when the temps are above 77.
I got PM when my temps did not go above 72 for a week during a cold snap.

Even if you get pm, it will not grow above 77.
I bought a space heater and try to keep every thing around 77 at all times.
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
Well I ran it but have a feeling it's gonna be a little while until it's aired out down there, I have my carbon filter/fan going and exhausting out basement window but that's the only way to escape so guessing I'll wait a while longer to turn heat back on (kind of sucks) It's been off for a good hour and a half already though. I actually had temps above 77 degrees most of my last grow where I had PM but I'd imagine a lot of it did it's thing during lights out. It would easily hang around 80-82 degrees most of the time as I used open lights without vented hoods. I think if I run the vaporizer a couple hours every week or two I will be fine, I am at least 75% assuming my PM outbreak came from the clones -- I actually had a bagseed plant which had far less PM but still got some of it from the others.

Now I have all these nice genetics from seed, a few look like they will surface by tomorrow I can see the taproots and everything emerging inside the hole in my cubes. I only started 4 strains, going to start the rest later, I will flower 3-4 plants every month so I am eventually pulling 3-4 down every month roughly. Not going for anything huge but frequency would be nice, going to do this easier on myself than last time and not spend so much fussing with training and the vegetative cycle if it's perpetual I don't need monsters.
 

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
I see a lot of mixed opinions, some say the vapor/gas created by heating sulfur is extremely flammable so I don't want to turn my heat back on. lol, on the other hand I read about people running these in a basement all the time... I think I'll just enjoy the cold a while longer but I did finally turn on the fan (just not heat) to get some of that air cleared out of the basement it's not really smelling like anything anymore but I can literally see the haziness of the air when I go down there. I am sure it will be cleared up within the hour or less now that I have everything on sans heat.

I also forgot to disable my carbon monoxide detectors down there, nothing happened. I read somewhere that they could be triggered and they were in the same area just feet from the vaporizer.
 

Daveindiego

Well-Known Member
My rh gets below 20% regularly and never above 35%. I had PM
More important is temperature.

PM grows best between 60-70 degrees. It will not grow when the temps are above 77.
I got PM when my temps did not go above 72 for a week during a cold snap.

Even if you get pm, it will not grow above 77.
I bought a space heater and try to keep every thing around 77 at all times.
I disagree. I have had PM problems in 85 degree environment.
 

vostok

Well-Known Member
I have a small grow area in my basement that during last harvest was stricken with powdery mildew, I have not grown anything for several months now as I was frustrated by the issues last time, although I got usable meds it still sucked and disappointed me. I am currently about to run a sulfur vaporizer in my basement, I do not have a fully sealed room it's just a sectioned off area in my basement so I was planning to do the entire basement rather than only the grow area. I would do this with 2 seperate burns in different corners to cover everything, I want to make sure nothing is in my basement anymore.

I do laundry down here, have a carpeted side (nothing special, but carpet never the less) and I have stored equipment, pots, etc in both areas so I would imagine the entire basement had the stuff floating around, I am wondering how bad this smell or residue will stick to things I don't want it to stick too (furniture, the finished side, washer/dryer/laundry/everything. I know to turn off my furnace/fan prior to burn, I also can suck most of it out for as long as I want w/ one of my fans that leads out a window prior to turning that stuff back on.

Just wondering if I should know anything else, I wouldn't do any crazy '8 hour burns' I think I'd do a couple hours at least a couple times, I have not even germinated anything yet I seriously want to make sure there's no chance of my brand new plants to pick any of this stuff up this time. I am sure I will carry it downstairs because it's probably over my entire house but just wanna do what I can.

Anything else I should know? I am not going to throw away my Carbon Filter and other crap though, I am hoping the Sulfur will take care of everything. I havent even grown since November so maybe the stuff dies on it's own? I am just in the process of getting it nice and tidy down there but I want it to still be livable, I hope sulfur doesn't really mess everything up.
Avoid this as we will smell you coming down the street

then you invite us for a toke and beer ...lol

This Sulfur is serious old school by far better methods available including basic grow guidance

like using neem oil for Pm but hey Pm is no biggy

sulfur stinking house is ..

good luck
 
I see a lot of mixed opinions, some say the vapor/gas created by heating sulfur is extremely flammable so I don't want to turn my heat back on. lol, on the other hand I read about people running these in a basement all the time... I think I'll just enjoy the cold a while longer but I did finally turn on the fan (just not heat) to get some of that air cleared out of the basement it's not really smelling like anything anymore but I can literally see the haziness of the air when I go down there. I am sure it will be cleared up within the hour or less now that I have everything on sans heat.

I also forgot to disable my carbon monoxide detectors down there, nothing happened. I read somewhere that they could be triggered and they were in the same area just feet from the vaporizer.
I wonder if this was the Posters last message before his lungs turned to gel from breathing in sulfur fumes...can't believe the advice on these threads that is still available for people to stumble on and put to use. Sulfur vapor turns to acid when in contact with moisture...you can imagine how your moist internals would feel with a coating of acid.
 
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