What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

Grow Room Pesticide Contamination Fix

Indica57

New member
Good Evening,

I have a grow room that has been contaminated by bifenthrin. My four week old vegetating plants were not sprayed but a family member disinfected the room with a pesticide containing this ingredient and then put the plants back in after an hour. They were in the room for six hours before I found out. The led lights,exhaust fan and filter, plus oscillating fan were on. After doing some research I am concerned that my coco and possibly the cannabis may be contaminated. Is there anything I can do to save my plants from being unhealthy to smoke? Thank you for your help, I've been pretty stressed and pissed by the incident.
 

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
Good Evening,

I have a grow room that has been contaminated by bifenthrin. My four week old vegetating plants were not sprayed but a family member disinfected the room with a pesticide containing this ingredient and then put the plants back in after an hour. They were in the room for six hours before I found out. The led lights,exhaust fan and filter, plus oscillating fan were on. After doing some research I am concerned that my coco and possibly the cannabis may be contaminated. Is there anything I can do to save my plants from being unhealthy to smoke? Thank you for your help, I've been pretty stressed and pissed by the incident.
Subscribed! I wanna know the answers as well :)
 

Indica57

New member
Subscribed! I wanna know the answers as well :)

They used ortho home defense. What I did was to remove the plants, set up an old tent, then scrape the surface coco out of the pots. I wiped the lights and fan down and set up an air purifier. Not sure if that will work or not. I'd like to know as this grow is to help a chronic illness I experience, it'd be great if I could be sure that it's not going to add to my health challenges.
 

eric2028

Well-known member
Veteran
The active ingredient you mentioned is also in a product called Talstar pro. But In higher concentration. This product is approved for indoor use and also for use in commercial kitchens. With that being said I wouldn’t worry too much.
 

Indica57

New member
The active ingredient you mentioned is also in a product called Talstar pro. But In higher concentration. This product is approved for indoor use and also for use in commercial kitchens. With that being said I wouldn’t worry too much.

I hope that is true, I've seen that "cheapish" food testers can be purchased off amazon, not sure if they work but giving it some thought. Thank you for the hopeful feedback.
 

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
look up the product name + msds on the internet and look up the environmental data
 

Indica57

New member
look up the product name + msds on the internet and look up the environmental data

Thank you for that. The only thing I notice is that is states it's "Very toxic to aquatic organisms." Nothing concerning vegetation, not sure if that's good or bad, wish there were more information.
 

Indica57

New member
Thank you for that. The only thing I notice is that is states it's "Very toxic to aquatic organisms." Nothing concerning vegetation, not sure if that's good or bad, wish there were more information.

For storage it says "Do not contaminate food or feedstuffs"
 

Indica57

New member
The active ingredient you mentioned is also in a product called Talstar pro. But In higher concentration. This product is approved for indoor use and also for use in commercial kitchens. With that being said I wouldn’t worry too much.

"Talstar P cannot be used on any type of edible vegetation. We do carry a wide variety of products that can be used on vegetables. You can type in the name of the vegetable you need to treat into the search window (upper left hand side) of our home page and this will help narrow down the choices. When you see the products come up you can click on them and you will be able to see the full product descriptions as well as the product label. We encourage our customers to read the product label of the product they are interested in purchasing to be sure it will fit their needs."

Unfortunately I think I may need to toss the plants out. What a waste.
 

eric2028

Well-known member
Veteran
I thought you said the plants weren’t sprayed? Yea don’t use on your plants, use to kill/ prevent bugs from entering your growspace. So spray on and around your house.
 

AgentPothead

Just this guy, ya know?
I found this on wikipedia. Pyrethroids are much less toxic in mammals than they are in insects and fish, because mammals have the ability to rapidly break the ester bond in bifenthrin and break the substance into its inactive acid and alcohol components:[2] In humans and rats, bifenthrin is degraded by the cytochrome p450-family.
Personally, if the plants are for personal use I would keep them. If they are for other people to use, or for sale, I would probably get rid of them to be safe. I used a pyrethrin based anti fungal during veg on some plants and had no problem, but I don't think they are supposed to be used during flower. Since your plants weren't sprayed directly, they should have much less contamination than direct contact.
 

Indica57

New member
I thought you said the plants weren’t sprayed? Yea don’t use on your plants, use to kill/ prevent bugs from entering your growspace. So spray on and around your house.

That is correct, they were not sprayed. I have read that they're still exposed even though they are not sprayed directly. From my understanding, the ignorant individual pulled them out, sprayed inside the tent, them put them back in.
 

Indica57

New member
I found this on wikipedia. Pyrethroids are much less toxic in mammals than they are in insects and fish, because mammals have the ability to rapidly break the ester bond in bifenthrin and break the substance into its inactive acid and alcohol components:[2] In humans and rats, bifenthrin is degraded by the cytochrome p450-family.
Personally, if the plants are for personal use I would keep them. If they are for other people to use, or for sale, I would probably get rid of them to be safe. I used a pyrethrin based anti fungal during veg on some plants and had no problem, but I don't think they are supposed to be used during flower. Since your plants weren't sprayed directly, they should have much less contamination than direct contact.

That is encouraging, thank you for sharing. I emailed the National Pesticide Information Center last night, waiting for a response, of course they may be bias, hopefully they;re not. I live in a state the allows the growing of up to 6 plants. I only have 4 so I am totally legal. Thanks again for responding :)
 

Indica57

New member
This is a reply from the National Pesticide Information Center to an email I sent:



"Thank you for your email. As you might imagine, the potential risk from any pesticide is complex and situation specific. We would be happy to talk with you about that over the phone. At your convenience, please call us at 800-858-7378, Monday - Friday between the hours of 8:00am to 12:00pm Pacific Time to speak directly to a Pesticide Specialist.

Once a product has been given a chance to dry, it significantly decreases the risk to people and plants (like your cannabis) that may be in the area. Because the plants were not in the area at the time, the chances that the product may be on the plants would be reduced. Without knowing that it was dry in the area before the plants were returned, it would be difficult to determine if any kind of damage may have occurred. Despite this, bifenthrin is considered to be non-toxic to plants, and is not expected to be absorbed or moved throughout a plant. I have included additional information below.

Pesticides: What’s my Risk?
https://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/WhatsMyRisk.html

Minimizing Pesticide Risk
https://npic.orst.edu/health/minexp.html

Bifenthrin Technical Fact Sheet
https://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/biftech.html#env

If possible, please consider having the EPA registration number or active ingredient(s) available for the Pesticide Specialist when you call. This information is located on the label and can be obtained from the pest control company."
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Bifenthrin is poorly soluble in water and often remains in soil. Its residual half-life in soil is between 7 days and 8 months, depending on the soil type, with a low mobility in most soil types. Bifenthrin has the longest known residual time in soil of insecticides currently on the market.

If it's poorly soluble it water it will likely stay in soil or on the surface of leaves. Did the plants have buds at the time of spraying?
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
I wouldn't worry about it then. With flowering time and drying and maybe curing you would be good even if it was easily water soluble. But it isn't so should be none or very close to none in your buds.
 

Weird

3rd-Eye Jedi
Veteran
This is a reply from the National Pesticide Information Center to an email I sent:



"Thank you for your email. As you might imagine, the potential risk from any pesticide is complex and situation specific. We would be happy to talk with you about that over the phone. At your convenience, please call us at 800-858-7378, Monday - Friday between the hours of 8:00am to 12:00pm Pacific Time to speak directly to a Pesticide Specialist.

Once a product has been given a chance to dry, it significantly decreases the risk to people and plants (like your cannabis) that may be in the area. Because the plants were not in the area at the time, the chances that the product may be on the plants would be reduced. Without knowing that it was dry in the area before the plants were returned, it would be difficult to determine if any kind of damage may have occurred. Despite this, bifenthrin is considered to be non-toxic to plants, and is not expected to be absorbed or moved throughout a plant. I have included additional information below.

Pesticides: What’s my Risk?
https://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/WhatsMyRisk.html

Minimizing Pesticide Risk
https://npic.orst.edu/health/minexp.html

Bifenthrin Technical Fact Sheet
https://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/biftech.html#env

If possible, please consider having the EPA registration number or active ingredient(s) available for the Pesticide Specialist when you call. This information is located on the label and can be obtained from the pest control company."




I commend you on your due diligence in finding a better answer and sharing it
 
Top