Hi all,
just wondering what type of insect netting you would reccomend for putting on the end of my intake ducting (inside the room)?
I have some normal net curtain stretched around the other end (outside) as a first barrier, but i want to get some proper insect stopping net on the inside end
thanks in advance guys
redgrotto

Tights or stockings do the job just peachy .....


Laz

Dont know if this helps but i used a pair of womens tights over then end of my intake.

edit... Doh... Laz beat me to it

cheers guys, but the thing is....its 10 inch ducting
stretching tights over it is a nightmare, ive tried it and its failed, they cant stretch over , and if i cut them it wont stay fixed on the sides???
any other ideas people
cheers again guys,
redgrotto

My missus can pull em on her legs so even 16" ducting shouldnt be a problem and we wont mention the arse bit

Owd

popsocks. the insects collect in the toe area and get all crunchy. i filter on the inner end. but it's only a six inch feed.
you can get outsizes from places like john lewis who cater for fat girls.

LMFAO , your killing me after a massive honey oil joint .

Urm, what happens when you open the grow to work in it? I've never quite understood why folks cover their inlets, for surely as soon as you open up to water/feed/tend your plants, in go any bugs??
Am I missing summat?
Probably.

Your missing nowt mate as thats what i think

Plus you'll be surprised how much it suppresses the flow

Owd

What's one of them, then?


What? The arse bit?

well i might be carrying stuff on my clothes when i go in but the vent feed is going most of the time and will therefore pull bugs in from outside and therefore needs a filter. if you've built enough spare capacity into your design, the reduction in airflow is taken into account. the filter has been in place for abut six months and doesn't need emptying yet.
am i missing something here?

My intake pulls in 'fresh air' .... so it's hardly the same as opening the grow room door .....

edited to add ..... What Tony said ...


Laz

I don't know M8. Its often puzzled me. Its not just what may be on my clothes, but its the fact that when I open my door then the grow is fully exposed to a whole houseful of air. I suppose I just question whether, in the long run, there's any real point in filtering at the intake. But I'd gladly stand corrected. I know most folks do it.


'Ey Up Laz...
So what happens when you open the grow room door M8? Surely its getting exposed to all sorts? My head hurts!

Haha, cheers for that guys , like the fat tights stuff
To answer the question about filtering the intake, when i open my main door (flowering room) which is the the room i am talking about, it leads into my vegging room, so no bugs get in...the outside intakes are outside the veg room as well... so when i clean filters , its outside both sealed rooms.... does this make sense?? maybe im too stoned, ,, or just waffling..
anyway,
thanks again guys,
redgrotto

I wear use tights and last time i changed them they were full of dead bugs

Silk Screen, local craft store. Or go buy some fat chick's tights. Or go buy some screening at your local home improvement store, tape it on with some duct tape or some self-tapping small sheet metal screws.

Aye ...but my grow door is within the shed - opened occasionally...


my intake runs more or less 24/7 and pulls fresh air from a hole in the back of the shed... thus it seemed to make sense to keep it covered..... I'm still able to suck in plenty of the good stuff tho ....


Laz

No, still cannot see the point, not unless your grow-room is within sealed laboratotory conditions and you have a disinfecting shower each time you go in.
Surely your shed is full of air from outside though Laz, aint it? Every time you go in, in come the bugs, spores et al. And then, when you open your Grow-room door......
Sorry, I probably sound well picky here. But I am genuinely baffled by all this screening of vents.

1.I dont have any visible bugs in the room in which my grow room is in, outside there are loads of them - visible ones, in my normal routine the visible insects dont really come into the house unless I leave the doors/windows open.

2. In my experiences with visible insects and houses, 4 wasps nests and 1 bees nest to date - in 3 different houses in the Uk, a small opening like a vent is most irresistable to visible insects and they love to enter them and make nests,, particularly wasps and bees which later mean calling the council or a private expert to get rid of them later as bees for one are often a protected lot, and wasps nests are not things I tend to want to tackle personally. I live in a mediterranean climate these days and, well, insects barely even exist in Uk in comparison!! of the many many insects that like to co-habit your home given half the chance is the cockroach,, you get one of these in the house and the best thing is to get the thing out and quick or make peace with it and the coming thousands of them and live together with them everywhere in your bed/kitchen etc. Worth a note that some cockraoches are carrying shitloads of eggs and squishing them is not desirable really - particularly the squishing and dispersal action a bug into a spinning fan makes. We had 7 wasps nests on this house alone when we bought it and its by the sea and in a built up area to give you an idea of insects here,, if you didint already know or if someone else doesnt know how little a pest insects are in the Uk compared to other climates/countries.

consider 1 and 2 and thats the best way I can explain why I pop a "pop sock" over my intake that goes outside.

the bugs that are pests to our special lady MJ are not my concern really, as has been said they can get in when you go in your room to water etc. I do change shoes, wash hands, take off my shirt before entering,, but that is only of very minor prevention,, if they want in they will get in,, same goes for the larger insects,,, but if you wanna live in a mediterranean climate and experiment with leaving your intake duct unscreened - be my guest,, most likely your experiment will have a conclusion in less than a day! I see them crawling over the screen often and am DEEPLY releived I put the screen on.

hope that helps you understand us wierd tight wearing freaks a little better Arnold

I can grasp that one Eld, having lived in the Eastern Med for a few years in my far off youth.
But in the UK? I just can't get past the thought of what happens when the Grow is opened for daily work.

looking back,, I think I could have said the same thing in a lot less words hahahahah sorry bout that

good to know you lived in the med arnold

with all that snow you guys are having ATM, I am surprised you have any bugs at all there

when I finally get a piece of land here, I invite all stocking wearing uk420'ers to come and check out the insects here, you wont be so para about em in the grow room,, but I would still use it for wasps and bees nests, rodents shouldnt really be problem with the fans and so on, I dont even think ants would be too bothered.
right i must stop typing,, seems i look up at the monitor and theres way too many words

btw: praying mantis's are effing odd things, cool, scarey as hell for their size,, but weird,, had one on my shoulder the other day and it was just swaying from side to side, like it was kinda dancing in the breeze,,, judging from the moves it made Im sure they like reggae ,, thought id share,,, oh yeah stop typing

Well it's just percentages really .... I don't think for one minute i have a bug free grow ....

But I suspect if my intake wasn't covered I may have a lot more ... or at least i would when the weather warms up..

Just seemed like common sense to me...

Laz

Blimey Laz, you know me better than to imagine I am possessed of any of that "common sense" malarkey!

Gorrany spare?

naw .... sorry Arn ..... only a couple or 3 doses left my son! .... you know how it is ....


I may however be harvesting.. say .... an hour and a half of logical thought next week...if that's any use to you ....


Laz

If you have an active fan wouldn't they get choppedy chop chopped anyway? I personally like a filter as it stops all sorts of dust and crap filling my fan, makes me feel better about the bugs as I have ran without one with the intake duct pointed at the water bowl + mini fogger, and I get about 5 or 6 dead black flies in there per day (and when I open the doors I can see them entering or leaving, although I never do) along with the fact that it helps reduce my intake flow and keeps up negative pressure in the drobe which keeps smells going through the CF

The fact is that fans stir and whip around alot of dust. Im using a 3M filtrete house filter on my drobe (no intake ducting). It filters dust, spores, fungus, and everything else and it catches alot! I notice my drobe is much cleaner using the filter and I feel good knowing that no bugs will get in while im away. If you have a good extraction fan the air in the drobe will all be evacuated within a few minutes after you leave, so it doesnt matter much about you going into your drobe a couple times a week.

i suppose its all about odds really.
yeah you are taking necessary risks by just entering the room. but surely you are decreasing the chance that nasty bugs and spores get into your crop by filtering the intake.
remember the intake is on 24/7.
i think its a good idea to filter the intake.
it would be hard to do a proper study of this but like i said, it must dcrease the odds of infection

bump to get attention to my previous reply. OWD i think your wrong for once

I know owd has an issue with the flow but i compensated by using a passive intake which was 10x the area of my extractor ducting. If there is a restriction from the filter you can increase the volume of intake to make up for it. My filter is effectively keeping the drobe cleaner than I had previously expected. Airflow is excellent. The only possible drawback with this filter is it lets some light out, looks like a 30 watt light is on in my room. But its ok for me because I dont use that room for much else besides growing. I highly reccomend using a 3M house filter of the highest grade (spores, bacteria, smoke..etc.) if you are looking for maximum filtration. It is not stealth, but it is extremely effective at keeping the drobe spot clean and lots of airflow. A sock over a duct cant compare, performance wise.

arnie. i think we're all at cross purposes here. i suspect that those of us who filter are bringing in air from the wide blue yonder. in my case the intake is not far from a climbing rose so no point in sucking in any more creatures than necessary.