Killing Mold on and inside Tents

Discussion in 'Grow Room Design/Setup' started by jakesterjammin, Nov 16, 2011.

  1. OK, I recently went through a flood (from hurricane Irene of 2011), after the flooding came the mold.. So we ended up moving back home to Michigan...

    The basement where I had my tents was under water and the tents were floating.. When we packed up what was left for the move, the tents were still a little damp, but I did not have the time to completely let them dry before packing them into a tote...

    After the move, it was like 45 days before I opened the totes with my tents in them, and when I did, OMG, everything was covered in white and black mold..

    So I set them up in the back yard, washed them off and moved them inside to dry.. Well after they dried, mold returned... Mostly the white fuzzy mold..


    I did not want to use bleach on my black tents, so I started hunting for a solution.. Bought every dam mold killer on the market (that claimed not to discolor), and every time the tents dried, there was a white mold forming again... :mad:


    So I started hunting again, and found a "nature site" that was all about organic cleaning products... Then seen that they say Apple Cider Vinegar is a great way to kill molds... They said that the mold cannot handle the high acid content within the vinegar...

    Figured what the hell, why not because I cannot afford to replace the tents and at this point I was out of options outside of using a high concentration of bleach mix, which would of course discolor my tents...


    They suggested mixing it 1 to 1 (Vinegar/water)...
    Well I mixed it to like almost a 2 to 1.. Sprayed the tents down scrubbed them again, and resprayed them, then left them to dry...


    After the first drying, there was small little spots here and there, so I sprayed the spots again and left to dry...


    3 weeks later the tents are dry and mold free and they look brand new!!! :eek:


    So if you're getting that white residue looking mold on your tents, use Apple Cider Vinegar... It will NOT harm your tent's color and kills black and white molds on contact... Also the tents do not smell of vinegar a few days after they dried....


    Just thought I'd share this information with the community... :wave:
     

  2. WHy did you not just use bleach? I bleach my tents twice a month. never caused any issues and does not fade the color at all. It is study stuff if you have a proper tent. I like to use a nice scented bleach then my grow room smells nice after. Inside I use the same mix. Makes it nice and shiny and clean and greatly reduces the chances of mold and certain pests. Oh and bleach is less than 2 dollars a gallon.
     

  3. Because bleach does NOT kill white mold...
    I JUST went through it and the reason I had to move...

    It killed the black mold within my old house with one application, but the white mold returned within a few days... When it returned in the home I was in, I mixed up a 50% mix, and applied that, again within a few days, the white mold was back...

    Then the smell was unGodly!!!
    Also I only use bleach on plastics..

    I also did not know if it would discolor my tent and was only going to chance that at a VERY last resort...


    But to find something that was TOTALLY organic and kills all mold, was impressive to me... Sorry you was not impressed with an organic way to kill molds...
     
  4. #4 leftkidney, Nov 25, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 25, 2011
    you can use hydrogen peroxide to clean anything, it is used in water treatment plants in the place of chlorine to clean and prevent smell in water, its certified for use to sterilize medical equipment during assembly as in mas-spec machines and such so that they dont have any foreign stuff in them, its used in fish tanks for small fish in a tank as a replacement to a air stone to add oxygen to the water - it can be used out of the brown bottle which is usually a 3 wt% concentrations (about 3%) up to 6 or so and can be gotten in 29-30 wt% for lab use and in grow stores in a white bottle labeled H2O2, you can also get it as much higher but you need to have a certified sotrage place and permits which you dont have or want - take the 29% stuff and dilute it to 6ml per 4 liters of water and spray it all over the place and just wipe it up, nothing it touches thats biological will live the cell walls will be broken down by the oxygen escaping the h2o2 and making h2o or water

    in the future you can get a sulfur burner or evaporator to prevent this or control and kill it and the only real good one is the Nivola I have this and it was the only thing that worked to get rid of powdery mildew, since it makes the surface a high acidic environment nothing can grow on it but it wont harm the plants if not used in excess - there is no reason this wont kill any type of mold or bacteria that grows on anything

    there are others but the heating element in them isnt as good and I have tested them - also if you look at pictures of large greenhouses in commercial operations of lettuce and other things like that you can see these "red cans" hanging around the place and thats to prevent mold from growing, I even seen them on the history channel in a greenhouse growing flowers in the background and not mentioned but I knew what they were

    you have to follow the instructions for it and make sure you dont over fill the cup or it will overflow and get all over the place, it must be hung up not set down thats why it has the cord coming out of the bottom and it must be a minimum of 1ft from the ceiling or it can make a mark on it - I take some aluminum foil and put it inside the metal cup so its easier to clean out because you have to change it every day you use it, make sure the foil is touching the bottom and dont have any holes in it or it sucks to clean out and you pretty much have to heat it up and then quickly wipe it out while its hot and scrub the rest of it with sand paper
     
  5. F those sulphur burners man
     
  6. yea I edited the response but they work just fine they just smell bad
     

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