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Old March 23, 2018   #16
oakley
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: NewYork 5a
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brownrexx View Post
Freezing is a well known organic method to kill many pests. No it does not kill ticks or mosquitoes but beekeepers commonly freeze their hive equipment because it kills the eggs of the wax moth without using chemicals and many gardeners freeze their dry beans and peas before long term storage to kill the eggs of bean weevils which would destroy their stored crops.

Indian Meal Moths (pantry moths) can also be killed in all life stages by putting the grain, seed or other food in the freezer at 0 degrees for 4-7 days.

I don't know for sure that freezing kills the eggs of the fungus gnat but I used to have fungus gnats every year around my seedlings and since I have been placing the seed starting mix in the freezer for several days before using it, I have not had any fungus gnats at all. Maybe I have just been lucky but my mix is in the freezer right now just in case.
Hibernating insects have antifreeze proteins.
http://www.sitnews.us/0509news/05210...k_science.html
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