Richard and Genevieve, Incredibly helpful. Thank you so much. Heat treatment just might work. I got ahold of Sprang’s review of lethal temperatures for various pest species and am pretty sure my car gets that hot just sitting in the museum parking lot. Black bag outdoor treatment may do the trick as well. I will set up some tests with our data loggers. From your advice and others I may also just recommend to the curator that we leave them in the freezer until after the show has opened (next week!). Adding them to the exhibit late may be better than not including them at all.
Thank you and others who have commented here and via direct email. Kind regards, Katy From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Pollack, Richard J Sent: Thursday, June 6, 2019 9:49 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [pestlist] Freezing as treatment/prevention As an IPM as well as a safety specialist, I'll second Genevieve's warnings. As dry ice (frozen CO2) sublimates in a freezer or cooler, the volume of the gas increases dramatically. Without an easy, suitable and safe way to vent that, the pressure can and will increase, sometimes with explosive results. Folks have suffered injuries from such events. See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119651/ I've seen very impressive and ugly damage from freezer doors (particularly those that latch securely) that were blown off their hinges, and also from consumer-style beverage coolers that were latched, taped or banded to keep the lid closed. Equally important is to never place dry ice into a walk-in cooler or chamber. The CO2 will displace O2, and folks who venture inside may very quickly (seconds) collapse from oxygen deprivation. Death may follow quickly. So, just don't ever put dry ice into a chamber or room that is large enough for a person to enter. Even the confined space of a vehicle risks a bad outcome. See: https://www.livescience.com/63241-dry-ice-death.html Now, it is quite likely that freezing at -15C may kill some of your pests. The longer they're exposed, the better the chances of victory. If the cold (with ice crystal formation) doesn't do the trick, then the creatures may succumb from desiccation. Multiple freeze/thaw cycles may help, but this isn't certain. Hopefully, you'll find a source for a freezer that will provide you with more assured pest-killing environment. Best of success. -Rich Richard J. Pollack, PhD HARVARD UNIVERSITY Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Senior Environmental Public Health Officer 46 Blackstone St. Cambridge, MA 02139 Office: 617-495-2995 Cell: 617-447-0763 www.ehs.harvard.edu [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ________________________________ From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Tocci (Lewis-Gentry), Genevieve E. <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Thursday, June 6, 2019 11:21 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [pestlist] Freezing as treatment/prevention Hello Katy, I cannot comment on the effectiveness of killing those specific pests in a -15C with a double freeze. I do want to warn strongly against putting dry ice in your freezer! Please read any material safety sheets related to this and ask an EH&S expert, but my understanding is that dry ice must be in a proper container or else a buildup of gas can cause major problems and be very dangerous. If your materials are not sensitive to heat and you have the right weather you might be able to do a black bag style treatment outside? I also see on Index Herbariorum there are 2 herbaria in Price and perhaps one of them has a large and cold enough freezer you could use? Manti-LaSal National Forest, USDA Forest Service<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__sweetgum.nybg.org_science_ih_herbarium-2Ddetails_-3Firn-3D125214&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=1bSymthMLY5NTguK_N4haEDII_aNrAKLjmIkSiJnMRU&s=3QuEqKtov3EQM2MNColnpg3__7nZuBOg90ZuphLi3Io&e=> Utah State University – Eastern<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__sweetgum.nybg.org_science_ih_herbarium-2Ddetails_-3Firn-3D124312&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=1bSymthMLY5NTguK_N4haEDII_aNrAKLjmIkSiJnMRU&s=uxxekx6A_yFtetUzryS8tUtCP8RK8Cmr1dYifwQR_qM&e=> Best of luck Genevieve ================================================= Genevieve E. Tocci Senior Curatorial Technician Harvard University Herbaria 22 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 U.S.A. Phone: 617-495-1057 Fax: 617-495-9484 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of katharine.corneli Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2019 6:03 PM To: Museumpests <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [pestlist] Freezing as treatment/prevention Hello all, We have a Navajo rug and native basketry exhibit coming in to our changing exhibits gallery and several of the rugs have shown webbing-like residue and one of the baskets has frass in the spaces between the weaving. I recently put some data loggers in our chest freezer and it only goes down to about -15 degrees C. I have read that -30 C is recommended but I would imagine it varies by pest. Is it possible that webbing clothes moths and, say, drugstore beetles are killed at higher temperatures? I realize I am dreading talking to the curator and the director to tell them we either can't take these items for the exhibit or we need to buy a new freezer. Is there some way to achieve a good kill rate without such a low temperature? Repeated freeze/thaws etc? Could I add some dry ice? Rig something up to make it colder? It has also proven difficult to source local commercial freezers. I realize we will need to replace it eventually but my director is generally reluctant to spend money (I'm sure none of you can relate....) and I wonder if we can pull something together at least for this exhibit. Thank you for any input, Katy Katharine Corneli Curator of Collections | Prehistoric Museum 155 E Main, Price, Utah 84501 Office: 435-613-5765 Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. 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