We've never done anything like this, but if it's possible, I would put traps out straight onto the soil when the gallery is closed. That is the most likely place a critter would show up. Another space would be on the floor as near the container as possible. Regular sticky blunder traps should be fine and definitely safe for the plants.
There are potted plants in one space in my building. If I catch anything, it's springtails. It's kind of interesting, because I can tell if the plants are being overwatered when there are a lot of springtails or gnats in the traps. Good luck! Your predicament is one of the reasons I'm glad I don't work in a contemporary art museum. Alan *Alan Van Dyke * Senior Preservation Technician Harry Ransom Center The University of Texas at Austin P.O. Drawer 7219 Austin, Texas 78713-7219 P: 512-232-4614 www.hrc.utexas.edu <http://hrc.utexas.edu> On Wed, Jun 2, 2021 at 3:15 PM Ariana Webber <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello All, > > > > I was hoping to get a little advice from anyone who may have encountered a > situation like this before. We are working with an artist this fall who > will be growing plants in our gallery. > > > > We are still narrowing down the species of plant (considering something > like common chickweed, dead nettle, rye grass, Virginia creeper, and/or > English ivy) and the exact mechanism for growing them. My colleague is > doing some tests of grow lights in the gallery this week. There will be > plants, soil, an irrigation system possibly built out of water bottles and > IV tubes and a system of grow lights in the ceiling. > > > > Besides sterilizing the soil, washing the roots of the plants as much as > possible, removing any dead leaves, and laying out pest traps when we are > closed, what mitigation measures should I be taking? Any advice on where is > best to place traps/what kinds of traps I should buy? And what else should > I be worried about? Is there anything else I can do before hand to > minimize our pest risk? > > > > Would love some advice from someone who has dealt with this type of thing > before! > > > > Thanks so much, > > Ariana > > > > > > -- > > Ariana M. Webber > > Registrar for Exhibitions > > > > MIT List Visual Arts Center > > 20 Ames Street, Building E15-109 > > Cambridge, MA 02139 USA > > 617-253-6633 office > > 503-991-2253 mobile > > listart.mit.edu > > > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MuseumPests" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/39BFC589-021F-4D11-973A-4C3E7ED281EA%40mit.edu > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/39BFC589-021F-4D11-973A-4C3E7ED281EA%40mit.edu?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAHhLO3bbBRgbtLvKvZimGFgkugWs9Q6w3KQ2mdAfprqnGMZ%3DzQ%40mail.gmail.com.
