Quote Originally Posted by Opie Yutts
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bud luv, I know you have a lot of pesticide experience, but I find it very hard to believe that 8 hours of exposure to a plant that is in the early stages of life can be harmful to you if you smoke, or especially if you vaporize the buds months later. Again, I recommend you don't use the strips during flowering.
Word. When I was talking about smoking plants that had been exposed to N.P.S. I meant in flowering plants, i.e. my use of the term "buds." 'Is it bad for you (long term) to smoke buds that have been in contact with No Pest strips? To a degree it is.' I'm not a biochemist and I don't know the metabolic rate of N.P.S. in vegging plants. My main point, however, was that just having the N.P.S. around (breathing contaminated air) at all is harmful, and extreme caution should be used to minimize the airflow from the affected areas to the main living areas of one's home. I can't tell you exactly how much of the active ingredient in N.P.S. is going to be stored in vegging plants (I bet at least a trace amt), but that wasn't my concern anyways.

My main point was to expound on the health/environmental issues at hand here. EVERY chemical is harmful in certain doses. Everything from table salt to citric acid has an LD50 number, so the question isn't if something IS or ISN'T dangerous; it's HOW dangeous is it? So when something like N.P.S. is approved for usage in homes, it's not because it is safe. It is approved because the LD50 numbers are low enough (when used as instructed) to be legal. Putting N.P.S. in an area of your home that is breathed by humans is NOT using it as instructed, and it will cause harm to you and your dogs and goldfish. The fact that the active chemical in N.P.S. is now outlawed in several states just goes to show that it is very difficult and counterintuitive to use the N.P.S. "as instructed." The only place most people care about an insect infestation is in their house, but it's unsafe to use N.P.S. in your house (unless you have a certain area that has zero airflow to the other parts of your house). So it is nearly impossible for most people to use N.P.S. as instructed, and thus it is going to be dangerous in most applications.

Now like I said I've used N.P.S. before because I didn't want to lose a 2lb crop, and yes I used them in flower. Was it smart? Hell no, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. N.P.S. are handy as hell when you have the mites, but like I said exposure to them and exposing your plants to them WILL hurt you. At the time it was either throw out 2 lbs of chronic or put myself at risk, and I made a decision that unfortunately a lot of crazy people like myself will make. As I said it's a matter of balancing how badly you need your crop to how much you're willing to risk your health.... There is a lot of grey area so I'm taking an opportunity to wax philosophical, but in any case N.P.S. should be a last-case resort. Really there is ZERO reason for any "normal" person to use N.P.S... the only time they are at all justifiable (on a $$$-health scale, if you want to put a price on that stuff) is to save a crop like MJ. For someone with a bunch of spiders in the basement or ants in the kitchen there are MUCH BETTER options, so really I do think they should be outlawed or restricted to use by licensed professionals. For instance, because I've passed a 4 hour test and am a state-licensed professional I can buy and use chemicals that would be illegal for normal citizens to possess or use. I can access these pesticides because supposedly I know how to use and handle them appropriately*, but if they were used improperly they would be a serious health/environmental hazard. Since several states have found that there is no intuitive/safe way to use N.P.S. they've outlawed them, and if their scientists found that the LD50 is unacceptable in confined areas I would tend to agree with them. On the other hand, take for example something like bleach: it will absolutey kill you if you drink it, but it is very easy/intuitive to use properly so it is legal.

Really I just want to give people as much info as I can put in here while I smoke a J, and hopefully they can factor it in when they decide how to deal with pests like mites. A key thing to remember is that most pesticides are not meant to be used in enclosed areas like growrooms, so proceed at your own risk.

*which is bullshit, but that's another story.


BUD LUV

P.S. For the tobaccy/soap bug juice I would simply get a bunch of rolling tobacco and let it sit in some water with a little dish soap. The LD50 to humans on something like this is insignificant, but it will kick most bugs asses. In the future if I ever get mites again (knock on wood) I will try to control them with frequent foliar sprayings of this before resorting to a highly-toxic alternative.