|
Post by saturniidave on May 16, 2012 15:35:14 GMT -8
Bill, when you freeze a drawer or box you should always seal it in a plastic bag first, this stops the condensation. Then you should always let it slowly come up to room temperature before taking the bag off.
|
|
|
Post by lucanidae25 on May 16, 2012 16:41:21 GMT -8
By painting sugar syrup on the side walls, you're putting a physical barrier to stop any dermestids enter into the drawer. It works like tree sap in nature and how the tree stops insect enter into the tree. Dermestids normally lay their eggs between the grass and the timber frame. They are small enough to enter into drawer through gap but they'll die once they stick onto the sugar syrup. It works like a fly paper. You can also use Tanglefoot but sugar syrup is so much cheaper. We use Tanglefoot to paint on tree to trap beetles.
Think about it dermestids larvae can't fly, they can only crawl on surface and this way no chemicals but you have make sure you have to freeze all your new specimens before you can put them into the drawers.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2012 16:43:06 GMT -8
Perhaps I removed it/opened the bag too soon. And to think I'm a biology teacher btw----when one has lots of drawers, doing the freezing thing takes quite a while....at least it did for me.
|
|
|
Post by dertodesking on May 17, 2012 12:20:05 GMT -8
By painting sugar syrup on the side walls, you're putting a physical barrier to stop any dermestids enter into the drawer. It works like tree sap in nature and how the tree stops insect enter into the tree. Dermestids normally lay their eggs between the grass and the timber frame. They are small enough to enter into drawer through gap but they'll die once they stick onto the sugar syrup. It works like a fly paper. You can also use Tanglefoot but sugar syrup is so much cheaper. We use Tanglefoot to paint on tree to trap beetles. Think about it dermestids larvae can't fly, they can only crawl on surface and this way no chemicals but you have make sure you have to freeze all your new specimens before you can put them into the drawers. Hmmm.... I think I'll stick with PDB. I'd be worried about putting sugar syrup into my drawers and increase the humidity...plus, wouldn't it attract fungal spores even if it did "trap" larvae??? Simon
|
|
|
Post by lucanidae25 on May 17, 2012 17:48:49 GMT -8
There's only one way to find out and that's experiment with a drawer with the most common materials. I wouldn't worry about the water content in sugar syrup, there's so little amount of water, it wouldn't changed the humidity in the drawer. If you're worry about the fungal spores, you can alway uses maple syrup or thick honey. They both have antifungal qualities.
If you're worry about it, you can always paint the thick honey on the masking tape and take it off if you don't like it.
|
|
|
Post by bathcat on May 19, 2012 10:47:29 GMT -8
Keep in mind that PDB has a reputation for breaking down or shrinking polystyrene and polyethylene foam. I set some Manticora on a styrofoam block in a deli container with some PDB, and after about a week the foam had shrunk, pitching the pair down to their respective sides. Happily, nothing broke.
|
|