[NHCOLL-L:657] RE: freezers for killing museum pests

[David Furth]

During the past several years I have done a fair amount of research on the
subject of freezing for pest control, including the effects of low
temperature on materials we use in entomology collections.  We recently
built a new collections facility at the National Museum of Natural History
(Smithsonian) and I helped design a walk-in freezer (blast freezer) for pest
control.  Before that we had a 50 cubic foot stand-up freezer with worked
well also - it is now our back-up freezer.

The bottom line is that if you maintain a temperature of minus 30 degrees
Celsius you will kill any life stage of any potential pest. We expose entire
packages, entirte collections, etc. for at least 48 hours.

You are welcome to contact me directly if you want more details.

David Furth
Collections manager
Dept. of Entomology
Smithsonian Institution

>>> "Rich Rabeler" <rabeler at umich.edu> 07/27/00 11:12AM >>>
When I saw this post on Taxacom, I suspected a number of NHCOLL-L
recipients
would have comments on this subject as well.  Since I also may (?) be in
the
market for such a unit, I'm bringing the post along to this forum.

Rich Rabeler,
University of Michigan Herbarium

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom Discussion List [mailto:TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG]On Behalf Of
> Fewless, Gary
> Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 2:43 PM
> To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG 
> Subject: freezers for killing museum pests
>
>
> We are about to purchase a "walk-in" freezer to treat museum
> specimens (both
> plants and animals) for dermestids, etc.  I suspect the
> conventional wisdom
> may have evolved in recent years in this area.  What temperatures are
> required, and is there anything else we should consider in terms of
> characteristics of the freezer?
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Gary Fewless