Gasses from broken CFL's (possibly mercury)

Bigby

Bigby

Well-Known Member
Just broke a CFL in my veg area. Anyone know the impact, if any, of any chemicals I may have released, on my plants? They're out of the area now, which is being properly vented and cleared up.
 
xGrimace

xGrimace

Well-Known Member
I've feared this, breaking a cfl in the grow room and having the mercury on the buds.. Luckily yours are still in veg, Ide go wash them down.
 
iblazetoomuch

iblazetoomuch

Active Member
"Special handling instructions for breakage are not printed on the packaging of household CFL bulbs in many countries. The amount of mercury released by one bulb can temporarily exceed U.S. federal guidelines for chronic exposure.[SUP][77][/SUP][SUP][78][/SUP] Chronic, however, implies exposure for a significant time, and it remains unclear what the health risks are from short-term exposure to low levels of elemental mercury.[SUP][78][/SUP] Despite following EPA best-practice clean-up guidelines on broken CFLs, researchers were unable to remove mercury from carpet, and agitation of the carpet — such as by young children playing — created localized concentrations as high as 0.025 mg/m[SUP]3[/SUP] in air close to the carpet, even weeks after the initial breakage.[SUP][78][/SUP]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published best practices for cleanup of broken CFLs, as well as ways to avoid breakage, on its web site.[SUP][79][/SUP] It recommends airing out the room and carefully disposing of broken pieces in a jar. A Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) study of 2008 comparing clean-up methods warns that using plastic bags to store broken CFL bulbs is dangerous because vapors well above safe levels continue to leak from the bags. The EPA and the Maine DEP recommend a sealed glass jar as the best repository for a broken bulb.[SUP][80][/SUP]"
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp#Recycling
 
Bigby

Bigby

Well-Known Member
iblazetoomuch said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp#Recycling
Click to expand...
Yeah, saw that. And many of the source articles they cite - nothing on plants I can see.

There are two potential issues as I can see it. One I had thought of, and the other xGrimace made me aware of. I had thought of the gasses - which 1 plant was fully exposed to (it was right next to the 125W CFL when it broke). The other issue is the material mercury that may be present (elemental mercury). Venting will clear one, and cleaning up fully will likely sort the other. But what happens with exposure, of both sorts. Well, there is a chance to test the first sort here, on a vegging cannabis plant.

My vegging Extrema was exposed to the full gas contents of a broken 125W Blue spectrum CFL for about 1.5 minutes. There was noticeably gas because I smelled and tasted it before leaving the room (only to return after quickly putting on a face mask to possible rescue the plant). The area was fully vented before it was put back in the area, I have 3 Shackzilla that were in the other room being watered and were not exposed.

My first thoughts are all is ok. I will report back to this thread though, so this can act by way of empirical evidence of the impact of CFL gas on vegging cannabis plants. :peace:
 
Bigby

Bigby

Well-Known Member
No negative signs from the impacted plant 24 hours on. Looks fully healthy and like nothing has happened. My initial thoughts are the gasses from a broken CFL do not poison cannabis plants - certainly from only a short exposure of only 2 minutes or so.
 
qwizoking

qwizoking

Well-Known Member
Lol did you think it would like die cause you broke a cfl in the same area? I break bulbs all the time, how did you manage to smell the mercury..I've tried smelled nothing
 
Cobnobuler

Cobnobuler

Well-Known Member
....I know this much. The greatest likelihood of breaking CFL's is when your trying to pry them out of that be damned @&#%^@# plastic packaging they ( and so many other things) come in... :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top