Does bleach affect plant roots?
Paul Moynagh
our outside walls with bleach (sodium hypochlorite) by spraying it neat onto
the walls, leave an hour or so, then pressure washing (water) it off. While
one should be able to protect plant tops (shrubs, climbers in beds next the
walls) with plastic sheeting, what is the effect of bleach run off into the
soil on their roots?
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Moynagh
pmoy...@argonet.co.uk
Nick Maclaren
Paul Moynagh <pmoy...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>Prior to repainting, our house painter proposes to clean off algae etc from
>our outside walls with bleach (sodium hypochlorite) by spraying it neat onto
>the walls, leave an hour or so, then pressure washing (water) it off. While
>one should be able to protect plant tops (shrubs, climbers in beds next the
>walls) with plastic sheeting, what is the effect of bleach run off into the
>soil on their roots?
It will certainly kill the more delicate roots in that sort of
concentration, but generally isn't as harmful as all that. Dilute
bleach is useful to wash sprouting seeds in to kill moulds. My
guess is that this procedure won't do significant harm to most
established plants, but it is a wild guess.
Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email: nm...@cam.ac.uk
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679
Robert
>Prior to repainting, our house painter proposes to clean off algae etc from
>our outside walls with bleach (sodium hypochlorite) by spraying it neat onto
>the walls, leave an hour or so, then pressure washing (water) it off. While
>one should be able to protect plant tops (shrubs, climbers in beds next the
>walls) with plastic sheeting, what is the effect of bleach run off into the
>soil on their roots?
>
areas for the same purpose and in the same way and the run off ends up
along the edge of a lawn which has not shown any signs of damage.
--
Robert
JennyC
"Robert" <rb...@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
news:YGuLyQB3...@clara.net...
It might be a good idea to soak the soil BEFORE the bleaching process
begins.
That way it will be more diluted when it hits the roots.
jenny
Paul Moynagh
o0sene...@mac.com (Jim W) wrote:
> A further question would be why do you have algae on your walls? Is the
> DPC and insulation OK?
DPC etc OK. Mild and damp West Country - house sheltered / surrounded by
trees - 8 years since last painted: all seem sufficient enough to me for a
bit of green stuff to collect without postulating some disaster.
Many thanks for all the other replies which are mostly reassuring; drenching
the soil with water to dilute any bleach run-off seems a good idea. One
off-list hint was to use a temporary mulch in the hope that most of the
'poison' stays in that and does not get to the soil - a good use for all the
chainsaw shavings we have after the recent felling of a large diseased pine.
Dave
>
>A further question would be why do you have algae on your walls? Is the
>DPC and insulation OK?
I've just cleaned the algae off my north facing sheltered wall of the
house, using just a pressure hose and it has new dpc and excellent
insulation below and in the walls.
The greening builds up because the outside surface of the wall is often
damp from dew and mist, sometimes all day or several days in a row and
because the wall is well insulated its not dried off from conducted heat
inside, nor from air movement as its sheltered. You can actually see the
vertical strips of the studs behind the plaster in between the patches,
presumably the solid wood conducts more heat.
At some stage it will be repainted again, and there is a fungicide in
the paint IIRC.
--
David