Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

Chris Mozick · Approved Exteior Cleaner

bleach wash and plant wash ?

Michael Wedge · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Aloha Chris,

The bleach wash and plant wash are overrated. The key to not burning up landscaping is water and lots of it. If you are weary of particular plants plastic sheeting helps, Also diverting the water and if you still have concerns throw down some gypsum pellets. Bleach wash is a neutralizer, however in order to know how much to use you have to know how much bleach your applying it to, because once you break the neutral plain your heading back into trouble.

We are running on Oahu and yes the cost of doing business here and bringing in the right chems is difficult. Be very weary of making your own chems it can become extremely volatile. Shipping almost doubles the cost of the products, So ordering products that are unnecessary will kill your numbers. And with the amount of competition on Oahu, numbers matter. I'm not sure where your at, but feel free to call me if you need advice 808 313-9000

Mike

Fred W · Guru

Chris Mozick wrote:
Aloha everyone! I am curious to know what is a good bleach neutralizer? Is there a homemade one? also Plant wash what is a good one and can i make my own? I have a hard time ordering chemicals to Hawaii and I am not busy enough to order in bulk yet. Please help !

Chris.......Welcome to the board and......call Mike!

Liberty SoftWash · PWS Vender

Water,water,water! 8 yrs never kill a plant.

Dave O · Retired Member

Chris Mozick wrote:
Aloha everyone! I am curious to know what is a good bleach neutralizer? Is there a homemade one? also Plant wash what is a good one and can i make my own? I have a hard time ordering chemicals to Hawaii and I am not busy enough to order in bulk yet. Please help !

The best bleach neutralizer is water. Water before, during and after and you will be fine.

Chris Mozick · Approved Exteior Cleaner

Thanks everyone! I have been just using water but was reading some post about plant wash n bleach wash but seems like I'm on right track I just water water water. I haven't Burnt plants yet but am trying my best not too ;) aloha Mike I am in Oahu, and live in town what is the best time to call you.

AC Lockyer · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Chris,

If you have lots of guttered homes plant damage will likely be a small issue. People in the North East US have almost 100% guttered homes because they have basements. Here in the South East US we have almost no basements and only about 20% of the homes have gutters. Gutters are the key.

If you don't have gutters then the advise above about water is HUGE. However water doesn't neutralize bleach it only dilutes bleach. So don't get that confused.

We utilize the this approach, THE THREE D's of PLANT PROTECTION

1. Divert, How can you redirect the chemical flow away from the plants if there are no gutters. If there are gutters where do they go?
2. Dilute, Water before, during and after. You have allot of sub-tropical plants there like hibiscus, ixora, boginvillas, crotans, etc. These almost always drop every single leaf if you gently whisper BLEACH in their ear. A HUGE step is to make sure the plants are over watered the day before so they are FULL and are not likely to drink up allot of chem filled water.
3. Decontaminate, Apply a bleach neutralizing chemical like SoftWash Systems Plant Wash. This completely neutralizes bleach, puts a buffering compound on the leaves of the plant, liquid fertilizes the plant and also feeds the aerobic bacteria in the soil that survive the cleaning. Without aerobic bacteria in the soil the nodules on the roots of the plants can not take in nutrients and the plants will starve to death after the cleaning.

REALLY WATCH GUTTER DOWNSPOUTS!!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of potential damage for landscape here.

Hope this helps!

AC

Patrick G · Approved Exterior Cleaner

REALLY WATCH GUTTER DOWNSPOUTS!!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of potential damage for landscape here.

I have never had a problem with any shrubs or plants since I started. I have three Son's and they roof clean with me in the summer. Although it seems like I'm dealing with the "walking dead " at times I do enjoy it. They have their own system each day... who does the gutter bags, hoses, ladder etc........ This summer we did a very large home mostly a walk able roof and tons of shrubs. No worries we operate like a fine oiled machine...everyone has there responsibilities....no room for error. The women called me about a week later stating her very large Winter pine looked like it was dyeing, the needles were turning yellow. She also had a tree company there to look at it who advised her to water heavily, I informed her not to worry about it, probably just a little burn from over spray it would bounce back. A week later she said it was getting real bad so I went to take a look. As soon as I pulled up I got a knot in my stomach, this was no over spray. Upon further inspection behind all the shrubs was a lower 3' Wide by 8' high lower extended roof which was cleaned.....but obviously the down spout was missed by one of my Son's.....but now fell on me. There was no hope for this tree, it was hot when we did the job and it just drank up the roof mix.....it was not going to bounce back, it was dead pretty much. She was very nice about it, she shopped for the tree and I agreed to let a Nursery do the job, yes I could have saved a couple of hundred bucks but I would always be "on the hook " for the success of the new tree. The nursery guaranteed to replace it for three years. The total cost of the replacement was $1000.00 { and change } deducting her roof cleaning I ate $300 plus the cost of labor and cleaner...so about $ 500 I guess. Three things to remember....always check for gutter bags....and any downspout that feeds right to a shrub should be redirected away to a safer area, Art has come up with a great idea for that. Third thing....if it's loaded up like that with expensive shrubs...make sure you charge enough to cover any damage!

Chris Mozick · Approved Exteior Cleaner

Thank you all for you info. Here in Hawaii hardly any gutters and lots of tropical plants if I can't get the plant wash from AC what can I get from local homedepot or lowes that might help?

AC Lockyer · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Chris Mozick wrote:
Thank you all for you info. Here in Hawaii hardly any gutters and lots of tropical plants if I can't get the plant wash from AC what can I get from local homedepot or lowes that might help?

When I owned Mallard Systems we used Miracle Grow's Miracid product. It does well with two of the four things Plant Wash covers. Miracid neutralizes bleach and fertilizes the plant through its leaves. It is a good start and great for those who cant get Plant Wash shipped in. Watch though Miracid is nitrogen based and will react slightly with the bleach so some smoke may come off when you water it in. Use a hose end sprayer.

AC

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Chris,

i would recommend dehydrated cow manure around the base of delicate snubs as well. This puts the good bacteria back into The soil. We also mix pelletized gypsum into the manure. The gyp is can suck up some sodium and balance things a little more

AC Lockyer · Approved Exterior Cleaner

John Aloisio wrote:
Chris,
i would recommend dehydrated cow manure around the base of delicate snubs as well. This puts the good bacteria back into The soil. We also mix pelletized gypsum into the manure. The gyp is can suck up some sodium and balance things a little more

Good Tip!

AC

Fred W · Guru

Be careful not to overuse the gyp pellets. I burned the heck out of a ladies yard using them!
Too much fertilizer is just as bad as too much SH. As it turned out......I sprinkled pellets into the puddles around this ladies home then my ground guy did the same thing so we really hit her hard.

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

We mix one bag of gyp withh three bags of manure. I use an old 55 gallon drum and mix it all together.

Chris Mozick · Approved Exteior Cleaner

Thank you everyone did the house yesterday turned out great. I watered a lot when I come back from vacation I will take pics and inspect the yard for any damage bit it looked fine when I left plus it rained last night to.

SonRise · Member

Newby here. What is a gutter bag?

SonRise · Member

Do you inform your customers as to what you're spraying on their plants beforehand? You might want to have a printout about what you're using, like Miracid, for your customers to read beforehand. Miracid is a synthetic as are all Miracle grow products. More people are getting in to the natural fertilizers and the natural balance of soil microbes and are read up on how the synthetic fertilizers can damage the balance of their soils. You wouldn't want someone getting upset after spraying.

-- Edited by SonRise on Thursday 10th of September 2015 09:51:15 PM

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Today its bleach wash and plant wash and the Bot, Not sure why it is hitting up all these old post?