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Old December 9, 2016   #18
gorbelly
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
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Just to clarify, cat urine can certainly have pathogens in it, but it's highly unlikely to contain anything that will cause disease in plants (as opposed to animals). The biggest danger to plants from any kind of urine is if it builds up enough to accumulate too much in the way of salts or if it makes the soil too "hot" with nitrogen. One cat is unlikely to achieve that.

Re: bleach--

I found out the hard way that if you use any kind of spreader/surfactant like dish soap or any commercial "sticker" product with bleach spray, it amplifies the effects too much and damages plants.

For tender young seedlings, I would make sure to use the kind of spray bottle used for makeup/cosmetic uses that can deliver a more fine mist and barely mist the leaves of the seedlings. IIRC, Bill recommends a fine spray or mist, even with mature plants. So your concentration may be too strong, may be staying on the leaves too long if you're using additives meant to break surface tension, or may be sprayed in too large a quantity. Or some combination thereof.

It's actually possible that the damage in your photos is a combination of drooping/shock from transplantation + damage from improperly or properly applied bleach spray. Without the bleach, the plants might have perked back up and been fine in a few days. But in their vulnerable, wilted state, the bleach would have been far more damaging than it would have been on normal, turgid foliage. I make it a policy to never spray anything on a wilted plant because 1) a plant in a wilted state is far more vulnerable to foliar damage--something I learned from sad experience and 2) widespread/overall wilting is a problem down in the roots or usually in the crown or main stem and not something that can usually be fixed by any foliar spray.

Also, it's best to limit the stresses on young plants at any given time. So if I'm transplanting, I do nothing else until a few days have passed and I can be sure the plants are recovered/do not need recovery.

Last edited by gorbelly; December 9, 2016 at 12:30 PM.
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