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b54red · April 6, 2017

I gave my measurements by volume only. I have no idea what differences weighing out the measurements would be.

Dewayne, there is almost no possible way that a formulation using 4.8 ounces of bleach added to a full gallon of water would burn your plants badly unless they were eaten up with disease or battered so that the plants were damaged severely before the bleach was put on them. As I have said before it is a good idea to try the mix you make on a couple of plants first and wait at least 24 hours to see if the mix is too strong or too weak. Either will result in trouble so it is best to test. I have had bottles of bleach myself that were far stronger than the label indicates and damaged a few plants as a result. Another way to damage plants is to use it in the middle of the day when it is sunny or when the plants are damaged by hail or heavy rain as the bleach can more readily enter the broken leaves.

I will try again to make this clear: I do not use the bleach spray as a last resort but rather the first resort once I see certain diseases making an appearance on my plants. I start with fungicides applied weekly but they invariably fail to one degree or another and when this happens I immediately use the bleach spray. I also use the bleach spray as a preventative spray on squash, melons and cucumbers so I can stop mildews before they get bad. Once they get bad the bleach spray will kill off so many leaves that it takes them a while to recover. The same is true of some diseases on tomatoes. If you procrastinate too long before using the bleach spray after the first symptoms occur the loss of leaves can be catastrophic.

I have not used the bleach spray yet this year as I have seen nothing but a bit of EB on a few plants and I removed those leaves. I did just buy a three gallon pack of Clorox bleach so I will be ready for the summer onslaught of diseases down here.

Bill

Bill

April 6, 2017	#159
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I gave my measurements by volume only. I have no idea what differences weighing out the measurements would be. Dewayne, there is almost no possible way that a formulation using 4.8 ounces of bleach added to a full gallon of water would burn your plants badly unless they were eaten up with disease or battered so that the plants were damaged severely before the bleach was put on them. As I have said before it is a good idea to try the mix you make on a couple of plants first and wait at least 24 hours to see if the mix is too strong or too weak. Either will result in trouble so it is best to test. I have had bottles of bleach myself that were far stronger than the label indicates and damaged a few plants as a result. Another way to damage plants is to use it in the middle of the day when it is sunny or when the plants are damaged by hail or heavy rain as the bleach can more readily enter the broken leaves. I will try again to make this clear: I do not use the bleach spray as a last resort but rather the first resort once I see certain diseases making an appearance on my plants. I start with fungicides applied weekly but they invariably fail to one degree or another and when this happens I immediately use the bleach spray. I also use the bleach spray as a preventative spray on squash, melons and cucumbers so I can stop mildews before they get bad. Once they get bad the bleach spray will kill off so many leaves that it takes them a while to recover. The same is true of some diseases on tomatoes. If you procrastinate too long before using the bleach spray after the first symptoms occur the loss of leaves can be catastrophic. I have not used the bleach spray yet this year as I have seen nothing but a bit of EB on a few plants and I removed those leaves. I did just buy a three gallon pack of Clorox bleach so I will be ready for the summer onslaught of diseases down here. Bill Bill