Thread: bleach spray
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Old July 28, 2013   #89
greentiger87
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Some speculative questions:

1. I wonder how this compares to hydrogen peroxide, or acidified hydrogen peroxide, like ZeroTol?

2. How important is the pH and the presence of sodium hydroxide in commercial bleach? Sodium hypochlorite is a much stronger disinfectant at neutral or very slightly acidic pH. Commercial bleach solutions contain a lot of NaOH to stabilize the hypochlorite and help dissolve organic stains.

3. The obvious advantage of hydrogen peroxide is that it decomposes to water and oxygen, instead of salt. But is the amount of salt left behind too trivial to matter, especially if bleach works better?

4. Which is more phytotoxic to healthy tissue?

5. Speculating on a mechanism... sorry if I'm stating the obvious. Oxidative stress is applied on all the cells on the leaf surface. Cells damaged by pathogens allow oxidizing ions to enter, and can't detoxify the reactive oxygen species fast enough. Intact cells keep out most of the oxidizing ions and detoxify the rest. Oxidative damage triggers the hypersensitive response. The combination of outside oxidation and HR causes the plant to shed diseased tissue.

6. Which ends up being cheaper?

I've used both in the past, but stick to acidified hydrogen peroxide nowadays because of a gut feeling and the response of earthworms to bleach spray. But that may be entirely unjustified. I haven't used either in a long time.
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