Greenhouse Cleaning
Wed, 03/25/2009 - 14:41
Printer-friendly versionWe are working on some product development here in regards to some plant safe cleaning supplies. Most likely these will be organic approved as well. Just wondering what types of things in a greenhouse this could be used on? Coverings, tool sanitizing, hard water stains, etc.? Any ideas?
Tue, 03/31/2009 - 05:38
#2
Re: Greenhouse Cleaning
We do everything we can with vinegar and water. It works on wood, glass and plastic and leaves a nice smell when it evaporates. We use a very mild bleach and water solution when it's absolutely necessary, but that's not often at all.
Drew - One cleaning problem we've run into is the build-up of mold on the north facing wall(s). Our local master gardener greenhouse is a two layer plastic sheet "hoop" type house. The two end walls of the house (North and South walls) are made of painted plywood. After a couple of years the mold really gets going on the north facing sides (the sun never hits them). Usually, before we start growing (in Oct or Nov) we use some pretty harsh stuff (tsp and bleach) to try and remove as much of the mold as possible. By the end of the growing season the mold has returned.
Some type of cleaner that was "organic" and had something that would inhibit the mold growth would probably be of interest.
For other cleaining we usually use a weak solution of bleach in water (5% to 10%) to wash pots, trays, etc. This seems to work fairly well at keeping most plant borne disease down - and it's cheap. Don't know if it would be considered for use in an all organic greenhouse.