saturn

No, I'm not gonna pressure wash my naners - they look beautiful! In year3 we have lots of p-stems and leaves and no shredding (as usual).

But I am getting the house pressure washed and my basjoo and Musella lasiocarpa are right next to the house.

Since the wash contains bleach, I figured I would water the naners before and after, and spray the leaves with clean water. I'm gonna try and put an old patio umbrella over the basjoo.

I can't think of anything else I can do to protect them from the effects of the bleach or the water force.

I am so nervous!
I used deck cleaner on my deck this spring. It said to spray water on the plants before and after. I did, but the hosta around my deck still did not like it and so they've looked burned all season
saturn

harveyc

I've never heard of washing a house with bleach, but I live in a dry climate. The chlorine will not be good for any plants. Maybe you could spread a tarp on the ground up against the house and see if you could trap most of the run-off and carry the tarp with some help and drain it off somewhere where it won't do some harm. Also, I think soaking AFTER the washing would be more beneficial than any watering before hand (except maybe the leaves to help dilute the possibility of the bleach burning the leaves). You could try to leach the chlorine down past the roots. I've done that to leach out chloride salts in my orchard. You have to also take into account the risk of getting your soil too saturated if it does not drain well, however.

Harvey

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Bananaman88

I have pressure washed my house two out of the last three years with no ill effects to my bananas or any other plants for that matter. I was a bit worried each time, however. I misted the plants lightly w/ the pressure washer before applying the bleach to the siding to dilute any that might drift down on the leaves, then pressure washed that section and gave the plants near that section a good rinse afterwards and all went well. No spotting/burning of the leaves at all. Take a little precaution and everything should be OK.

saturn

An update for anyone interested:
I did cover my basjoo with an old patio umbrella, but some leaves stuck out a bit. I did end up with a little bit of shredding on that plant. I watered both mats before and after the bleach spray, and there appear to be no ill-effects. Yea!

The painters even made a few leaves look like AeAes by dripping white paint on them

saturn

harveyc

Congrats. I've never heard of anyone using bleach when washing their house. Is it because of mildew since you're in a humid climate? I have a lot of iron in my water and if I used bleach my house would look like rust!

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Bananaman88

Yes, the bleach it to help cut the mildew & algae that tends to grow on the North and East (or shady) sides of our houses here in the land of 100% humidity 9 months out of the year! I shouldn't complain, the bananas and other tropicals love the heat and humidity so I guess I should too. I'm looking forward to a bit of a cool down as I'm originally from KY but I do hate seeing my bananas slow down for the winter. Oh well, can't have it all!

bananimal

When I lived in Charlotte, NC I had to pressure wash off the green mildew also. Used "Outdoor Chlorox" bleach diluted 50 percent H2O. Checked with several contractors first. Doing one area at a time you do a final rinse after applying and scrubbing in the chlorox. Lastly, rinse off all plants well - top and bottomside of leaves. No problems with any plants noticed.

It's a NC thing - you got Nascar, BBq and mildew (oh my).

Dan

Fcastro

Brent,

It should cool down a little sometime in January.