Deck Cleaner

[blackdogridge]

As much as I really don't want to think about it, this spring will bring the time that the deck needs to be cleaned. Our deck is green treated lumber. My question - does anyone know of a good deck cleaner that won't harm the plants that we have around the deck? I do have a pressure washer so I can finish it up with that, but, any ideas about how to treat the surface for cleaning?

[Pineville]

I have used commercially available deck cleaners (home depot/lowes) around plants without any damage. I think it helps to wet the plants down prior to application and rinse the plants after the application. That being said, you could alternatively use a 15-20% bleach/water solution to kill any moss/mildew/algae on the deck boards. I have also done this without any harm to surrounding plants.

Be careful with the pressure washer- I have seen severely damaged wood deck boards from overly aggressive power washing.

[MysticGardener67]

I have had very good results witha a dishsoap/bleach mix. Works fine for decks AND sidings.

Ran across a happy accident while pressure washing my siding one year. Where I was PW'ing was located over my rose bed and was worrying a bit about how the overspray and runnof would affect my babies. About a week after cleanign the siding, I saw a DRAMATIC reduction in blackspot. Apparantly the overspray had just enough bleach in it to destroy the blackspot spores. Never did get around to finding a minimum effective dose.

[tomf]

I was going to buy some deck cleaner and read what was in it, this one had bleach and trisodium phosphate.