CINNY
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Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 11:21 am
Location: EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS

Safe to Mist Plants With Produce Wash?

Hi Guys
Do you know if its safe to mist plants with produce wash. I have a few spray bottles of it and wonder if it might be beneficiol or will it kill my plants. I have prayer plant, pothos, spathos, jade, ficus benjamina, and hawaiian totem plant. Any thoughts? Also when I separate my prayer plant do I put the separated plant into a small pot? Right now its in a 6 or 7" pot and quite crowded. Thanks for any info
Cinny :?:

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Kisal
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Posts: 7646
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:04 am
Location: Oregon

I wouldn't use it on a plant I wanted to keep alive. Whether the stuff would harm your plants would depend on the ingredients. One of the things those washes are designed to do, though, is remove the wax coating that is sometimes put on fruits and veggies to protect them from drying out during shipping. Living plants have a waxy coating on the leaves that helps protect them from weather and insects, and the washes could remove or damage that, causing harm to the leaves. Strong detergents can do the same thing, which is why pure soaps are recommended when making soap solution insecticides for living plants. :)

I have a home recipe for fruit & veggie wash, which contains mostly vinegar. Vinegar is sometimes used to kill weeds. Check the ingredients carefully on the stuff you have, and maybe apply it to only one leaf, to see if it causes any damage.



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