Cleaning Containers

Can someone tell me the best way to clean containers? I heard bleach is best, but I have some 18" pots that are hard to find a place to use bleach on when I rinse bleach would be everywhere. Any ideas. Would rinsing with water be good enough? I did not have problems with my plants last year.

Do it in a tub outdoors. A 10% solution of household bleach with a light rinse & air dry is great. You can also use H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide).

Al

Bleach will be more effective at killing the bacteria, fungus, etc that might be hanging out in the pots than peroxide would be. I'll use peroxide on seedlings because you can't use bleach in that case, but for cleaning pots bleach is going to do a much better job. If you didn't have any disease problems with your plants then you could just rinse them out, but you're always running a risk that there was something there that could make the next plant sick so it's definitely a good idea to do the bleach rinse. (I'll admit I'm lazy and if I'm transplanting established plants and haven't had any disease issues I will just rinse the pots sometimes, but if I'm transplanting seedlings then I always do the bleach wash)

We always use bleach. It would be a shame to lose plants or your own seedlings if there was a problem you couldn't possibly see or identify. I think dipping them is the easiest and best way to clean them but if that's not possible use the bleach and hot water in a clean sprayer.

I soak my pots (clay and plastics) in a bucket 3-5 gal. bucket of water with about a cup of bleach in it for 24 hours. Then I scrub them with a rough pad and they easily come clean. Makes clay pots look like new!

Tom

We have two kitchen sinks and one is very deep. I soak my smaller pots in it but the huge ones wouldn't fit. I'll spray them well, rinse them and leave them in the sun to dry.

This is really good to know, as I just picked up a variety of used hard black plastic pots from one of the better local nurseries yesterday. 2 - 5gal, 2 3-gal, and a dozen or so quart size - all for a whopping $3.12. I had gotten some from them last year, and things grew great, but I hadn't cleaned out the pots then, just rinsed out. Learn more everyday!

I have a metal tub outside that will hold alot of water, so I'll use that with the bleach solution to rinse out the pots.

Nichole

Ecrane - Though I suggested household bleach first, H2O2 is a very powerful oxidant and an excellent disinfectant that would work extremely well when used to disinfect containers.

FWIW - bleach in a 10% solution is also a commonly used and excellent disinfectant dip for cuttings.

Al

Thanks everybody.

How I wish I knew that a few hours ago before I bleached my dahlias. My hands and nails are spotless, of course, but it does dry out the skin.

By the time you've squeezed the trigger a zillion times that water cools down pretty fast.

It's not a question of the temp of the solution when you *apply* it, rather the temp when it is *mixed*.

Bleach (sodium hypochlorite/ NaClO), releases chlorine gas (what you smell) faster, when mixed with hot water. The hot water makes the bleach more active. The chlorine is what does the disinfecting. So, by diluting the bleach with hot water, you're diminishing it's effectiveness, due to the loss of the chlorine to a gaseous state.

If you doubt me, ask a chemist. It's been a while since I had chem, but I double-checked what I recalled, with my wife (bio major/chem minor), and she confirmed.

HTH,
Eggs

Edited for a huge typo. I am *not* a chemist, and meant to type: "asK a chemist" and my fingers decided to drop the "k". Apologies if I mislead anyone with that. I hadn't got back to DG until just now. =)

This message was edited Apr 6, 2007 8:34 PM

So I've made up a tub of 10% bleach and bathed last year's stakes, etc, in it. Now I have a tub of bleach. What do I do with it? Where in the backyard is safe to pour it?

Thanks,
Dawn

Dawn,

I worked in kitchens for years, and just about every place I work soaked something or other in bleach, in the big, pot sinks. Flush the sink with plenty of water afterwards, and I would think you'd be fine.

Keeping the solution, for future use, would also be a bad idea. Time will also weaken bleach's effectiveness.

Happy cleaning,
Eggs

I don't use bleach water. I use Lysol antibacterial spray and let the pots dry for 10 minutes. Of course, they get a good scrubbing first!

Do you rinse the pots after the Lysol? Things like bleach decompose over time so they're not left there in contact with your soil/plants, but the stuff in Lysol will stay there, not sure if it's good/bad for the plants but personally I would rinse just to be safe.