Hi has anyone used this chemical as a weedkiller on their allotments. i have acquired some and tried it today. My only concern at the moment is how long will i need to leave before planting any veg in those areas. Obviously i will weed it all and then rotovate the area, and was going to cover in plastic sheeting until main crop potatoes are ready. Will this be ok to do like this. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.
Eeek! If you mean sodium chlorate, I wouldn't use that at all. For a start, its licence has expired and even when you could use it, it was more for paths rather than to clear areas for replanting.
If I were to use it, I would wait a year before replanting. But really, it's pretty extreme stuff.
Sodium hypochlorite is bleach. Sodium chlorate is so poisonous to plants I wouldn't have let it near a garden.
Was is hypochlorite of lime? That's calcium hypochlorite, and like sodium hypochlorite, it's bleach. Rather nasty stuff to go putting on the garden.
If you do not have any instructions or know how to use it bin it you do not know what sort of damage you can do so dont risk it, there is a fine of several thousand pound for miss use of chemicals.
Better to take to a waste disposal site than just bin for landfill if it's really nasty stuff.
I wouldn't use it at all! Don't bin it but dispose of properly.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hypochlorite.htm
Quote from: parsleythelion on April 21, 2012, 17:40:42
Hi has anyone used this chemical as a weedkiller on their allotments. i have acquired some and tried it today. My only concern at the moment is how long will i need to leave before planting any veg in those areas. Obviously i will weed it all and then rotovate the area, and was going to cover in plastic sheeting until main crop potatoes are ready. Will this be ok to do like this. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.
OOP'S :'(
If you do mean sodium chlorate, the the instructions on the pack are very clear 'Do NOT use anywere you want anything to grow'.
I have no idea how long before you can grow anything, but my advice would be to leave it uncovered to the the rain get too it, and wait for new weeds to grow to show it is no longer active.
Just done a google, looks like sodium chlorate lasts for about 6 months, so it looks like anywhere you have used it will be out of action for this season.
Time to pull the contaminated land stuff I learned so many moons ago from the dusty recesses of my mind.
What kind of hypo is it? E.g. sodium hypo, calcium hypo, something else? It's likely to be water soluble unless it's anything weird so it shouldn't persist too long. Did you apply it in powder or liquid form and what was the concentration of hypochlorite?
What's your soil type?
If it's sand you're laughing, it'll wash straight through. It may play merry hell with your organic matter and you can probably kiss goodbye to your worms and other soil biota but it will be gone soon enough. If clay then you can breathe a sigh of relief that the hypo ion is negatively charged so won't be bound by the clay. You might have increased salination, however. How bad that is depends on how much you spread on.
If I understand things correctly it should't affect soil pH.
It's really not all THAT bad of a chemical, to me, anyway but I call things like hydrofluoric acid and sodium cyanide bad chemicals. I use hypo to clean my brewing equipment. You are just lucky that it obviously wasn't windy when you were mucking about with it though. Not pleasant to inhale/get in eyes. I hope you didn't spread it in powder form. Could have caused really nasty injury to you and anyone downwind.
Read here: http://www.reagent.co.uk/uploads/msds/SODIUM%20HYPOCHLORITE%20LRG.pdf (http://www.reagent.co.uk/uploads/msds/SODIUM%20HYPOCHLORITE%20LRG.pdf)
Also a quick search of the HSE pesticide database suggests hypo isn't licenced as a herbicide for agricultural or amateur use. There will, I am perfectly sure, be good reason for this. I can think of several, as outlined above.
Now then Backshift...I mean Parsley.. :D
To all, I'm parsleys plot neighbour at our allotment and he brought this container down the other day. He told me it was a cleaning chemical and I warned him to find out about how long it stayed active in the soil.
He set to using it straight away but I advised him to use it only on areas where he wont be planting this year, which he did.
Anyway, it did smell like bleach when in use.
Steve...:)
The other thing to consider is what the effect it will have on wildlife, the majority of which are beneficial for allotments and gardens.
All chemicals should be treated with caution, and used only when really needed if at all.
Quote from: parsleythelion on April 21, 2012, 17:40:42
Hi has anyone used this chemical as a weedkiller on their allotments. i have acquired some and tried it today. My only concern at the moment is how long will i need to leave before planting any veg in those areas. Obviously i will weed it all and then rotovate the area, and was going to cover in plastic sheeting until main crop potatoes are ready. Will this be ok to do like this. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.
Quite apart from the fact that it's illegal to use it as a weedkiller, I would be very unwilling to spray sodium hypochlorite on my plot. It's not the most dangerous of chemicals if handled properly - it's the active ingredient in Milton, used to sterilise babies' bottles, for example.
But its action is that of a steriliser and a bleach. That's what it's used for commercially. It will kill the bacteria in the soil just as surely as it'll kill the bacteria on a baby feed bottle. I suppose that the good news is that it's not persistent in the soil, but it will leave behind a residue of common salt, which won't be ideal for vigorous growth of your veggies.
And although it will destroy the green growth of weeds, it won't do a lot of damage to deep rooted perennials, which will come back again quite soon.
:o :o :-[ Oh Bugger. good job it was heavily diluted to around 5 parts water to 1 part hypo. Not that it is any concilation right now. Live in Cumbria so soon get plenty of rain. Thanks for all the replies people. Except Spanner man next door to me .........
At that concentration i wouldn't worry too much. Just don't go chucking any sulphuric acid on there for a while ;)