Bleach is a chemical product that is used to cleaning or remove the color from fabric.
What if someone accidentally sprayed bleach on plants?
Three types of bleach
Chlorine bleach: Chlorine bleach contains sodium hypochlorite. Chlorine bleach used for generations to disinfect all kinds of environmental surfaces. This bleach can be used to prevent the spread of diseases.
Oxygen bleach: Oxygen bleach usually contains hydrogen peroxide such as sodium perborate or sodium percarbonate. This is used to removes stains and brightens.
Bleaching powder: Bleaching powder is basically calcium hypochlorite. Bleaching powder is used for cleaning dirty clothes in the laundry. Also, it is used as a disinfectant to make potable water.
Sprayed bleach on plants
Bleach will not affect your plant’s growth. But if you accidentally sprayed bleach on plants they may suffer from chlorine toxicity and may die.
Effects on soil
As bleach works well for the cleaning process this will kill many necessary organic materials like bacteria and fungi which provide aeration in the soil. Those bacteria and fungi are very important for healthy plants to grow. If they are being killed the plants will die very soon.
Also bleach decrease the PH level of the soil and plants can’t grow and survive after applying bleach.
Effects on Leaves
If the bleach is sprayed on leaves they will turn white color very quickly. Bleach will burn the cells of leaves and oxygen will combine with cell protein which causes a quick decompose. The leaves will die very soon. Leaves are the primary source of photosynthesis. The plants feed themselves in this photosynthesis process. This process turns sunlight into sugars which helps plants to grow and survive. If the leaves of your plants got affected the plants will die very soon.
What to do to minimize the damage
If accidentally bleach sprayed remove the plants quickly with a little soil. Plant them in another safe place.
You need to rinse your plants immediately with clear water. The water will wipe the bleach and prevent the leaf from scorching.
Remove the affected parts of the plants if the plant got affected directly.
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