Baku1875
Shohin
but always keep your soil in mind. dont go too heavy on any chemical or detergent, diluted peroxide, or castilian soap is safe, be careful with vinegar!
KiwiPlantGuy
Omono
Hi,
I would have thought that covering the soil of your bonsai with some kind of plastic would reduce any risk of contaminating the soil. Then spray or paintbrush works a treat.
Charles
I would have thought that covering the soil of your bonsai with some kind of plastic would reduce any risk of contaminating the soil. Then spray or paintbrush works a treat.
Charles
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
I would brush first so that the lichen get small abbrassions, then apply kitchen(!!!) vinegar with a soft painter brush.
Cleaning vinegar has soaps in it.
Put it in the sun and brush again after a day.
Vinegar in small amounts should not hurt your plants at all. Acetic acid has a boiling point of 117°C but it will evaporate quite easily in the open air, and kitchen vinegar has just a 4-8% volume of acetic acid. If you put 50mL on your branches, and mix that with water a day later, the pH would likely drop with less than 1 point. Another watering and it's gone.
Cleaning vinegar has soaps in it.
Put it in the sun and brush again after a day.
Vinegar in small amounts should not hurt your plants at all. Acetic acid has a boiling point of 117°C but it will evaporate quite easily in the open air, and kitchen vinegar has just a 4-8% volume of acetic acid. If you put 50mL on your branches, and mix that with water a day later, the pH would likely drop with less than 1 point. Another watering and it's gone.
Clicio
Masterpiece
Thanks Charles, I will definitely cover the soil, takes no time and adds protection.
Clicio
Masterpiece
We have something called "alcohol vinegar" here, 6%, that is used for cleaning. I guess it works as you say.
Tieball
Masterpiece
Hydrogen Peroxide does kill off Lichen. I have always hesitated using it for unknown reasons. A diluted form may be an answer. So, I agree with your advice of a few drops with detergent. HOWEVER, do not mix vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. The combination produces a deadly gas. Google the mixture to understand more as it can be quite lengthy. One or the other, vinegar OR hydrogen peroxide, but not mixed together. I just wanted to add this caution…I dint know about this combination problem until I Googled whether I could mix the two for killing off shingled roof moss and lichen.
Clicio
Masterpiece
Thanks for the warning, I am one of those who would mix them without thinking .
Thanks!
Tieball
Masterpiece
Me too. But I was curious enough to research it. Glad I did.
Clicio
Masterpiece
UPDATE:
The deed is done.
After some hours of careful brushing, and with the invaluable help of the tweezers, the little tree is free of the lichen.
It's quite leggy, and I guess the neglect AND the lichen are the culprits.
Now let's wait for it to recover and then chopchopchop.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Unfortunately I have found some deadwood (in fact rotten wood) down on the trunk, due to moss sticking to the base for many years.
The deed is done.
After some hours of careful brushing, and with the invaluable help of the tweezers, the little tree is free of the lichen.
It's quite leggy, and I guess the neglect AND the lichen are the culprits.
Now let's wait for it to recover and then chopchopchop.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Unfortunately I have found some deadwood (in fact rotten wood) down on the trunk, due to moss sticking to the base for many years.
Baku1875
Shohin
That's a satisfying before and after comparison! good stuff!
Tieball
Masterpiece
The deed is really well done!
Thanks for capturing and sharing the before and after photos.
Now the tricky part is staying on top of the removal so it does not repeat again.
Mighty fine work you did.
Thanks for capturing and sharing the before and after photos.
Now the tricky part is staying on top of the removal so it does not repeat again.
Mighty fine work you did.
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