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A&B Gutters

5202 Brookhollow Dr.
Sachse, TX 75048

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Can Plants Be Saved After Damage By Chlorine Gutter Cleaning

Can plants be saved even after damage by chlorine and gutter cleaning chemicals or the like in a state like Texas? A lot of questions have been asked similar to this; all regarding on how chlorine affects plants health. Will chlorine make a plant grow better? How will chlorine influence a plant’s growth?

And a short answer to all of these questions is: Chlorine is very dangerous to plant life, vegetation, animals and even people. But it’s a case to case basis.

Chlorine is one of the things needed to give us clean drinking water and, on the other hand, chlorine was used as a chemical warfare during world war one, as a deadly gas. So, generally chlorine is safe or deadly on the hands of those who use it. But for cleaning gutters, it sometimes can ruin vegetation because when a roof cleaning contractor puts a cleaning agent on your roof, and forgets to rinse it off with water; the residue will drop off during light rain or after dew and will eventually kill plants.

Why do plants die when they are exposed to chlorine? The answer would be because chlorine does damage to the cells, mainly the organic cells by sending out free oxygen. When combined with plant cells, it causes the plants to denature.

Contractors dealing with roof cleaning are taking note of the fact that customers are aware of the risks of having chlorine as a cleaning agent in roof cleaning. They are trying to find ways to market chlorine cleaners and to promote it as 100% biodegradable. Just a word of advice, whenever someone says that something generally biodegradable does not mean that it is guaranteed that is already safe. There are a lot of things that are biodegradable. Even isotopes that are radioactive are biodegradable. That doesn’t make them any less safe.

Saving your plants when it has already been damaged by chlorine all depends on the factors surrounding it. Chlorine and basically all other chemicals used in cleaning the gutter will either burn or in a worse case, kill plants and vegetation depending on the concentration of the chemicals in the water which the plant absorbs, water amount that is drained, the intensity of light around the area of the plant, and the temperature of the air in the area. Sadly, it’s difficult to guess the amount of damage this will cause because of all the conditions that affect it. But one thing though; if you happen to see it happen early before seeing any type of damage to the plant as a whole, then thoroughly rinsing the area with clean water could lessen the damage even by a bit. If the plant will not be fully healed in a matter of 3 weeks or a month, then reseeding will probably be the best option.

The best option probably would be avoiding these situations, instead of waiting to treat the plants, If you can find a contractor who has an additional service of protecting your plants during the course of the cleaning process. There are lots of contractors in Florida who have these services available, especially ones ensuring the safety of your plants from chlorine and gutter cleaning chemicals.

References:

http://kc-group.net/industrynews/roofcleaningnews2010/the-misuse-of-chlorine-for-roof-cleaning.html

If it’s product knowledge that you’re seeking, just call 972-530-5699, and we’ll discuss any and all of your concerns.

Please contact us today for your gutter covering needs.