I did do a search, but I didn't get a clear answer. This is a list of chemicals that are supposedly safe with Poly that I got from another thread.

The Following are considered SAFE:

Acetic Acid
Ammonium Chloride
Antimony Chloride
Borax in H2O
Butane
Calcium Chloride
Calcium Hypochloride
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon Monoxide
Citric Acid 10%
Copper Sulphate
Ethyl Alcohol 95%
Ethylene Glycol
Formaline 10%
Hydrochloric Acid 20%
Hydrofluoric Acid 5%
Mercury
Methane
Oxygen
Ozone
Sulphur
Urea
Water

But I'm not enough of a scientist to know if one of these are another name for bleach.

Thanks,
jb

Hey JB, I posted a list of safe chemicals to use, and that looks like it. I took that directly from the manufacturer.

Bleach is Sodium Hypochlorite

Hey weebus, Yes that is your list. I went back and read them all again and sodium hypochorite is not on any of them.

Any recommendations for a mold cleaner that is safe for poly?

Thanks,
jb

I think this will do it. I wrote the company to make sure that it was a 20% or less solution of Hydrochlorich acid and they said it was. I bought about 10 bottles of it at a Big Lots, beleive it or not. I used it to clean my poly, and it looks great, just keep it rinsed off...To make yourself feel more comfortable to use it, because I too was leary, clean a small area that isn't too visible and rinse well. I swear mine came out beautiful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Works

Oh and by the way....

Use only as directed.

That product is for cleaning TOILETS!!!!!

Oh to add a non-lethal treatment.

""Borax Disinfectant and Mold Killer: 1 tsp-1/4 cup borax, up to 2 cups hot tap water. In any container, dissolve borax completely with the hot tap water. Wash area using this solution and a sponge or recycled rag. Rinse well. For more moldy areas, use a higher concentration of borax. It can even be left on for a few hours or overnight for extra treatment.""

""Vinegar Mold Killer: Full-strength vinegar. Saturate a sponge with vinegar and scrub moldy area. Rinse well.""

Both are compatable with polycarbonate,

Yes it is used for cleaning toilets. It has hydrochloric acid in it, and that is what cleans the poly. read at the list before you give us another knee jerk reaction.

If he wants to kill molds and fungi, why would he use a non lethal formula?

(tongue firmly planted in cheek)

Hummmmm... The list also mentions Mercury. I bet that kills mold real good too.

Just wondering if you read the MSDS on "The Works"

On a hazard to health scale from 0-4 it rates a 3.

As I stated USE AS DIRECTED and I suggest reading the MSDS if using a product for a job it was not intended for.

Well I've been a janitor more than once and have been known to swab a white throne in the house. I feel confident that I could use this product, which is intended for household use, and survive to tell the tale.:)

Now the full strength vinegar sounds a bit noxious as this is inside. Might fumigate myself in the process.

At this time I'll just be hitting some of the wood structure. The poly will get splashed, but I won't be cleaing it directly.

Thanks for all the info.
jb

juniorballoon,

Please post your real world experiences when you terminate your mold!

Then I will post my real world experience of using Hydrochloric Acid based toilet cleaner for removing limescale and other non-identifiable yukky stuff from a much larger object than a toilet bowl.

The results were breathtaking!

Why wait. I'd love to hear how it worked, good and bad. It will be a while before I have time to tackle the mold.

jb

I routine'y spray the inside of my poly greenhouse (1728 sq ft) with a weak chlorine bleach solution because we have well water that has no chlorination to help discourage mold/algae growth when water hits the walls. There has never been any damage or adverse reaction. By weak, I mean about a 5% solution. I use a pump up sprayer. I don't rinse it off either. I do it twice a year...once when the portable potted plants come out in March, and again before they go back in in late October/early November.

Because the majority of my plants are actually planted into the ground inside the greenhouse, and some are rare (Jade Vines, etc) I have to be very careful about what I spray as some invariably hits plants and the soil. I don't think hydrochloric acid would be very good for my plants in any concentration, whereas they can withstand chlorine pretty easily in weak concentration.

I have not had any detrimental effect on my poly, either. I don't rinse it off, and the residue helps keep new growth from forming. But I do have excellent ventilation/air circulation too, and that helps

Poly carbonate or poly ethylene

Hmmm....I'm not sure, weebus....Its Lexan, single thickness, clear corrugated. Which is that? One side (the side that goes to the outside) is treated with a UV protectant and they said don't use bleach on that side, but the inside isn't treated.

Lets re-read cottagefarmer's post:

Bleach is not a recommended cleaner for polycarbonate plastics. It releases Bisphenol-A from the plastic, a known endocrine disruptor. It appears that other alkaline cleaners also have this affect.

It doesn't say: "The polycarbonate will turn into godzilla and go stomping off into the night", "or even "The deadly green gas will smother all life on this planet". No it says that if you put bleach on polycarbonate it will release a known long term hormonal poison. You probably won't notice its effects for quite some time, and once off will probably have no effect, but consider whether you would willingly take 'the pill' 3 times a day. You might get breast cancer if you're male, or testicular cancer if you're female (it's potent stuff ;).

Saying 'I've done it and I'm still alive' is not helpful.

Personally I've had no trouble keeping PC clean using normal dishwashing liquid and a bit of elbow grease. Weak hydrochloric acid will not harm plants (but probably won't harm algae either). Probably the best antialgal is copper ions - maybe you could wipe the PC down with a very weak Copper sulphate solution (maybe 0.1g/L), which is on the considered safe list?

Then you obvioulsy have not had your GH cvoered with Tannins

Or as a literate person would say "Then you obviously have not had your GH covered with Tannins"

LOL Weebus and they obviously have never had to get on a 12 ft ladder to use that dishsoap and elbow grease on a structure that is the size of a small house at over 1700 sq ft. As to using something with copper in it...copper could be extremely detrimental to my bromeliads and probably to some of my other plants. I can't imagine trying to use it on the space I have to clean and try to avoid all the hardscape and softscape. Its also not that safe to humans, else all the warnings on the Coppercide fungicide label wouldn't exist.

I have stopped using all pesticides and fungicides in my greenhouse (I used to be a confirmed Cygon, Orthene and Funginex user)...now I only use Neem oil, but I couldn;t do without bleach as a disinfectant. I tried Physan, which is supposed to be a "greenhouse disinfectant and algacide" but it just left a horrible thick film on my walls that had to be literally scrubbed off with a scrubber sponge. A pressure washer wouldn;t even take it all off. Never again.

For some people, "wiping" things on and off is just simply not an option, the only option is "spraying something on" and either rinsing it off or leaving it on.

Anything that removes mould and algae is going to be toxic. Your ideal of nothing bad and nothing that requires work is unattainable with current knowledge. Copper isn't particularly bad for humans either - less than 1 ppm is probably quite effective at algae control and is not going to be an issue for humans (bordeaux mix is at least thousand times stronger). Copper sulphate has a very long history of use and we understand its use very well. I don't hold much weight to product warnings since I discovered that borax (DANGER! TOXIC!!!!! DO NOT LET NEAR SMALL CHILDREN OR FLUFFY CREATURES!!!! WASH HANDS AFTER USE!!!!!!) is about as toxic as table salt: if you are actually concerned, look up the MSDS - there are certainly enough copies on the net to go round.

The first evidence of bisphenol A's estrogenicity came from experiments in the 1930s in which it was fed to ovariectomised rats[4],[5]. Some hormone disrupting effects in studies on animals and human cancer cells have been shown to occur at levels as low as 2-5 ppb (parts per billion). It has been claimed that these effects lead to health problems such as, in men, lowered sperm count and infertile sperm.

(and if you're going to be smug about how wonderful your greenhouse hygene is, why do you have an algae problem in the first place?)

I just ran across this company. I've sent them email with questions about efficacy on mold.

Here is a link that might be useful: Simple Green

I use that for washing my car, deck etc...I doubt it will have much effect on mold, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I'm not "being smug", I am just telling you that to me, using bleach is worth it. Its the best I can do in my situation. And the reason I have some algae, if you are really interested in knowing, which I know you aren't, you are just trying to be rude and pick a fight because someone actually has the balls (if not the sperm) to disagree with you, is because my water is well water and has no chlorination or additives to keep the growth of such things at a minimum. Its high in Iron, high in Calcium and a lot of other stuff that's very supportive of algal growth, I maintain a rainforest environment in my greenhouse in full unabated sun 12+ hours a day where the temps rarely go below 60F and often top 90F, and I have automated watering which splashes water on the walls.

So in short, I DON'T CARE about your scientific BS, I use bleach, and that's what I use, because its easiest for me in my busy life. Fits my schedule to be able to spray it and walk out after an hour, instead of spending 2 weeks scrubbing the walls.

Here is another interesting product. Says that it is non-toxic and will remove mold.

jb

Here is a link that might be useful: MSDS for Moldzyme

Yeah, what a really diverse and interesting thread this has turned out to be!

juniorballoon,
Well as to the hydrochloric acid (toilet cleaner) details.
It is great at removing limescale and iron deposits from toilets so, how about using it on a bath! The kitchen and bath stuff is really weak and won't make much impact on a really crusty bath.

Squirt the stuff on, wipe it all around the bathtub with a cloth (wearing rubber gloves) and leave it for 15 minutes before "flushing".

Well flushing for a bathtub is turn on the hot water on the shower and get on your knees and lean over a tub and wash/scrub it.

The acidic fumes made me want to sneeze. for future reference a sneeze is a way your body rejects something that is harmful or irritating.

Before you sneeze your body (well mine did) draws in an enormous lung full of air so the sneeze is as powerful as it can be. Ummm.. now I have a pair of lungs full of HCL fumes.

That really hurt! To cut a long story short, the bathroom is very small, I made it out the door. Do I still use toilet cleaner to clean the bath? Yeah I do! once every couple of months. Go in there, coat the tub in "toilet cleaner" run away. Go in there, hold my breath, scrub, run away, exhale, inhale, go back in hold breath, scrub, run away. get the idea?

BORAX,

Looks like it kills mold, looks like it is reasonably safe to humans.

SIMPLE GREEN,

Looks like it is a de-greaser and so will clean things that are greasy. However not many of us have a greasy dirt problem in a greenhouse. (well I do but that is because of a Bio-fuel experiment that is classified at this time)

Moldzyme,

Now we are talking, it is Citric Acid, kills mold and is on the safe list! I mentioned vinegar (Acetic Acid) which is in the same family and is also on the safe list.

Water Quality,

""Its high in Iron, high in Calcium and a lot of other stuff that's very supportive of algal growth""

We have many people here who are having problems with their water (me included) and there are threads discussing ways of treating water to reduce the problems.

""you are just trying to be rude and pick a fight because someone actually has the balls (if not the sperm) to disagree with you"" Balls but no sperm on a thread that mentions bisphenol A is really funny!!!!

To go back to the question "Poly and bleach, is it safe?" No it is not really in the long term. There are better solutions to your problem of mold on your treated wood in your polycarbonate covered greenhouse than bleach.

What this is turned into is how people clean the crap off their polycarbonate.

In conclusion, my expert advice is spray on a substance like Moldzyme, wipe it off the wood, then spray again and leave it.

chris: yep, I agree with what you've said, I think I would go for borax as it is readily available, is a useful plant nutrient and is safe on poly.

bihai: settle down dude. Ignorance is one thing, but willful, knowing self-harm is beyond me. If you would rather continue to expose yourself to known insidious poisons that is your own choice (and unlike smoking, it probably doesn't harm anyone else). You shouldn't, however, encourage others to do the same - that's akin to handing a kid a pack of smokes.

If you are having trouble with algae from using bore water, have you considered using rain water? A quick google indicates that the average rainfall in FL is something like 1.3m (twice what we get here) and fairly even through the year. My greenhouse runs quite happily off rain water and I keep things in tropical conditions too. 1.3m of rainfall means that your 1700ft^2 greenhouse can collect 54000 gallons a year of mineral free water.

I can help you work out how big to make your rainwater tank if you are interested. I wrote something about it some years back: Rainwater tank sizing

The other thing is to avoid high levels on condensation or side spray on the glazing: besides encouraging algae it also sucks up lots of your heat.

Incidently, you say I DON'T CARE about your scientific BS. Are you saying that scientists are wrong, or that people should ignore the scientific method, or that people who tell you facts rather than what you want to hear are talking BS? I'm quite interested to know, as I find quite a lot of people have your reaction to facts (becoming dogmatic, stating that black is white, self harm).

I would appreciate if people took their fight to another thread. It is easy to read attiutude into internet posts when it is not intended. If you'd like to respond to someones bombastic response, create a new thread.

I am not going to use bleach, it is not recommended for poly and there appears to be some evidence it can cause the poly to off gas a noxious fume.

I wrote the Simple Green people and while they have many products besides de-greasers they do not have one that is effective against mold at this time. They are apparently working on one. It will not be as safe as their other products, they said in the email, but anything that will kill something isn't entirely safe, but it will be safer than many others that are on the market.

I am going to try the Moldzyme and Borax. I have left the greenhouse doors open over the last few days and the mold has subsided. Very likely some environmental changes, ventilation, may take care of this rahter small but annoying mold growth. My real concern is that it will spread to the plants and create a fungal cauldron that will kill them.

Again thanks for all the great info and thoughts.

jb