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Tropical Fruits

Painted Leaves

14 years ago

So my neighbor painted his fence with one of those sprayer thingies and there is paint all over the leaves of my potted mangos, lychees, figs, rambutan & papaya that are close to the fence on my side. Two part question - will the paint damage the leaves,and if so how can I remove it without causing further harm? I may be over reacting, but every time I go outside and look at my poor little trees my blood boils. My Julie is covered with blossoms and I think they are probably all going to fall off now.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

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Comments (6)

mango_kush
14 years ago
leave it be, just make sure it doesnt contaminate the soil.
pepperseed
Original Author
14 years ago
The thing is, the paint is not only all over the plants, it's all over the soil as well. I have several pots of herb seedlings that I am just going to dump and start over, which is a bummer, because I have some ginger that I have had for a couple of years now and I would be afraid to use it, so it's going , but I am not going to throw out my fruit trees.
Perhaps if I scoop off the top layer of soil & replace with fresh soil it should be ok? What do you think?
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hmhausman
14 years ago
Scraping off paint from the soil should be fine....assuming the paint dried on the upper surface of the soil without permeating down into the roots (which I doubt it would do). If by some chance the paint is below the surface of the soil, I would remove that portiion of the soil that has paint on it. The leaves, as you have been advised by Mango Kush, should be left alone.

Harry
pepperseed
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, guys.
ohiojay
14 years ago
Have you pi$$ed this neighbor off or something in the past? I mean this guy had to know what he was doing when he starting spraying the paint. A more considerate neighbor would have told you beforehand or at least told you after discovering what the overspray was doing. Giving you an opportunity to move or cover the plants would have been the right thing to do. I'm afraid I would let him know about the damage and ask for some courtesy next time.
pepperseed
Original Author
14 years ago
These people don't know from courtesy. They are the neighbors from hell. I have lived here for 10 years and get along with everyone else but these new neighbors could write a treatise on how to pi** off the people around you. I will just take a breath and pray for patience and hope for the day I can move to a house with a large enough lot that I am not pressed up against other people and can grow whatever I want.
I guess we are all looking for that "greener grass" situation.

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