Cleaning Siding without Harming Plants

[itsDROCK]

Hey guys,

Are there any recommended products or home brews that are good for a "soft wash" application to remove algae/mold from vinyl siding?

My main concern is the product will also kill/harm the plants and flowers around the base of my house.

I've read that you can wet the plants before and after application to help prevent this, but it still doesn't leave me feeling great about just going for it.

 

[nh_yota]

I have been using Mold Armor house wash for many years without damage to any of my plants.

 

[nafterclifen]

Wet & Forget is a product I recently used without any plant issues. It did remove the green algae on my siding and the black algae on my room but neither surface ended up completely clean. I should have followed up with a 2nd, maybe even 3rd, treatment like the instructions suggested.

 

[DFB]

Earlier this summer I did the bleach/water/dish soap mixture like recommended on some youtube vids, in my tank sprayer. Garden hose rinse. Worked good for me


Have a yellow siding and it was covered with tree pollen windswept dirt and algae growth on especially my roof dormers, front porch and north side

 

[signcrafter]

I use pool shock mixed with some dish soap. My wife is a plant freak and we have flowers everywhere. I just spray all the flowers down with water first and then spray on the pool shock soap and let it sit for about 5 minutes. During that time I spray down the plants with plain water again to make sure any soap solution that may have got on the plants gets washed off right away. Then go back and wash down the siding with water. I do maybe 20' of house at a time. Can't let the soap solution dry on the siding.

 

[cdestuck]

I’ve removed mold with pressure washing just using water

 

[zak77]

I’ve removed mold with pressure washing just using water

X2. I never use chemicals when pressure washing my house and it works just fine.

 

[Jeff95TA]

I use pool shock mixed with some dish soap.

As a side note, pool shock (and pool chlorine) is just pricier bleach. They're all sodium hypochlorite of varying concentrations.

 

[CJDave]

I don't recall the name of the product, it was a large bright green plastic jug, that I used this summer. The directions called for wetting down the flowers and shrubbery before applying the cleaner to the siding then wetting down the flowers again after applying the cleaner. No problem. CJDave.

 

[paredown]

I've used a variety of products--but it you have concerns about plants, get a big roll of painter's film and just drape it over the plants while you are spraying. Then collect the plastic and give the plants a rinse with clean water.

 

[Rockcam]

Wet and Forget is amazing - I’ve been using it for years on different surfaces.

But as it clearly states on the label, it works over time. While it will likely knock down the green within a few days, it takes months to really do the job. Easy to use and will not hurt most plants in my experience.

 

[My Old Tools]

Sodium Percarbonate - 5 lb Bag is $18 at Amazon. This is the active ingredient in Oxyclean. Mixed with water it makes Hydrogen peroxide. Kills mold better than bleach.

 

[derek_m]

I've been using simple green. Wet the siding, brush/scrub with a broom (dipped broom in bucket of simple green), then power wash. Seems to work well.