One of my clients here in the southeast USA has a large, stressed loblolly pine (approx. 2.5-feet DBH)growing four to five from his house. It produced an innordinately-large cone crop this year. He first noticed the decline two years ago after painters preparing the house for painting washed down the wood siding with full-strength chlorox, which drained into the root system around the loblolly and a flowering dogwood that is now moribund. I'd appreciate any information about what affect this chemical has on the rhizosphere and if, this late in the game, there is a good treatment available. The tree suffered significant root loss when the house went up about 25 years ago, so it was likely weakened some already. The house is in a small forest setting in which his trees enjoy a natural litter layer and group protection. Thanks for the help. Tom

Reply to post by Tom Watson, on February 03, 2000 at 09:39:00:

Tom, do a web search on "sodium hypochlorite", the active chemical in bleach. You should find a bunch of good stuff.

I turned up an MSDS for it at
http://intranet.michener.on.ca/msds/schem/nahypocl.htm

A good article, not too technical, but useful is at
http://www.esemag.com/0596/bleach.html

This latter one suggests that NaOCl breaks down primarily into sodium chloride (salt), oxygen, and hydrogen. It may be the damage from salt that you are seeing. The bleach itself, and the by-products should all be leachable, if you can flush enough water through the system.

Consider also that after 2 years, there may have been irreparable root damage, and other infections have gained access.

Reply to post by Tom Watson, on February 03, 2000 at 09:39:00:

My experience, using liquid bleach to prepare my house for exterior repainting, did not result in any noticeable damage to any plants. I was concerned that it might, so I limited spray onto foliage, rinsed down the leaves, and ran lots of rinse water on the walls, which probably diluted and helped leach the chemical on the ground. I have azaleas along the foundation, and Ponderosa pines within 8 to 20 feet from the house. Did the painters use any solvents that might have spilled? I used only water based paint. I am in a forest-turned-residential area, in the foothills of the Sierra of N. Calif.