We had our roof cleaned 2 days ago. The company used a combination of 3% sodium hypochlorite (Clorox) and surfactant (RoofSnooty). While they took care to protect the plants in the area by continually dousing them with water (they look fine), some of the solution made it over the roof and onto our vegetable garden. The next day we noticed some burning of the leaves on a variety of plants most all appear to be alive (see attached picture). We washed the plants and the area down several times with water and today, a day later, they appear unchanged (no better but no worse).

The question is did we take all of the appropriate steps to save the plants (tomatoes, zucchini, beans, perennial and annual herbs), and are the vegetables safe to eat going forward? Is there anything else we need to do to remediate the soil?

Dilute bleach is actually used to address fungus problems in plants, mulch and lawns, but in very weak solutions, like 1:9, and some plant problems can be treated on some plants by dipping in bleach solution. So it's not automatically a deadly poison.

In high concentration, like someone using it full strength on a patio and letting is wash into a garden, it can be very bad and hard to mitigate.

It sounds like you're somewhere in the middle. But bleach is already dilute, about 5% to 6% sodium hypochlorite, so if they mean 3% sodium hypochlorite, a roughly 50% household bleach solution.

Bleach is potent for shorter times the more dilute the solution. The 1:9 above is unstable and dissipates in about a day.

There are too many variables to say for sure. Some would dissipate in the air before it landed. And it likely almost all stopped on the leaves. But I suspect most of it dissipated quickly in open air, leaving only the immediate damage. And if you were using water at the time, you further diluted it. Not much you can do now, but it's not a contact poison, just a very strong alkaline that can burn on contact. But pH is altered by dilution, and the water used makes a difference.

The vegetables and herbs are perfectly safe to eat. In the U.S., unless you buy organic, you've probably never eaten a chicken that wasn't washed with bleach solution.

The damaged leaves won't get any better but, the plants will be fine. The vegetables are safe to eat.

Your picture did not attach.

The best fix for that sort of disaster is lots and lots of water, so watering like that was good. You may want to repeat it a couple more times over the next day or so.

Without the photos, I cannot say how badly damaged your plants are. If they are no worse, they will probably make it. It will just take a while for the damage to heal.

With the sodium hypochlorite, yes your plants are safe to eat. Wash and soak them in clear water just to get any bleach residue off.

Roofsnot is listed by the company as non-hazardous (and the fact that it does not require hazardous shipping is promising) but I do not have any experience with trying to wash it off stuff. Another website lists the active ingredient as AMMONYX LO, which appears to be another cleaning agent (reasonable...) so it is likely okay to wash and eat your veggies.

If you try to eat your veggies and they do not taste good, this is a sign you still have residue from something!

If someone else knows more about the surfactant, please jump in....

edit: Wow! I took too long to type. I agree with those two above...

After three days most of the damage has been done. (Most of the damage would have happened in the first five minutes.) Dump lots and lots of water on the area where the bleach/cleaning solutions were poured. That will dilute out the chemicals and help with the shock the plants received. Then, wait. It may take a while to see what lives or dies.

Hey, it has been a while, but I'm curious, how are your plants now?
I want to hire a cleaning company, like https://cleansolutionllc.com, to clean my small shop, including the facade, but I'm afraid that all my flowers will die because of the chemicals that may be used. And that's why I'm asking. I know you wrote this a year ago, but maybe your plants started to feel and look better, idk. I hope you'll answer as soon as possible because I really want to know the situation now. Thanks in advance!

Thread is over a year old, original poster only made that one post