House power washed, now tomato plants look bad - need help!

daff · July 17, 2011

Hello - I'm new here. I've posted an introduction in the town hall section.

So I have a problem. I have 2 rows of tomato plants in beds. One of these rows is closer to the house. The leaves on the plants in the row close to the house are yellowing and browning and are curled. The row not facing the house looks fine. I just had my house professionally power washed 2 days ago and I'm worried that they got their bleaching concoction on my plants. Would that have caused this, or am I dealing with something else? Most importantly, what should I do to nurse them back to health?

It may also be worth mentioning that prior to the power wash (and now), all of my plants but one have many fruits, and in the past week several plants are starting to ripen. What will become of these fruits?

Photos are below. Thanks!

darwinslair · July 17, 2011

were you adding anything to the water you washed the house with? Was the water scalding hot?

Tom

daff · July 17, 2011

I hired a professional company to do the power washing. I was at work when they did it but I'm trying to get some answers from them as far as what they used. My husband was home and he said they bleached the house then rinsed it. He doesn't know the temperature. The house smelled of chlorine when I got home.

Keiththibodeaux · July 17, 2011

Hopefully it is just leaf damage from splashing bleach, in which case it will likely grow out of it.

daff · July 17, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keiththibodeaux

Hopefully it is just leaf damage from splashing bleach, in which case it will likely grow out of it.

If that's it, should I prune off the affected branches? I worry I'd be removing half the plants. Or should I just leave them?

Keiththibodeaux · July 17, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by daff

If that's it, should I prune off the affected branches? I worry I'd be removing half the plants. Or should I just leave them?

I am no expert, but if it were me, I would just leave them be, and make sure the plants are well watered.

Keiththibodeaux · July 17, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by daff

If that's it, should I prune off the affected branches? I worry I'd be removing half the plants. Or should I just leave them?

And it is probably too late, but a good rinse down of the remaining leaves would not hurt.

Talon1189 · July 17, 2011

I would take pictures and complain to the company. If you do it right they should send you some money back for the damage. I would cut off the worst damage and keep a close eye on the rest. Hopefully they will recover in a short period of time.

daff · July 17, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talon1189

I would take pictures and complain to the company.

I've already done this. I probably sound a little irrational but I'm so upset. I feel really connected to my plants. They're my babies. And they're sick.

kath · July 18, 2011

Sorry to hear about your babies being hurt- it looks like you're seeing the worst of the damage done by the bleach and that it'll only get better as they continue to grow. They're amazingly resiliant plants as I saw last year when some of mine were reduced to stems less than a foot tall after they got hit by a late frost. Within a week they sprouted side shoots and produced tomatoes well before frost. All of yours still have good foliage on them. I would only remove the leaves that have yellow parts with brown circles in them as it looks like it might be a bit of Early Blight.

Let us know how they do.

Kath

dustdevil · July 18, 2011

Continue to photograph your damaged tomato plants. If you experience any fruit casualties, you could threaten to take them to court for loss due to negligence. They should have protected the plants with plastic while they worked near them. Who knows what lingering effects the cleaning solution will have on the soil/plants...especially when it rains.

daff · July 18, 2011

They used bleach and Jomax.

ddsack · July 18, 2011

It would have been nice for the company to train their employees to cover any nearby plants (or even grass under the drip line) with light weight plastic tarps while they are working. I don't know what Jomax is, but I hope it's not something that would continue to give problems if it soaked into the soil. I would assume they couldn't use anything permanently toxic.
This is a good heads-up for me. We will be having our house and deck power washed later this summer, and I will be sure to ask if they are using any additives, and make sure my flower bed beside the house is covered.

b54red · July 18, 2011

What damage the bleach will do has already been done. No need to remove the burned leaves. If they are burned too badly they will just wither up otherwise they will just have some bad spots on them. I have been using a mild bleach solution for years as a strong fungicide but the strength needed for house cleaning will usually burn plants it lands on.
I don't know if they used anything else which could harm your plants later on; but you could ask them what else they used.

**carolyn137** · July 18, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by daff

They used bleach and Jomax.

http://www.designbiz.com/biz/BrandPr...99&BrandID=538

Notice the ingredients, and I didn't review the anti-fungal link, but it says it can be used near plants and shrubs with no problem, or whatever it said at that website, short term memory problem here.

The assumption is that the professional folks who used it diuted it correctly.

July 17, 2011	#1
daff Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sterling, VA Posts: 6	House power washed, now tomato plants look bad - need help! Hello - I'm new here. I've posted an introduction in the town hall section. So I have a problem. I have 2 rows of tomato plants in beds. One of these rows is closer to the house. The leaves on the plants in the row close to the house are yellowing and browning and are curled. The row not facing the house looks fine. I just had my house professionally power washed 2 days ago and I'm worried that they got their bleaching concoction on my plants. Would that have caused this, or am I dealing with something else? Most importantly, what should I do to nurse them back to health? It may also be worth mentioning that prior to the power wash (and now), all of my plants but one have many fruits, and in the past week several plants are starting to ripen. What will become of these fruits? Photos are below. Thanks!

July 17, 2011	#8
Talon1189 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Farmington, Michigan. Zone 5b/6a Posts: 421	I would take pictures and complain to the company. If you do it right they should send you some money back for the damage. I would cut off the worst damage and keep a close eye on the rest. Hopefully they will recover in a short period of time. __________________ Always looking for a better way to grow tomatoes ..........

July 18, 2011	#13
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,231	It would have been nice for the company to train their employees to cover any nearby plants (or even grass under the drip line) with light weight plastic tarps while they are working. I don't know what Jomax is, but I hope it's not something that would continue to give problems if it soaked into the soil. I would assume they couldn't use anything permanently toxic. This is a good heads-up for me. We will be having our house and deck power washed later this summer, and I will be sure to ask if they are using any additives, and make sure my flower bed beside the house is covered. __________________ Dee **************

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July 17, 2011	#2
darwinslair Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lake Minnetonka MN Posts: 229	were you adding anything to the water you washed the house with? Was the water scalding hot? Tom

July 17, 2011	#4
Keiththibodeaux Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Louisiana Posts: 587	Hopefully it is just leaf damage from splashing bleach, in which case it will likely grow out of it.

July 18, 2011	#10
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Sorry to hear about your babies being hurt- it looks like you're seeing the worst of the damage done by the bleach and that it'll only get better as they continue to grow. They're amazingly resiliant plants as I saw last year when some of mine were reduced to stems less than a foot tall after they got hit by a late frost. Within a week they sprouted side shoots and produced tomatoes well before frost. All of yours still have good foliage on them. I would only remove the leaves that have yellow parts with brown circles in them as it looks like it might be a bit of Early Blight. Let us know how they do. Kath

July 18, 2011	#11
dustdevil Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: WI, USA Zone4 Posts: 1,887	Continue to photograph your damaged tomato plants. If you experience any fruit casualties, you could threaten to take them to court for loss due to negligence. They should have protected the plants with plastic while they worked near them. Who knows what lingering effects the cleaning solution will have on the soil/plants...especially when it rains.

July 18, 2011	#14
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	What damage the bleach will do has already been done. No need to remove the burned leaves. If they are burned too badly they will just wither up otherwise they will just have some bad spots on them. I have been using a mild bleach solution for years as a strong fungicide but the strength needed for house cleaning will usually burn plants it lands on. I don't know if they used anything else which could harm your plants later on; but you could ask them what else they used.