# copper sulphate



## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Has anyone used copper sulphate to sanitize plants? I used it for aquarium plants (half-hour soak and rinse well) against snails without problems for fish (tetras). It's just a curiosity.


----------



## Venutus1 (Feb 13, 2010)

rigel10 said:


> Has anyone used copper sulphate to sanitize plants? I used it for aquarium plants (half-hour soak and rinse well) against snails without problems for fish (tetras). It's just a curiosity.


EEEEEEk

Since frogs have semi-permeable skin I would use it with *extreme caution.*

But I bet if you were super careful... it may work.

I have used it as you have described above as well.

Definitely rinse the plants (maybe even outside with the hose) like crazy. 

Cheers.
Todd


----------



## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

I don't think to use it, but if it is safe, it would be an alternative to bleach/water. Copper sulfate is toxic also for fish... But I have not had any problems with my tetras and ramirezi after having rinsed the acquarium plants very well. Thanks for reply


----------



## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

I think what is most commonly done to sanitize plants is a 10% bleach solution bath


----------



## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

^^5% sol. is a little better from my understanding.


----------



## Peter Keane (Jun 11, 2005)

rigel10 said:


> Has anyone used copper sulphate to sanitize plants? I used it for aquarium plants (half-hour soak and rinse well) against snails without problems for fish (tetras). It's just a curiosity.


copper bad...


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I would not advocate the use of copper sulfate. Its not a product Id feel comfortable suggesting to newer or younger froggers to use, and I dont like the idea of putting excess down the drain. 


5% will still kill just about everything
Id recommend a 5% bleach solution from the petri dish experiments Ive done using various bacteria and yeasts. Full kill is full kill. No need to damage sensitive plants. If you want to be really thorough, bleach dip, rinse thoroughly, and repeat 48hrs later once any dormant endospores have had a chance to germinate. 


ALWAYS thoroughly soak your plants in luke warm water prior to the bleach dip, and remember to go overkill on water soaking and rinsing afterwards


----------



## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Has anyone tried horticultural grade hydrogen peroxide?


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Meaning 30%? It makes moss smoke, I'll tell you that much.


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

frogparty said:


> Meaning 30%? It makes moss smoke, I'll tell you that much.


 what now?


----------



## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

We've used it at the nursery diluted 16:1 as a fungicide.


----------



## Charlie Q (Jul 13, 2013)

what is that a ratio of? water to 90% peroxide? water to 30% peroxide? water to 3% peroxide? 

it's almost impossible to find pure peroxide, the best you can usually find is about 97%


----------



## Charlie Q (Jul 13, 2013)

and 97% is used for rocket fuel...


----------



## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Where can you find 97% peroxide? The highest I've found was 35%. The stuff we got in at the nursery was 30%, as Jason said above, and it costs about $100 for 5 gallons. We used a syphon injector to spray some plants in the greenhouse we were having trouble with. The plants did not burn, but then again, they were merely sprayed and not soaked.


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Want to kill liverworts EXTREMELY QUICKLY?! 30% peroxide is the way to go


----------



## Charlie Q (Jul 13, 2013)

epiphytes etc. said:


> Where can you find 97% peroxide? The highest I've found was 35%. The stuff we got in at the nursery was 30%, as Jason said above, and it costs about $100 for 5 gallons. We used a syphon injector to spray some plants in the greenhouse we were having trouble with. The plants did not burn, but then again, they were merely sprayed and not soaked.


Ok, so when you dilute 30% peroxide 16:1 you end up with 1.875% which is close to what you can find in the supermarket. is there any other differences between horticulture grade and the common brown bottle at the store?

97% is hard to find because it is so volatile and expensive. it is a super clean fuel though, breaks up into water and oxygen.


----------



## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Charlie Q said:


> Ok, so when you dilute 30% peroxide 16:1 you end up with 1.875% which is close to what you can find in the supermarket. is there any other differences between horticulture grade and the common brown bottle at the store?
> 
> 97% is hard to find because it is so volatile and expensive. it is a super clean fuel though, breaks up into water and oxygen.


I think the main difference is the convenience of being able to drop a syphon injector into a five gallon bucket to spray a large block of plants.


----------



## Charlie Q (Jul 13, 2013)

ok, cool. so for small scale operations, a normal bottle should be fine.


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Charlie Q said:


> Ok, so when you dilute 30% peroxide 16:1 you end up with 1.875% which is close to what you can find in the supermarket. is there any other differences between horticulture grade and the common brown bottle at the store?
> 
> 97% is hard to find because it is so volatile and expensive. it is a super clean fuel though, breaks up into water and oxygen.


all peroxide dissociates int water and oxygen. The difference is in the amount of peroxide to water, there are no other additives. 
30% Peroxide can indeed be diluted down, but you lose much of the heavy duty action below 3%. Different bacteria handle peroxide treatment differently, according to whether or not they secrete the peroxidase enzyme. At concentrations below 3% there are several species that can survive. 

Also note that Bacillus sp. that form endospores can survive through this treatment via the spores, so repeat treatments are advisable after 48 hrs.


----------



## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

I'll reiterate the point about pre soaking plants before the bleach treatment. Super important!

Seems to me using an oxidizer on plants would be counter intuitive. I'll have to look into that some more.

I use 1% soap sol or neem oil for the greenhouse. I soak new cuttings and what not in the 5% bleach sol and sometimes give them a dip in the soap water as well.


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Frogtofall said:


> I'll reiterate the point about pre soaking plants before the bleach treatment. Super important!
> 
> Seems to me using an oxidizer on plants would be counter intuitive. I'll have to look into that some more.
> 
> I use 1% soap sol or neem oil for the greenhouse. I soak new cuttings and what not in the 5% bleach sol and sometimes give them a dip in the soap water as well.


I think I mentioned the importance of the pre soak too! It is EXTREMELY important.


----------



## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

frogparty said:


> I think I mentioned the importance of the pre soak too! It is EXTREMELY important.


Your mention of it was the one I was reiterating.


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Frogtofall said:


> Your mention of it was the one I was reiterating.


Well, lets emphasize it one more time. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to pre soak your plants before sterilization


----------



## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

Ah, redundancy 

Wouldn't neem oil be harmful to frogs?


----------



## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

hypostatic said:


> Ah, redundancy
> 
> Wouldn't neem oil be harmful to frogs?


I would imagine it would irritate them. I don't use it on terrarium bound plants but it should wash off with a good dish soap like Dawn.


----------

