My outdoor fountain that I put a bit of bleach in to help keep it clean, its harming my plants, solution?
March 5, 2010 by
Filed under Bird Bath Fountain
I have an outdoor fountain that I put a bit of bleach in to help keep it clean. The problem is that the plants I have around it are being harmed, is there a solution to keep it clean that won’t harm the plants or the birds who have a tendency to use it for a bird bath?
There are many natural and or safe products out there to help. Anything from tablets to a water solution. Try this, we like it but change it out before the time is up on it. Or look for more that might be helpful to you. In the mean time, get the water bleach out of the fountain for the bleach will hurt more then your plants and wild life, it will also harm your tubes, and pump, and possably your cearamic or concrete material fountain is made of. GL!!!
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/192-2542068-9630400?asin=B000KJZ21S&afid=yahoossplp&CPNG=patio%20garden=&lnm=B000KJZ21S|Fountain_Water_Cleaner&ref=tgt_adv_XSMG1060
You want to firstly clean out your entire fountain. This will help save the remaining plants! Try not to use bleach again as it’s very dangerous especially for any pets and wildlife that may drink from the fountain. You need to get some fountain cleaner that is safe for plants and wildlife, like “Fountain Safe” by Primrose London.
Oh dear. Put some dechlorinator in there immediately. The water is splashing out and harming your plants. There is a solution that does what you need it to do.
http://www.gardensandallthat.com/site/1400466/product/CF95663
Try a fountain product with barley extract. Keeps the algae down and is safe to wildlife and plants.Never use bleach or chlorine to clean it (evil toxic stuff). If your fountain gets gnarly again, a cleaning with regular household vinegar will do the job. Just make sure that you dilute any spilled vinegar as a strong concentration will also kill the plants. the great thing about vinegar as a cleaner is once it is diluted enough, it becomes a fertilizer.
Umm yea, unfortunately bleach is highly toxic, and a known carcinogen. I would definitely not advise you to keep using it, as it very harmful to the birds who are *gasp* bathing in it, and the plants that are apparently dying from drinking it up. I don’t know why you would need to sterilize your outdoor fountain, I think there is the tendency in this country to be a little too germ phobic. It’s not like you’re swimming in it right? I really would just stop trying to sterilize it, if it’s moving water, then really how can you? It’s not doing any good. Also, if you have well water, it could be going straight into your water supply, which is also bad, although I don’t know if you have that or not. Certainly either way, it is not beneficial. If your fountain is in a pond that you are trying to keep clean, there are certain combinations of plants that can keep it clear for you, the same technology so to speak is used for eco-pools which are thankfully really starting to catch on. Otherwise, I would just leave it alone.