Mop water with Mr. Clean

21 years ago

I mop my business floor almost every morning, using 2-3 gallons of water and about 4 oz. of Mr. Clean. Outside, we have a half whiskey barrel planter full of flowers. The obvious question: will the leftover mop water be helpful or harmful to the plants?

The active ingredient in Mr. Clean is 0.34% sodium hydroxide, which would translate to a small amount (1/74th of an ounce) in my bucket before mopping. This ingredient will presumably push the ph of my potting mix up-- will this be a noticable effect, given the tiny amount of NaOH? Will the other properties of Mr. Clean (antibacterial, "grease-cutting" ingredients in the other 99.66% of the solution) have any effect, or will they be neutralized by dilution and/or heavy bacterial loads from the floor?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

--Ray

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Comments (8)

breezyb
21 years ago
You will kill your plants.
raysizemore3
Original Author
21 years ago
Not that I'm disagreeing, but which ingredient(s) in what concentration be problematic?

--RLS3
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breezyb
21 years ago
Ray - from a technical standpoint, I can't answer that - lol!!

However, I will say that when I filled a 5-gallon bucket with lukewarm water & added just a capful of Mr. Clean (far less than 4 ounces), & when finished poured the bucket outside, it killed the grass.
bruggirl
21 years ago
Sodium hydroxide is lye. If you want to pour lye on your plants, have at it. Here's a link with more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: sodium hydroxide
Nigella
21 years ago
Hi Ray, switch to one of the orange based cleaners and you'll get a better value for your money. Orange oil in low concentrations makes things smell wonderful and acts as a low grade, non-problematic insecticide. I've used a weak solution for watering my houseplants when they had bugs or slugs/snails and had NO problems with the plants, just nice clean soil.
alison
21 years ago
As long as it gets the floors as clean, that could be a win-win.

And frugal!
bruggirl
21 years ago
Yep, orange oil based products are much better....and reusable! Definitely a win/win.
mid_tn_mama
21 years ago
Use ammonia when cleaning--makes a great fertilizer later.