30 Seconds vs Wet Forget

I bought 30 Seconds & have since been told by many people how W/F is much better. Anyway, have to use up the 30 Secs - it is working slowly on my very black concrete & that's ok. Been spraying about every five months - very slow result though.

However, I have plastic guttering on the house & it now has green stains from the overflow all along it. I want to spray to get rid of the stains (it won't come off with cleaners etc) but I understand that if I use 30 Seconds and it drips onto the garden, which it will do on three sides of the house, it will kill the plants. 30 Secs definitely kills grass as I've seen where I've mis-fired with the spray at the edges of the concrete. I have been told that W/F is non toxic & won't kill my plants.

Advice please. Thanks.

If it were me I would put the water blaster on it to get rid of green stains and forget the chemicals

hi toast.. dont know which is better etc.. but i have used both and they seem to be bleach based and will burn your plants if you have delicates in the garden.. throw a feed bag over then when you spray..so the overspray doesnt hit the leaves.. (it will also bleach your cloths when the hose on the back pack sprayer gives way )

Yes I believe they are bleach based and I would keep away from them I use a water blaster every time.

kai;381348 wrote: If it were me I would put the water blaster on it to get rid of green stains and forget the chemicals

Rodeb;381355 wrote: Yes I believe they are bleach based and I would keep away from them I use a water blaster every time.

The problem with waterblasting is that although the effects are immediate they are also shortlived as the hypha and/or roots remain in the substance being cleaned. This is particularly so with concrete or timber, which will also suffer erosion of the surface particles resulting in an increasingly rough surface thereby giving the moss/lichen/fungi an even better environment to bond to.

Wet N Forget claim that plant damage can be minimised by rinsing them afterwards and personally I prefer it over 30 sec's, especially as it's cheaper and is delivered to the door

I must admit I have never used W & F and believe it is expensive although it does a great job on concrete but I'm not prepared to wait 5-6 months for results. They are using scare tactics by saying the water blaster will damage your concrete, although very high pressure can, the damage is very minimal to the extent of not being noticeable unless you were to water blast often for several years. I use my WB for instant results and no plant damage.

Like Rod I use water blaster on concrete and did it for years at work to remove alsorts with no bad effect and on wooden decks here. Only plant damage was when I slipped and blew plants out of garden

I have used W & F on Kwila decking that was around my pool and it did a great job on the green and black mould but be aware it does not do the yellow/brownish mould. It didn't take anywhere near 6 months to work either - perhaps four weeks from memory.

I had a neighbor who did his concrete with it twice a year and never had to bother with anything other than that.

I'm not sure I agree about waterblasting concrete though. It breaks some kind of seal on the concrete and lets mould etc in. I say that as I rather foolishly waterblasted my stables concrete (accessible to the rain) and after that, it was a problem every year whereas it had previously been fine/ok for at least 8 years. This was with a Kercher home type blaster so not that strong. It also ripped older Kwila and Cedar if you got too close.

Having said that, I understand that you can now get a rotating head for water blasters that is not only more efficient but softer on the wood. Certainly faster on cobblestone.

Against water blasting for all above reasons - does damage the concrete & it doesn't kill the mould it just removes the above surface mould.

The hint re putting sacks on the plants would work. I have a couple of PVC mats, a small tarpaulin & some old sacks so that would be a great idea.

Thanks.

Go to your horticultural supply store and get a product called Yield. It is used to sterilise plant containers etc. The active ingredient is benzalkonium chloride at 500g/l which, I believe, is the same active ingredient in the other "cleaners". You will get a lot more for the money buying this way and just dilute down to use.

Compare benzalkonium chloride with decyl octyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (which is the AI of Wet N Forget). Think I'll stay with the W&F thanks :cool:

I don't like either wet and forget or 30 seconds. A bit of bleach in hot water and a stiff broom do the same job for just a few cents.

The Kats Place;381741 wrote: I don't like either wet and forget or 30 seconds. A bit of bleach in hot water and a stiff broom do the same job for just a few cents.

Cheap but bleach is pretty harsh on plants or soil, and you [xx(]

Bleach did absolutely nothing. At least the 30 Seconds works - slowly but surely.