Hypochlorous Acid......a Deep Dive

Sick Plants & Problems
1

Suppose I told you there was one ‘fungicide’ that was completely organic, absolutely safe, could be safely applied to pistils, or ANY stage of growth…right up until the day of harvest…in fact you could use a dilute concentration to replace Hydrogen Peroxide in you post harvest bud wash, preventing mold from forming during the cure…

Now how about I tell you it will kill ON CONTACT… WPM, Alternaria, Septoria Leaf Spot, Rust, and yes even the greatest revenger of all BUD ROT (Botrytis)…In fact it will kill on contact any pathogens. Even viruses on plant or equipment surfaces.(It will NOT control virus infections IN A PLANT)

Well, if you believe all that, let’s push credibility here. It’s 800X more powerful than bleach. You produce it in your stomach, it’s transferred to your white blood cells and your white blood cells have been killing pathogens in your blood with it everyday of your life!!!

We’re talking about Hypochlorous Acid (HCO).but certainly not ALL HCO!
We are looking for the HIGHEST concentrations, so that we can diluted it, to offer a range of strengths, to economically treat all circumstances.
We’re going to be looking at 3 products that fit this criteria. You can do your own searches. We want a MINIMUM of 200ppm (0.020% HCO). This strength will not offer many effective dilution ratios but WOULD BE VERY EFFECTIVE used straight!
BEWARE: Check the label carefully…many brands use a combination of HCO with Sodium Hypochlorite (Bleach)…great for hard surface sterilization and used often in hydroponic systems,
NOT SUITABLE FOR FOLIAR APPLICATION!
Another warning for you! You are going to read about ‘proprietary’ methods. Sorry, it’s all bullshit !
There is only one way to produce HCO, if the concentrations of HCO are the same…they are indeed identical.
So let’s get to it! Here are the 3 products available for our review:

                     FloraFlex Root Drip  0.056%   $53.99/Gal
                                    Agrowlyte   0.046%   $54.99/Gal
                                      Danolyte   0.046%   $39.99/Gal

Here’s another interesting fact for you!!! A great member on another forum was sent an email by the manufacturer of Agrowlye that incidentally revealed a little TOO MUCH information!
Danolyte and Agrowlyte are exactly the same material made by the same manufacturer…two different labels. Why? They wanted to compete in the commercial disinfectant market, and to do so it had to be competitively priced! So why not introduce it to the nursery/cannabis market with a different name and ummmm higher price?
No brainer…buy DANOLYTE ! If you have, or use FloraFlex RD, you can gain some economic benefit by diluting it back to the 0.046% concentration by adding (R/O or Distilled) water only…at time of use.

I will provided the dilution factors to convert 0.056% to 0.046% in a following post.

Before I’m going to come on here with any recommendations, I am going to have to be convinced of PLANT SAFETY (including pistil applications) at FULL STRENGTH. Fortunately for me, Ravenchief had some FloraFlex on hand, and also some powdery mildew!

The test was performed with FloraFlex diluted back to the 0.046% concentration (per my dilution ratios posted later) and applied FULL STRENGTH on some outdoor plants.

IMPORTANT: When treating WPM with your HCO. The HCO kills the fungus on contact. You’re going to get up the next morning and SEE it looks just like it did BEFORE you sprayed! Another insight for you…almost all fungicides are formulated with an oil or ‘solvent’ (surfactant). When you apply to your WPM the fungi mycelium absorb this oil and become mostly transparent to the eye!
Human nature being what it is…If you can’t stand seeing those white smudges still on your leaf, simply take a tissue or soft towel wetted with a little dilute H2O2 and wipe them off!! They won’t be back!
Truth of the matter…the dead fungus will naturally decompose over time on it’s own. LOL, so you can
test your willpower either way and I won’t judge!

I am going to provide a Agrowlyte label with differing dilution ratios for different circumstances. These dilution ratios would apply to all 3 products we are reviewing …again because they are all ending up the same strength 0.046%…

Are you in an isolated area where these strengths aren’t available…bum f*** Australia for instance??? MAKE YOUR OWN with a Hypochlorous Acid generator! If you can afford distilled or R/O, uniodized table salt and white vinegar, you can produce HCO and save a ton of money!
I told you it was a simple molecule!!! I will post a link at the very end of this thread

55 Likes
2

image
image750×750 60.7 KB

11 Likes
3

image
image723×750 39.9 KB

To tell you the truth…with a tool this powerful, I really don’t see the economic justification in ‘Preventative’ sprays.
You see it, you spray it, it’s dead…there are always extenuating circumstances to consider. If you choose to do so follow the Mfg’s recommendation. When WPM is present in your grows, I feel confident it will be annihilated with a 50% (1:1) dilution ratio of any of the stated products.

12 Likes
4

I was testing this formulation on one of my big clones under @rflasch guidance - In the greenhouse she and a few others had a mild case of powdery mildew - perfect for the test. I mixed all formulations EXACTLY as guided - the Ph was 3.7 after mixing.
Here is the test plant before any treatments
image
She had PM on several areas - I would gauge it as a mild case
imagimage|375x500 e
imimage|375x500 age
After a FULL Strength spray of HCO with a very heavy application (about 2.5 ounces of solution sprayed on the plant)
Here she is the next morning - still a little droopy but healthy - The PM spots were still there, but I
wiped the leaves with a moistened cloth… spots disappeared and never reappeared.
Because she was still droopy I decided to wait an extra day before I foliar sprayed anything -
I was particularly interested in what might happen when I sprayed BBP - I no longer foliar spray anything but BBP and IPM
image

image
After a heavy dosage of BBP on the test plant the next morning she perked up and all traces of pm were gone -
![image|3It is 3 days later and all pm is gone and the plant is healthy and rebounded.

I purposely oversprayed to give much heavier dosages of both the IPM and BBP - the plant is fine
I decided to test this on an auto that is late in flower that I let grow but she’s a test plant and throwaway so I sprayer her heavy with HCO and then just after with a BBP treatment - Normaly I would not use BBP after 2 weeks in flower but I wanted to see what would happen
This plant had a moderate case of PM as well - here she is the next morning -75x500]
(upload://rChZgkJIyUApi7FFTaYDREb3iXD.jpeg)
image
NO PM and no Brown Pisltils - @Happilyretired even 2 days later.

the results of the test were successful in identifying an alternative to pm and budrot - it is also most useful in not having oils or other things that could burn delicate pistils in late flower.

18 Likes
5

Can’t buy Hypochlorous acid locally… Well make your own!
I have neither bought nor used this unit. Other than customer reviews, I can’t give you any guidance…
Considering you are not going to be making HCO on a continuous basis, it seems to me this machine would serve a cannabis grower quite well.

The economics of purchasing the machine would appear to offset the cost of purchasing and shipping HCO to remote areas!!! Looks to me like if you can afford R/O or distilled water, uniodized table salt, and white vinegar, you’d pay for this machine with less than 4 gallons of our listed prepared products!

Here’s what it says about concentration…
Up to 200 ppm:

40 ppm in 3 minutes on Setting 1

60 ppm in 5 minutes on Setting 2

100 ppm in 8 minutes on Setting 3

200 ppm in 16 minutes on Setting 3

Looking for more concentration on high contact surfaces?

If you need higher than 200 ppm, just bring the initial concentration up to that level and run on setting 3.

Each additional 8 minutes on setting 3 adds an additional 80 ppm to your hypochlorous acid solution!

The three products we sourced were between 460-560ppm HCO. However, lets face it, with your own machine you could be applying a 200ppm spray every other day if you so desired! This machine indicates you could raise your ppm with additional time…however, even if I could make HCO at only 200ppm concentration, I could easily annihilate any pathogen with a couple of every other day applications…
I don’t know…it’s your decision…if I lived in a remote area and wanted the ability to kill pathogens fast
with 100% confidence organically and without any residue…I may want one of these in my kitchen!!

https://superhealthylife.com/products/eco-one?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1oG19ZmE-AIVpxOtBh0aogRSEAQYBSABEgIj3PD_BwE

NOTE: I prefer this unit because you note the cathode and anode are made of tungsten! The process is a DC electrolysis and they are subject to erosion…the tungsten composition would extend the useful life of the generator IMHO!
LOL, I thought I better add…I have NO family members employed by, or Securities issued by this company!

A pH and ppm meter will come in handy.
HCO is only stable between pH 3.5-5.0. Our full strength application was checked at pH 3.7.
DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THIS pH ! This is NOT a nutrient, and is surface active only!

17 Likes
6

I have another HCO product to add to our list…
Athena Root Cleanse is also a HCO candidate. It doesn’t contain any Sodium Hypochlorite (Bleach) so it would be suitable for foliar application to control diseases. The only issue, relative to our other listed products, is that the HCO concentration is 0.028% (280ppm) so it doesn’t offer the same dilution options.
At $49.85/Gal for that concentration, it doesn’t hold a candle to Danolyte 0.046% @ $39.99/Gal HOWEVER, if a Grower has Athena in his inventory, I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to use it full strength
to save a grow…ANY DAY!

14 Likes
7

Dang! This is a treasure trove right here! I just did a good but of reading after your thread here and this stuff is the TRUTH. I saw where they had lab tested terps and cannabinoids with a control and there was no dflifference in samples.

I’m going to HAVE to get some of the stuff to have on deck.

Thank you! @BudBusterPro

11 Likes
8

Thank You for the comments!
Well, when I discover something that’s not commonly known, I feel an obligation to do a ‘deep dive’
for growers’ benefit. I take it upon myself to research all pertinent data and give as complete accounting as I can.
THIS IS THE ULTMATE DISEASE CONTROL TOOL You’ll ever find or need!
LOL, the ability to actually produce it at home was the icing on the cake for me!!

Some on here know me and I don’t waste time with bullshit! Either way, I feel I’ve expended the effort and it’s all here for anyone interested! That’s about all I got!!!

16 Likes
9

So just to put it out there Sodium Hyprocholrite NaOCl or even Calcium hyprochlorite Ca(OCl)2 to my understanding creates Hyprochlorous acid when added to water, sure depending on pH hydrochlorites and or hydroxides are also formed.

But saying that wouldn’t say Calcium hyprochlorite mixed into an appropriate pH concentration work and well and is a heck of alot cheaper considering for like $10 you can get a lb which is typically in the 70% purity range, and typically a 200ppm of any free chlorine is typically over kill…

But anyways thats just my basic understanding, just seems no machin needed or whatever one can just make Bleach water and an appropriate pH that flavors Hyprochloric acid formation.

7 Likes
10

Mr. Sparkle,
Sir, we are talking about 2 different acids altogether. Spray any plants with HYPOCHLORITE, whether it be Sodium, Potassium, or Calcium and you’re spraying them with BLEACH…not going to end well.

HYPOCHLOROUS acid can ONLY be made with a process called HYDROLYSIS.
In a liquid containing Sodium Chloride (uniodized table salt), white vinegar, and distilled or R/O water,
DC electrical current is passed through two electrodes…the + is called the cathode and the - is called the anode.
I won’t get too deep in the weeds about the chemistry, but hydrolysis splits both the salt and water into ions. The white vinegar is actually Acetic acid which contributes to the reaction keeping the pH of the solution down to about pH 3.5ish.
HCO (hypochlorous acid) is only stable in ph’s 3.5 to 5.0…beyond that pH range it does not exist as hypochlorous acid.
Don’t want to make it any more confusing than that, but I guess the easiest way to say it is hypochlorite’s and hypochlorous are two different families, kinda like cats and dogs…

6 Likes
11

Hyprochlorous acid again from my understanding is created when a chlorite is added to water, it’s concentration is pH determinant though and the closer to a pH of 7 one gets the more even a split you will get between hypo and hydro.

Also

HCO more specifically HCO3 is bicarbonate or hydrogencarbonate

HCIO is Hypochlorous Acid

So I wouldn’t say dogs or cats, as chlorites are just a precursor when in reaction to water that create hypochlorous acid and with say an addition of say “acetic acid” which lowers the pH to favour HCIO creation.

Though again my understanding is limited as I don’t spent my days dived into chemistry reactions.

9 Likes
12

I have done this and it was fine.

6 Likes
13

Excellent knowledge drop @BudBusterPro !!

A new ‘bunny hole’ to explore! :vulcan_salute: :smile:

Thanks & Cheers
G

5 Likes
14

Fantastic read!! I’ve been using Athena Cleanse, and the plants seem to love it. … I add it to the nutrient mixes, and I always dunk any new plant, clone or cutting introduced into my grow space. Too expensive to use as a surface cleaner but this thread is inspiring me to make my own mix, may stop using bleach-water for that.

3 Likes
15

HCO is one of those things that’s too good to be true…right up to the time you use it!
Rich’s loss of 30% of his outdoor crop to Bud Rot last year just wanted to make me cry!

It’s been on my mind ever since!

So simple, so effective, and if you’re generating it yourself, cheap and always available!
I appreciate it, if those of you employing HCO in the future, can chime in on the rates you’re using and your observations!
Thanks

3 Likes
16

Effersan tablets via Sodium Dichloro-s-Triazinetrione. This will produce hypochlorous acid when added to water. PH will determine the balance between the chlorite and hypochlorous acid.

8 Likes
17

Thanks, bookmarked for when/if I ever have pm. Been very lucky so far.

1 Like
18

this was intriguing.

so I don’t see much mention of relatively pure
is it not avail at chemistry supply stores?
I would think that would be the cheapest option no?
To then dilute further given the solution strength I’ve seen you mention it’s mixed at for close to ready use products
also do you know if this also kills viroids not just virus’?

1 Like
19

HCO is not Hypochlorous Acid “HClO, HOCl, or ClHO” is

HCO specifically HCO3 is the following

Just bringing it up that if one is using inaccurate terms you will lead people down paths that add confusion to the discussion is all.

7 Likes
20

So we should buy that hypochlorous acid generator if we want to use hypochlorous acid in our gardens? It’s much cheaper than buying hypochlorous acid bottles, correct?

1 Like