Tender Plants and Roof Cleaning

[Claude Hawkins 14]

First, let me express my appreciation for welcoming me to the forum. Very kind of you all. I apologize for not thanking you earlier. A non-PW client had an emergency that took up most of the week. He's one of the reasons I find PW so attractive.

I've attached a photo. The part I circled is a small (but diverse) flower garden with about a dozen plants. Some look pretty tender and there may be some herbs in there.

You will notice that the roof has no gutter. Applying chlorine (about 6%) with a shurflo, I'm not very concerned with overspray. However, if I rinse the roof or even wait for rain, I am concerned that the runoff will remain too concentrated. I don't want to take a chance on burning the plants. (FYI - It rains everyday this time of year in Florida.)

I know that if I rinse, I will need to wet the plants heavily first. Do any of you ever tarp plants when you wash a roof?

If tarping or covering the plants with plastic is a good idea, what about runoff from the tarp? Isn't there a good possibility that the tarp, itself, will concentrate the runoff onto the grass.

Thanks again.

Claude

[Don Phelps 85]

You'll probably have a small amount of run-off from the shurflo, but watering and possibly tarping will help considerably on homes without gutters. If there is an absolute downpour or very steady rain, the concentrations of chlorine left will be negligible. However, the very brief shower or short drizzle can and will cause problems by re-activating the chlorine and creating run-off. In certain situations we'll tarp something off, but you're correct in the fact that tarps do create a concentrated area of run-off as well. This being said, we'll usually concentrate on the areas that the 'valleys' (creases) in the tarps have channeled the run-off to. Depending on what kind of plant we're covering and where it is in relation to the drip line, we'll leave one side of the tarp pulled to the outer top edge of the plant(s) and the remainder sloping down toward the area against the house to deflect the run-off that direction since there is usually very little to harm there.

FYI.....Posting roof questions/comments in the 'Up On The Roof' forum will possibly bring more attention to them.

[Claude Hawkins 14]

Thanks, Don. I've read your posts with great appreciation as I've researched the archives.

Claude