Mixing and spraying
One part concentrate to ten parts water for a first clean, one to twenty to keep on top of it. Spray it on and walk away - moss in days, lichen in months.
What to wear
Concentrate is strong stuff until it is in the tank. Once it is mixed you are spraying something a fraction of that strength.
- Eyes
- Eye protection, mixing and spraying. This is the one that matters.
- Hands
- Gloves while you are mixing.
- Spraying up
- A respirator if you are spraying above yourself - a roof, soffits, anything overhead. On the ground on a still day you do not need one.
The safety data sheet sets out the full protective equipment. Worth a read if you are handling a lot of it, or doing it every day rather than once a quarter.
Mixing
Water in the tank first, always. Then the concentrate into it - that way round, so it cannot splash back at you.
On the trailer or any pump unit, the pump will mix it up for you. In a knapsack, a shake does it.
Top up to the mark and you are away.
| Concentrate | Water | Makes | Covers (first treatment) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 L | 10 L | 11 L | 60 m² or more |
| 5 L | 50 L | 55 L | 300 m² or more |
| 10 L | 100 L | 110 L | 600 m² or more |
| 20 L | 200 L | 220 L | 1,200 m² or more |
That is the 1:10 first treatment rate. At the 1:20 maintenance rate the same concentrate goes twice as far - a 10 L makes 210 L and covers 1,200 m² or more.
If you have the trailer
It mixes 220 litres. Water in first, then two 10 litre bottles - or one 20 litre if that is what you have - and the pump turns it over for you.
Nothing to measure and nothing to stir.
There is 100 metres of hose on it, so most sites go from one or two set-ups.
Putting it on
Dry surface, brush off anything loose, and spray it on evenly until it is wet.
Then leave it. No scrubbing, no rinsing, no water blaster.
How long it takes
Green mould and moss die off quickly - days to a couple of weeks.
Lichen is the slow one. Months, and up to six for a bad case. That is normal and it is still working.
There is no need to do it again before then. If it looks unchanged at a month, it is lichen being lichen.
Afterwards
Rinse the sprayer or tank through with water.
Put the concentrate back in the store - somewhere cool and locked up, with the cap done up.
If it goes on you
Skin: rinse it off with plenty of water and get out of anything it soaked through.
Eyes: rinse with water for a good fifteen minutes, take contacts out if you can, and ring the Poison Centre.
Swallowed: rinse the mouth, do not make anyone sick, ring the Poison Centre.
That is for the concentrate. A splash of mixed spray is a rinse-it-off job.
National Poison Centre 0800 764 766 · free, 24 hours
If you spill the concentrate
Soak it up with sand, sawdust or whatever absorbent you keep for spills, bag it, and wash the area down with water.
It is slippery until it is cleaned up, so put something across it if people are walking past.