cleaning tools

Would any of the household cleaning products work for cleaning pruners between cuttings? I've been using bleach/water and my clothes are a mess. Would Lysol kill bacteria?

Liz, someone posted using lysol on this forum last year, they used it when working with orchids is all i can remember, can't remember which form of lysol.

It would be nice to know as my clothes are covered in bleach spots too. I wonder if Detol would work?

I think, tht cleaner alcohol would kill most any bacteria or virus. I use to burn the pruning knife, before moving on to a new plant or if I cut inside I sometimes just boil it. Its not a big deal. Won`t look like macaronii, when it come out. :)

Do you know rodalon?

No, sorry, I haven't heard of it.
I just thought that as so many people are starting to take cuttings before overwintering their plants that we should bring up the issue of disinfecting our pruners between plants. And there has to be something better than what I've been using.

I use alcohol Liz.It will kill most anything. I carry a small bottle of Purell Hand Sanitizer with me too which is also alcohol in a gel for cleaning my hands.

Liz, does the name Physan means something to you? British gardeners should know it.

LOL Liz and Jeanne...........my clothes also are just full of white spots!!! I soak all my pots in bleach water also between use!

All I know is where I work we have a lab where we have all sorts of germs. It is protocal to wash everything with a 10% bleach solution. It kills germs in seconds. It will even kill HIV on a counter top. If you get stuck with a dirty needle, pour bleach in it ASAP!!! Alcohol would have to stay on a surface for a long time to kill anything. I know I have read that even the wiping of your arm in before shots is a joke. It just moves the bacteria around. You would have to rub the area for over 3 mihutes for it to even start to kill the germs.
There is no protocal I have ever read to wash down your work station with alcohol, it is always 10% bleach.

Make sure you make it up fresh at least every 10 days for it loses its potency once mixed with water and at 10 days is considered too weak. What I do it carry a small spray bottle with a 10% solution. I spray all cutting surfaces of my clippers with the solution after each cut. It is much easier than dunking it as I used to do. I make a fresh sprayer full every weekend.

We use something called ZeroTol in the greenhouses. Bleach isn't good for plants, and this is made of Hydrogen Dioxide. http://www.biconet.com/disease/zt.html It's expensive, but we dilute it 100:1 so it costs about a dollar a gallon dilute solution.

When I worked in the health field 10% bleach solution was used for washing large areas because it could be diluted with water and was not costly to use. Alcohol can't be diluted and I can't picture washing down a bathroom with a bottle of alcohol.Millions of doctors and hospitals use alcohol for sterilizing small things so I guess if it's good enough for them to use it will work on my little clippers. LOL