Ficus Hard Water Stains

weirdowl

Anybody know of a good way to get hard water stains off the lower part of the trunk of a ficus tree? It's about five years old. I've tried a very diluted mix of water and "hand" soap like you'd find in the grocery store. I've been watering the tree with boiled and rain water for months now while trying to remove the stains. They seem to go away at first only to quickly return. Please, any suggestions, this is driving me nuts! Thanks


weirdowl

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TreeBay

Maybe try a little vinegar in water instead. It should help dissolve the lime.

Regards,

Matt

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weirdowl

I've tried the vinegar and water before but then someone told me it might be harmful to the tree. I didn't really try it long enough to see if it would work. What do you think, A light scrubbing once a week with a soft bristled toothbrush dipped in the vinegar and water? What mixture would you suggest? Half and half? More/less diluted? Thanks for the help.

weirdowl

TreeBay

See the bottom of this article here:

http://www.treebay.com/index.html?t...A=64&B=Articles

I think I referenced this link in another thread on the same subject, but it has just been one of those days.

I would get in and get the stuff off. Ficus is a smooth-barked tree like azalea so you can scrub it in a similar way as long as you don't go through the green cambial layer to the wood beneath.

Concerning the vinegar, the hand soap would be more harmful as it has a basic pH and the ficus prefers acidic soil. I would try something like 10:1 water:vinegar, and flush the soil really well when I am done. This isn't something you want to do every week. Maybe once every couple of months, but correcting the cause would be helpful:

Why are you boiling the water? Boiling water kills parasites, but it increases the hardness of the water a little, so I don't see any benefit to that.

Regards,

Matt

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Carl_Bergstrom

Boiling would evaporate the chlorine quickly. In some areas that have highly chlorinated water (Altanta, GA, from recent memory) this might be an advantage.

Maybe?

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TreeBay

OK! As long as there is a reason. They have chloramine in the water here

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groan

This is great! I need to do the same thing to my Ficus and I have been watering it from the tap for eons! so you can guess what my trunk looks like.

mine may need a chisel and hammer to get it off, but the vinegar solution sounds like a good tip.

I will need to peel off as much before hand first. it is like rock on there!

sigh, i hope my baby dont go into shock.

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