How to Clean a Greenhouse with Jeyes Fluid

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It would be best to clean your greenhouse because it can become dirty, reducing the light that reaches your plants. A greenhouse should be cleaned before the next growing season or if you have issues with recurring plant diseases. The recommended disinfectant for greenhouses is Jeyes fluid.

As a grower who owns a greenhouse, why must you regularly clean your greenhouse? How often should you clean the greenhouse? What do you clean the greenhouse with, and what is this Jeyes fluid? Read this article to find out.

Cleaning a Greenhouse with Jeyes Fluid: Why? When? How?

Greenhouses should be cleaned and disinfected regularly. Algae, moss, and dust on the glass should be brushed off, and then the greenhouse and your planting accessories should be disinfected with jeyes fluid.

What is Jeyes Fluid?

Jeyes fluid is a highly effective disinfectant that John Jeyes patented in 1877 (over 40 years now). Though Jeyes fluid was initially used for bathing scarlet fever patients, it is now commonly used as an outdoor disinfectant.

Jeyes fluid kills off 99% of germs on the surface of what you are disinfecting. The product can be used on concrete, glass, and solid plastic surfaces.

Most greenhouse gardeners use jeyes fluid to clean and disinfect their greenhouse, pots, holding tanks, and other gardening accessories.

With a pH of 8.0-10.0, Jeye’s fluid is moderately alkaline. Some chemicals used to make jeyes fluid that is active ingredients, their concentration by weight, European Community Number (EC No.), and Chemical Abstracts Service Number (CAS No.) are listed in the table below:

NAME	CONCENTRATION BY WEIGHT	EC NUMBER	CAS NUMBER
Terpineol (for fragrance)	2.5–5%	232-268-1	8000-41-7
Propan-2-ol (isopropyl alcohol)	1–2.5%	200-661-7	67-63-0
p-chloro-m-cresol (p-chlorocresol)	5–10%	200-431-6	59-50-7
Tar acids, (poly-)alkylphenol fraction	5–10%	200-431-6	59-50-7

Why Should a Greenhouse Be Cleaned?

Asides from retaining the beauty of your greenhouse, there are three significant reasons why a greenhouse should be cleaned and disinfected:

To Maximize the Greenhouse Lighting

Light is an essential factor when cultivating plants. Without light, plants will not be able to photosynthesize (i.e., produce food and oxygen), nor will they grow. Most people grow tropical and subtropical crops in their greenhouses. Tropical and subtropical crops like orchids, elephant ears, and sweet potatoes need as much light as you can provide.

If your greenhouse is covered in dust, algae, or moss, a large percentage of light will not be able to enter your greenhouse.

A dirty greenhouse is an unyielding greenhouse. You need to brush algae, moss, and dirt off the surface of your greenhouse to allow plants inside the greenhouse to receive the required amount of light.

Prevention and Control of Weeds and Pests

When you open the doors and windows of your greenhouse, pests and the seed of weeds can find their way into your greenhouse. If you do not clean your greenhouse, weeds and pests will grow and multiply.

Because of technological limits, there is a certain amount of food that we can produce per acre. If we were to have intensive greenhouse agriculture, we could have much higher production.

Ralph Merkle

Weeds love the cozy environment in the greenhouse. Common pests like snails and red spider mites love the healthy plants in your greenhouse. It would be best to regularly clean your greenhouse to eliminate and avoid weeds and pests.

The reason why pests may also exist in your greenhouse may be because of a lack of ventilation inside the greenhouse or ventilation problems in general.

A lack of ventilation can let bugs and pests stay in the greenhouse comfortably. This article provides much more information about the importance of ventilation in greenhouses. This link will take you there.

Prevention and Control of Recurring Plant Diseases

Suppose you observe that a particular disease your plants suffered from in the previous growing season affects your plants in the current growing season. In that case, you must thoroughly disinfect your greenhouse and everything in it with jeyes fluid.

Examples of plant diseases that can recur, their symptoms, and the crops they affect are in the table below:

DISEASE	SYMPTOMS	PLANTS
Rust	Pale spots called pustules are seen on leaves	Beans, tomatoes, snapdragons, etc.
Canker	Parts of the plant stem get damaged by fungi	Apple and other trees
Fire Blight	Withering of blossoms, leaves, branches, etc.	Apples, avocados, and other trees
Grey mold	Tender plant organs will lose their color and wilt	Vegetables and fruiting plants
Crown gall	Round tumor-like growth on the stem of plants	Roses, raspberries, blackberries, etc.
White Mold	Leaves and stem wilts, root rots, etc	Beans, lettuce, cabbage, etc
Damping-off	Brown lesions at the stem base of seedlings	The seedling of many plants
Bacterial wilt	Leaves become pale, and the plant wilts gradually	Tomato, cucurbit, beans, etc.
Aster Yellows	Vein of the leaves turn pale and yellow	Tomato, lettuce, carrot, petunia, etc.
Bird eye spots	Eyespots on leaves, leaves turn yellow	Olive trees
Tomato blight	Brown spots on leaves or stem tips	Tomato and Potato
Powdery mildew	Small, white powdery spots on leaves and stem	Ornamental plants, shrubs, and vegetables

More diseases can recur if your greenhouse is not disinfected. Disinfecting your greenhouse with Jeyes fluid will stop the diseases above from recurring.

When Should You Clean Your Greenhouse?

You now have enough reasons to clean and disinfect your greenhouse. When should you clean it?

Late Winter or Early Spring

Among the seasons, winter has the least plants in most greenhouses. Before planting new crops in spring, ensure the greenhouse is clean enough to allow light to reach your plant.

Also, ensure that your pots are clean to prevent weeds and pests from the previous growing season from growing with the new plants.

Some pests might find their way into your greenhouse to hibernate in winter. You should see them and remove them before you plant your crops.

When Your Plants Are Diseased

If you observe that many of your plants suffer from a particular disease, try to treat the plants and then clean the greenhouse. Remove every diseased plant from the greenhouse.

If you do not disinfect the greenhouse, healthy plants can get infected, and you do not want that to happen.

Also, disinfect your greenhouse with Jeyes fluid and change your soil when the disease recurs.

After the Growing Season of a Specific Crop

You do not have to wait till winter or spring before you clean your greenhouse. If you are a commercial grower or have a specific crop in your greenhouse, you should clean your greenhouse before starting the next set.

Monthly

Greenhouses used as plant nurseries are frequently open, so owners must clean them to prevent weeds and pests. Also, the weeds outside your greenhouse should be removed monthly.

If not removed, weeds attract pests and diseases that can harm your plants inside the greenhouse.

How to Clean the Greenhouse with Jeyes Fluid

Even though it is not the easiest thing to do, cleaning your greenhouse is not tricky. To clean your greenhouse, you need the following:

Brush and sponge	Jeyes fluid
Water hose (optional)	Bucket of water

Are you ready? Just follow the steps below:

Remove Everything from the Greenhouse

When you are ready to clean the greenhouse, remove everything, including plants, pots, tools, benches, etc., and take them outside. Plants should be kept indoors if it is winter. You should remove everything from the greenhouse to have enough space to work and access the walls, floor, and everywhere you want to disinfect.

Brush or Vacuum Debris Off the floor

It is common to find dead leaves, dust, branches, etc., on the floor of your greenhouse. You can remove these objects by brushing them off or using a vacuum cleaner.

Also, always check if your greenhouse drainage pipes are blocked.

If you find debris in the drainage pipes, pour Jeyes fluid into the pipes to clear the drainage system.

Remove Visible Weeds and Cobwebs

Search for and remove weeds and cobwebs from your greenhouse. You can use your hands to remove weeds and a broom to clear the cobwebs. Check around the cobwebs for spiders, then remove them as well.

Use Jeyes Fluid to Disinfect Surfaces

Surfaces like the greenhouse floor, walls, tables, and benches should be disinfected with Jeyes fluid. Algae, bacteria, and moss should be brushed off greenhouse surfaces. When disinfecting the surfaces, scrub them thoroughly with a sponge or broom.

Change the Soil

If you are disinfecting your greenhouse because of a disease you observed in your plants, change the soil used to grow the plants. Using new earth would help because the old soil might be contaminated. If you must use the old soil, bake it.

You should bake the soil to kill bacteria, nematodes, and other pests.

To bake the soil, place it in an oven and then heat it for 1 hour or until the soil temperature gets to 82°C.

Remember that used soil has fewer nutrients than new soil.

Clean Both Sides of the Glass Panes

Many gardeners forget to clean the inside parts of the pane because it looks clean. Trust me; you will be surprised when you start cleaning it. Wash both sides of the glass panes using a bucket of water and Jeyes fluid. Start brushing your greenhouse glass panes from the top.

Check between Panes for Dirt

Check crevices in your greenhouse for pests and dirt. You can use a plastic plant label to scrape dirt and pests from the crevices. Do not forget to clean the glass panes outside between the panes.

Wash Your Planting Accessories and Tools

Plant pots and tools, like propagation knives, shears, etc., should be washed with Jeyes fluid. Every device used in the previous growing season should be disinfected before being used again in the next growing season.

You must wash and disinfect the gravels and other stones you use to decorate the surface of your potting soil (or trap soil moisture).

These stones are breeding grounds for algae and bacteria. If you do not disinfect them, algae, moss, bacteria, weed, etc., will grow on the new soil.

Thoroughly Rinse Everything

Remember that you are using Jeyes fluid. Jeyes fluid does not just kill 99% of germs; it is harmful to plants, pets, etc. When you are finished washing everything, rinse thoroughly with water. You can use a water hose when rinsing your greenhouse glass panes and other surfaces.

When rinsing the glass panes with water, reduce the pressure of the hose so that you do not break the glass.

Small tools and other gardening accessories should be soaked in water.

Wash Your Hands or Take a Bath

Before you touch your plants, you have to wash your hands. If you do not wash your hands or bathe before you handle plants, Jeyes fluid on your hands can kill the plants.

You can wash your hands or bathe when you are done cleaning and waiting for the surfaces to dry.

Take Only Healthy Plants Back into the Greenhouse

When the greenhouse becomes dry, you can bring back everything you took from it (and you have cleaned) back into it. When taking plants back into the greenhouse, do not bring back any sick or infected plants. You should isolate sick and infected plants so they do not infect healthy plants in the greenhouse.

How to Disinfect Greenhouse Water Holding Tanks with Jeyes Fluid

Greenhouse holding tanks are essential in your greenhouse. Greenhouse holding tanks provide your plants with water and nutrients.

Holding tanks in greenhouses with hydroponic systems store a nutrient-rich solution with the right pH, temperature, and nutrients the plants need.

Algae and bacteria can grow in greenhouse-holding tanks if the tanks are not regularly disinfected. When microbes grow in holding tanks that store nutrients for hydroponic greenhouses, they can alter the water’s pH, temperature, and other required factors.

To wash your greenhouse holding tanks,

1.) Disconnect every irrigation line from the tank.

2.) Pour 15ml of Jeyes fluid into 5 liters of water in a bucket.

3.) Brush the tank’s walls (in and out).

4.) Rinse the holding tanks thoroughly

5.) Pour water back into the tank

6.) Check the pH of the water in the tank

7.) If the pH is more than 8.0, rinse the tank and drain the water

8.)Keep rinsing the tank until the pH is between 6.8-7.8

9.) Close the tank’s lid and fill it with water or nutrients.

Jeyes fluid has a pH of 8.0-10.0. If the water in your holding tank is above 8.0, Jeyes fluid has residues in the tank. Residues of Jeyes fluid in greenhouse water holding tanks can kill plants or make them sick. Make sure that you rinse the tanks thoroughly.    

Drainage of Water Containing Jeyes Fluid

When you are done cleaning and disinfecting your greenhouse with Jeyes fluid, you should dry the floor by using a mop. Do not dispose of water containing Jeyes fluid by throwing it on your lawn or leaving it on the floor to evaporate (therefore, leaving residues of Jeyes fluid on the floor).

Jeyes fluid, like other disinfectants, is harmful to the environment and can cause contamination of soil, making the soil unfit for planting.

When you are done mopping the floor, please dispose of the water containing Jeyes fluid by pouring it into a drainage system that can take it to a wastewater treatment plant.

Safety Tips when using Jeyes Fluid for Cleaning out your greenhouses

You need to be careful when cleaning the greenhouse. Here are some safety tips:

Do Not Lean on the Glass

When cleaning the glass panes above, do not use a resting ladder. The walls of your greenhouse are made of fragile materials and can break if you climb a ladder resting on them.

The best type of ladder to use when cleaning the greenhouse is a climbing ladder.

If you do not have a climbing ladder, you can stand on stable surfaces like tables and benches to reach higher glass panes. Just do not lean on the wall.

Disconnect Water Butts before Disinfecting the Glass Panes

Unless you want to wash your water butts, you must prevent Jeyes fluid from entering water butts by disconnecting them from the gutters. If you wish to wash your water butts, remember to rinse them thoroughly.

Know the Amount of Jeyes Fluid You Should Use

The concentration of Jeyes fluid to use differs from one surface to another. If you use too much Jeyes fluid on a surface like plastic, the plastic can lose its color or even get burnt. The table below shows some items and how much Jeyes fluid should be used when disinfecting them:

ITEM	JEYES FLUID CONCENTRATION
Seedboxes	35ml in 5 liters of water
Water butts	15ml in 5 liters of water
Greenhouse	35ml in 5 liters of water
Planting pots	35ml in 5 liters of water
Animal House	125ml in 5 liters of water
Concrete paths	150ml in 5 liters of water
Gardening tools	10ml in 5 liters of water
Drainage system	Use pure Jeyes fluid, no water
Light-colored stones	50ml in 5 liters of water

Do not increase the concentration of Jeyes fluid when you are disinfecting an item. If you think an item needs more cleaning, use soap and water. 

Keep Out of Reach of Children and Pets

Hide your Jeyes fluid from children and pets. You know how children play with everything. If you have remaining Jeyes fluid, keep it out of the sight of children and in a place where they cannot reach it.

Also, please keep it away from pets since it can harm them.

Use Safety Gloves and Glasses

Try to prevent Jeyes fluid from contacting your skin and eyes. You should wear gloves when using Jeyes fluid, especially if you have sensitive skin. To protect your eyes from water spills, wear a safety glass.

If Jeyes fluid gets to your eyes, rinse your eyes continuously for several minutes, then visit the doctor.

Open the Doors after Cleaning the Greenhouse

Jeyes fluid has a pungent smell.

To reduce the smell of jeyes fluid in the greenhouse, ensure proper ventilation by opening the doors.

When the doors are open, the greenhouse quickly gets dry. Close the doors as soon as possible to prevent pests from entering your greenhouse.

Take the tips mentioned above very seriously.

Disinfecting Your Greenhouse with Alternative Brands

Other brands can be used for greenhouse cleaning. Some are alcohol-based. Others have chemicals like quaternary ammonium and hydrogen dioxide acting as their active ingredients.

The table below lists examples of products used in disinfecting greenhouses, their active ingredients, uses, and comments (source).

PRODUCT NAME	ACTIVE INGREDIENT	USED ON	COMMENTS
OxiDate	Hydrogen dioxide	All surfaces and tools	Approved for organic greenhouse use
ZeroTol	Hydrogen dioxide	All surfaces and tools	It can be used as a fungicide
Physan 20	Quaternary ammonium	All surfaces and tools	Best for plant pots and stones
Electrode	Chlorine dioxide	All surfaces and tools	Best for small holes and crevices
Green Shield	Quaternary ammonium	All surfaces and tools	Little residual effects
Alcohol-based brands	70% ethanol	Used for cutting tools	Highly flammable
Other numerous brands	Chlorine bleach	Disinfects pots, walls, and benches.	May corrode metals

With all this information on how to clean greenhouses, we will also give you tips on caring for the plants inside and getting rid of the weeds lining your greenhouse.

Extra things you can do for plant upkeep within your greenhouse

While cleaning the greenhouse may be a significant step, we should also look into the plants inside it for their care and disease prevention. General ideas also off weed upkeep will be mentioned in this section.

Preventing Plant Diseases in Your Greenhouse

If a plant in your greenhouse is diseased, isolate it from the other plants. If the disease recurs, you have to disinfect your greenhouse thoroughly. Prevention is and always will be the best medicine for cases like this.

Here are a few tips on preventing diseases:

• Apply good fertilizers to keep plants healthy

• Wash and disinfect used pots with jeyes fluid

• Use new soil mix if a previous plant was diseased

• Immediately remove sick plants from the greenhouse

• Disinfect the greenhouse before a new set of plants is grown in it.

• Make sure that new plants are disease-free before they enter the greenhouse.

Now, since we’ve ensured that the interior and the plants inside our greenhouses are well, let us also look right outside at how to handle the pesky weeds.

Handling Weeds outside Your Greenhouse

Do not allow weeds to grow near your greenhouse. They release their seeds into the air when they mature enough to reproduce. The seed of weeds can quickly get into your greenhouse and grow in it. You should regularly remove every weed from around your greenhouse. You do not have to wait until it is time to clean and disinfect your greenhouse before clearing the weeds.

Weeds growing outside your greenhouse attract pests. Examples of plant pests are:

Flies	Aphids
Rodents	Cutworms
Mealybugs	Grubworms
Scale insects	Grasshoppers
Slugs and snails	Red spider mites, etc.

If you do not remove the weeds around your greenhouse, a few of the pests listed above will find their way into your greenhouse and harm your plants. Also, it is best to constantly examine the plants you take out of the greenhouse before you take them back inside.

FAQs on How to Clean a Greenhouse with Jeyes Fluid

Can You Disinfect Your Soil With Jeyes Fluid?
If you disinfect your soil with Jeyes fluid, any crop grown on that soil will die or become toxic. If you want to sterilize your soil (i.e., kill all microbes), bake the soil instead. Also, please do not wash your soil with water because washing soil leaches nutrients in it.

Should You Disinfect a Greenhouse With Wooden Structures?
If your greenhouse has wooden structures, you should clean and disinfect them regularly to prevent rotting. When disinfecting them, apply horticultural oil (vegetable-based) on their surface. If you do not clean the wooden surfaces in your greenhouse, fungi and bacteria will grow on them.

Does Jeyes Fluid Prevent Algae, Weeds, and Pests?
No. Jeyes fluid kills algae, weeds, and pests but does not prevent them from returning. Keep the glass panes in your greenhouse always dry to prevent algae from growing on your glass panes. Open your greenhouse doors and windows less often to control weeds and pests.

Are There Disadvantages of Using Jeyes Fluid?
Jeyes fluid, just like all disinfectants, can kill microbes, plants, pets, and even humans who use it, so please use it carefully. To prevent jeyes fluid poisoning, do not use it around pets or children. Be very careful when you disinfect items with it. Also, dilute it as recommended above.

Is Jeyes fluid harmful to plants?
Jeyes fluid can harm plants, humans, and pets, so we are cautious. However, when this solution runs off into your lawn after cleaning your greenhouse, patios, and paths, it should not affect your garden beds and lawns as long as you wash out those areas to dilute the Jeyes concentration.

Conclusion on how to clean your greenhouse with Jeyes fluid

Hopefully, all this information has given you the benefits and the lowdown of using Jeyes fluid to clean greenhouses. Of course, when disinfecting your greenhouse and gardening tools, always wear protective gloves and glasses just in case accidents happen.

Be extra careful when using it when other humans and pets are in the area. If your lawn or garden beds get soaked with the solution from cleaning, wash that soil out to ensure the further dilution of the fluid and for the soil not to be toxic to plants.

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