# Using vinegar or isopropyl alcohol to kill mold?



## Sara3502 (Jun 18, 2012)

I have mold on my driftwood in an emersed setup. I want to paint either iso. alcohol or white vinegar on the driftwood to kill it, do you think this would be harmful to my plants? No actual chemical would touch them, but I'm concerned about the effects that fumes could have. 

If I cant use these, what would you suggest? Thanks! 

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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Since vinegar is cheap and often handy as it is already on hand, I might go with trying it as a first. A spray bottle so that you can get enough on to actually soak into the small cracks where things grow might be the first shot for me. Whether it is strong enough will be a question as it is a pretty weak acid and is actually made by fermenting apples. 
But on the good side, it is not likely at all to do any real harm. I would not worry at all about the fumes from vinegar. It has to be a really strong whiff for it to burn our noses so not likely to kill plants. One could dilute it with water if you want to start small and work up. 
But then much the same can be said for diluted bleach. The main difference between bleach from the bottle and tap water is the amount of water diluting it. So if the vinegar gets no results, I might then move to a weak bleach solution. Possibly a half teaspoon of the normal 5-6 % bleach in a gallon of water to spray on. You will probably smell the bleach but that is okay because that assures you that the chlorine is gassing off and blowing away and not left to harm something later. 
My thoughts are to approach it with care and see what works. Chlorine bleach is what is often used to treat tap water but it has more like a teaspoon in 50 gallons rather than the higher level that might be needed to kill what you actually see.


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