Hey, you were a lot closer than me. Just called Clorox. The old strength
was 5.25% and the new strength is 6%. I called Food Lion (no analysis on
their bottle either) and they said they would get back to me with the
percent in their Ultra. It will be fun to see if all Ultras are the same.

I have not adjusted percent bleach for disinfecting Phal stems and have not
noticed excessive bleach burns. But I am comparing old Clorox to ultra Food
Lion. I will have to figure this all out before doing any dry seeds as the
window between disinfecting and killing isn't all that big. Another reason
to catch the pods before they split.

As for general disinfection (i.e. pot disinfecting) I am reducing the amount
used as suggested on the bottle just as a cost saver. We use a lot of
bleach around here.

Pat Brennan


"Ray" wrote in message
...
If I recall correctly, "standard" Clorox was 5% sodium hypochlorite,
making
the "ultra" stuff 128/96 X 5% or 6.67% - even though the label on the
Safeway brand I looked at didn't even give an analysis, which surprises
me.

I used a one ounce-per-gallon solution for general disinfection, which is
actually 0.78% bleach or 0.0039% sodium hypochlorite. With the "ultra"
stuff, that would be increased to 0.0052%. As a true 1% bleach solution
in
the old days would have been 0.005% sodium hypochlorite, I doubt that the
increase in concentration matters much.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!