Cass wrote:
Radika Kesavan wrote:
...
Listerine is a mixture of thymol, eucalyptol, menthol and methyl
salicylate: natural products ("essential oils") that include phenolics
Listerine also contains over 25% alcohol which enhances its effectiveness
phenolics act by disrupting cell membranes, inactivating enzymes, and
denaturing proteins*

So even with the alcohol, I might not need to dilute it because it
will evaporate quickly anyway? I have a prospective victim in mind. I
mean, if a rose is going into the green can if doesn't conquer PM, and
it gets PM, what do I have to lose? There's a white patch of the stuff
on one cane of a rose that suffered last fall. I tried rubbing it off,
I tried milk and water, I tried neem oil, and now I may just give a a
dab of Listerine that is under a sink somewhere. I also have Eco Erase,
but hell, it's only March and it seems to early to pull out all the
stops.

Cass, like I said to Jim, I don't think that 25% alcohol would cause
plant tissue any more harm than it does to our tissues. I do not know
for sure, of course. Also, though alcohol would evaporate reasonably
fast when it is neat 100% alcohol, when mixed with water it would
evaporate much more slowly (a phenomenon called hydrogen bonding would
be to blame, I think). So, you cannot bank on that. I would suggest
trying it on a small healthy part of the plant and waiting for a day or
two to make sure it does not hurt the plant before proceeding with caution.

--
Radika
California
USDA 9 / Sunset 15