Girls just want........a pressure sprayer

[PalmatierMeg]

Ok, all palmlovers in FL want/need a pressure sprayer.

I am devoting this week to preparing our back lanai, which houses my potted palms, for the upcoming winter. Starting Sunday afternoon I moved all small plants outdoors, along with their groady shelves. After a hot, humid summer of bountiful rain, the lanai's concrete floor was coated with algae, mildew and assorted yuck. I didn't take a before photo because I didn't want to ruin anyone's appetite. Fortunately, we have had no cold nights yet. But soon.....

Potted palms outside as seen through lanai screen

Only my two largest palms, a lipstick and a dwarf catechu, remained on the lanai. My husband built the Areca the cadillac of dollies. I rolled them out of the way for cleaning.

We borrowed an electric pressure sprayer from our niece. Monday afternoon I went to work. Before spraying I first had to soak the scum with buckets of bleach water. Some areas had to be bleached & sprayed 3 times to remove the offending microbes. But, wow, the results were spectacular! I cleaned about 2/3 of the concrete. Then I went to work on the shelving and finally, some of the dollies before it got too dark to see.

Today/Tuesday I cleaned the rest of the concrete, then oiled the wheels of the dollies. I finished the morning by treating all the potted palms in the back yard with gallons and gallons of Merit to fend off mites, scale and other assorted nasties for the next 3 months or so.

After lunch I freed the palms I had held captive in the house during this project. I treated them with Merit and considered spraying them with mancozeb to combat cold weather fungus. Instead, I hand-showered each palm (and myself). The mancozeb can wait till tomorrow.

Clean, happy palms!

That's all for today. I got to have a pressure sprayer.

[Cindy Adair]

The best thing about our big box store pressure washer is that my husband truly loves using it! I've never seen him actually enjoy cleaning and only wish it could be used safely inside our house!

[PalmatierMeg]

Palm Mod, my topic posted twice but this copy has no photos. Can you remove it?

[DoomsDave]

There's this kinky thrill about power equipment for a job that's such drudgery when done manually. Try taking the paint off your house with a "power washer." Kink-EE . . .

[_Keith]

I absolutely love my pressure washer. It is the ultimate in "instant gratification."