Algae problems solved

I've been having problems with algae growing on walls and paving slabs - primarily due to clay under the patio not allowing rain to drain away quickly - ideal damp conditions for algae.

A little bit of 'googling' and I ended up purchasing some Jeyes fluid from B&Q.

I must say I am very impressed - I put some in a spray bottle and tested it both on a concrete wall and a wooden fence - both of which were damp and green with algae.

A week later - all the algae is gone - yet the concrete wall is still damp.

Expensive, but a good product - which it looks like has a multitude of different uses.

Anyone any other experience of algae control products - I wonder if there is something just as effective but less expensive.

The Jeyes was £8 for 2 litres of concentrate.

 

I think dilute bleach works also.

 

Thanks Pete - I'll put some diluted bleach in a hand sprayer this weekend - certainly cheaper than Jeyes . Be interesting to see how they both compare in terms of algae removal.

 

I use Wet & Forget which I get from Costco. It costs around £23 for 5L concentrate and is brilliant. It doesn't work instantly but I noticed a difference in a couple of days and within a week the algae had gone and didn't come back for ages. It's better for the environment than Jeyes or bleach.

 

Thanks for the info merleworld - I'll keep an eye out for that

 

did you just spray the Jeyes fluid on and leave it @clanless ?

my old man gets stuff to clean the algea off the decking but you have to scrub it in, leave for a half hour or so and then wash it off......a lot of time and effort and it doesn't last.

 

We have a pressure washer! At least...I think we still do? somewhere but it was a disaster using it on the decking, it did remove the algae all right but it splashed tons of green sludgy algae water all over the walls, the shed, the fence, even the plants got a coating! definitely not something i'd like to repeat

 

so....what time are you coming over?

 

You can get splash guards for pressure washers which stop the water going up the walls. Or else make one yourself with a strong piece of plastic. I got one from Aldi last year, although I haven't used it yet.

 

That might prove difficult

 

Apologies for the delay in responding honeybunny. I diluted the Jeyes with tap water - put it in a spray bottle and sprayed onto the damp wall. That's all - no washing off or scrubbing.

I've had another look at the bottle - its called Jeyes 'Patio Power' - it says on the bottle 'No scrubbing on all hard outdoor surfaces'.

They had some 'wet and forget' on QVC yesterday - that looked like a very similar product - just spray it on.

So far I've tried the Jeyes on a wooden fence, paving and concrete wall - it has worked great on all of them with no discolouration.

 

I have just pressure-washed my garden wall. It is now algae-free (though I doubt it will remain so, long-term). It was pretty easy to blast away the algae, but I'll be looking for more permanent solutions to stop it happening again after the winter.
I did buy the pressure-washer with this task in mind, but we do also have plenty of other uses for it!