What Is Hypochlorous Acid (HCIO) and How to Use on Cannabis
In this age of cannabis cultivation, you’ll find many products for the different issues cultivators face. You’ll also find many conflicting reports on those products. Unsurprisingly, knowing what to turn to when problems arise can be hard.
Hypochlorous acid (HCIO) has seen a lot of controversy on forums and grow stores all over the world. Is it beneficial or a blight to one’s garden? Today, I will settle this controversy once and for all and explain why you should incorporate some form of hypochlorous acid for cannabis.
What is hypochlorous acid?
Hypochlorous acid is a weak acid used for years in many fields, mainly agriculture. This acid has been used for its oxidative disinfecting properties to help clean wounds, disinfect surfaces, and deodorize production areas. Hypochlorous acid gets its antimicrobial properties through its oxidative properties. It reacts with the oxygen in water, creating chloramines that help to change and kill the proteins that make up microbial threats. HCIO has recently become popular in the cannabis industry because of its disinfecting properties and more!
Is hypochlorous acid safe to use on cannabis plants?
Since it is a weak acid, hypochlorous acid is indeed safe for cannabis and a great tool to keep your plants healthy. However, HCIO should be diluted to different concentrations depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Low concentrations – between 2 to 12 parts per million (PPM) – are great for root drenches to help break down excess salts and kill any microbiological contaminants. Higher rates could possibly damage your roots but work well for surface sterilization.
HCIO is also safe for humans, so you can feel safe using it in your garden. However, I would not recommend going over 500 PPM concentration.
How can you use hypochlorous acid when growing cannabis?
Hypochlorous acid can be useful in many different aspects of cannabis cultivation. It can be used to break down salts that occur when your growing medium has been continuously soaked with nutrient solutions. Personally, I have found it most useful for cleaning your plant’s root zone. It kills bad bacteria and fungi that can arise during your plant’s life.
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Hypochlorous acid and organic cannabis soil
Since HCIO kills bacteria and fungi, do not use it in a living soil garden since it will kill both your beneficial and bad microbiology. However, if a major blight arises, HCIO is a quick and effective tool to help combat it.
Hypochlorous acid is useful when growing cannabis with hydroponics
HCIO is very useful in a hydroponic garden because it also helps break down salts that may have accumulated in your medium from the nutrient solution that couldn’t be absorbed fast enough by your plants, causing problems such as nutrient lockout and nutrient burn, which are associated with hot soil.
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How do I use hypochlorous acid when growing cannabis?
Hypochlorous acid can be used in many different ways in your garden. The main way to utilize HCIO is to add it to your irrigation water. It will deliver the HCIO to your root zone, eliminate any pathogens plaguing your garden, and break up salts in your medium. It will also stop bad bacteria and fungi from growing inside any irrigation equipment, such as hoses, reservoirs, drip lines, and watering cans. I use HCIO daily as a preventative measure to keep my drip lines descaled and prevent root zone pathogens in my garden.
Hypochlorous acid can also be used to disinfect surfaces such as tables and pots and equipment like scissors and scalpels.
I often use HCIO when cloning and as a presoak for seeds. This process will help prevent problems such as pythium and fusarium that are often an issue for cloning. I presoak seeds in HCIO to ensure no pathogens from the seed hull are transferred to the roots while germinating seeds.
Another great use for HCIO is spraying it on plants to combat powdery mildew. Its oxidative properties make it a great foliar cure for powdery mildew and other fungal blights.
How does hypochlorous acid stack up against other sanitizing agents for cannabis cultivation?
Hypochlorous acid is a great cleaner that can go toe to toe with most sanitizing agents. Most disinfecting agents require a lot of care when handling due to their corrosive nature. Since HCIO is a weak acid, it is not as caustic but is still very effective as a disinfectant in your grow. This also means you don’t have to worry about skin or eye irritation unless used in very high concentrations.
HCIO might be a great sanitizer, but it is not effective when it comes to fighting Hop Latent Viroid, so you will need a much stronger sanitizer, such as bleach or Virkon S. Learn more about sanitizing equipment for HLVd in my What is Hop Latent Viroid article.
Conclusion
Hypochlorous can be used for many things, but its gentle disinfecting qualities make it a champion for root zone maintenance. It is safe for cannabis and, most importantly, for you. There are many hypochlorous acid products, but I recommend HCIO for anyone to at least try in their garden.
In summary, hypochlorous acid is a great sanitizing agent to have in your arsenal for keeping your plants healthy and your garden pathogen-free.
Keep learning to keep your garden greener.
Spenser
Research used for this article:
Michael S. Block, DMD, and Brian G. Rowan, DMD, MDPublished online 2020 Jun 25. doi: 10.1016/j.joms.2020.06.029
