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Additives & Chemicals
15% Sodium Hypochlorite (1000mL)
A 1 litre bottle of strong 15 percent sodium hypochlorite. You dilute it with cold water on site to clean and disinfect tubs, tools and grow room surfaces between batches.
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UK posted. Concentrate for dilution. Read the safety section before opening.
15 percent, about 150 g/L available chlorine, so a little makes a lot
cleans rooms, tubs and tools, never added to grain or bulk
mix small fresh batches with cold water as you need them
The short version
This is industrial strength sodium hypochlorite at 15 percent. That is roughly three times the strength of household bleach, so you never use it neat. You add a small measured amount to cold water to make a working solution, then wipe or spray it onto cleaned surfaces.
It is for the room and the kit. Use it to wipe down tubs, trays, tools, surfaces and floors between grows. It is not an additive for your substrate and it does not go into grain, agar or bulk.
What it is
Strong bleach, sold as a concentrate
Sodium hypochlorite is the active ingredient in bleach. At 15 percent this is near the top of what is sold commercially, holding around 150 grams per litre of available chlorine. It is a clear pale yellow liquid and it is strongly alkaline, with a pH above 11.
It works by oxidising the things you want gone. Used at the right dilution on a clean surface it deals with bacteria, moulds and many other contaminants that ruin a grow. Because the bottle is concentrated, one litre goes a long way once diluted.
Note that hypochlorite loses strength over time, faster in light and heat. Buy what you will use, keep it cool and dark, and treat an old bottle as weaker than the label.
How to use it
Using it in mushroom cultivation
Hypochlorite is a surface and equipment disinfectant. It is for resetting your space between batches, not for treating substrate. Mix a fresh working solution each time with cold water, because hot water breaks down the active chlorine and a diluted solution starts losing strength within a day.
Clean first
Wash the surface with detergent and remove visible dirt and spent substrate. Organic matter uses up the chlorine before it can disinfect, so a dirty surface wastes the solution.
Make your working solution
For a roughly 1 percent solution, add about 67 mL of this concentrate to cold water to make 1 litre, so near enough one part concentrate to fourteen parts water. Effective disinfecting solutions sit between about 0.5 and 2 percent, so this is a sensible working strength for tubs, tools and surfaces. Wear gloves and eye protection and mix in a ventilated space.
Apply and wait
Wipe or spray the solution onto the cleaned surface and leave it wet. Give it contact time, around ten minutes, rather than wiping it straight off. The chlorine needs time on the surface to do its job.
Rinse and dry
Rinse tools and any surface that touches your substrate or fruiting kit with clean water, then let it dry. Hypochlorite leaves a residue and is hard on metals, so do not leave it sitting on stainless steel or aluminium.
Mix only what you will use. A diluted batch loses strength quickly, so make it fresh rather than storing it. Use cold water, never hot.
Storage and safety
Handle it with respect
This is a corrosive concentrate. Keep the original bottle closed, upright, cool and out of direct light. Decomposition produces oxygen, so the cap is designed to vent. Do not decant it into a sealed metal or glass container that cannot release pressure. Compatible containers are HDPE, polypropylene, PVC and glass, never bare metal.
| Never mix with acids | Acid plus hypochlorite releases toxic chlorine gas. Keep it away from descalers, vinegar and acidic cleaners. |
|---|---|
| Never mix with ammonia | This makes chloramine gas, which harms the lungs. Do not combine with ammonia based cleaners. |
| Protect yourself | Gloves and eye protection every time. It burns skin and eyes and bleaches clothing. |
| Ventilate | Use it where there is fresh air. Avoid breathing the fumes from the concentrate. |
What it is not for
Where not to use it
This is not a substrate additive and it is not a substitute for sterilisation or pasteurisation. It does not go into grain, agar, liquid culture or bulk substrate, and it is not for soaking anything you will then colonise. Diluted hypochlorite is sometimes used for surface sterilising plant tissue in tissue culture, but that is a different, carefully controlled process and not what most mushroom growers need this for.
It also corrodes metals over time and damages electronics and unpainted stainless steel, so keep it off equipment you cannot rinse. For the substrate itself, use heat. For the room and your kit, use this.
Common questions
Frequently asked
For about a 1 percent surface solution, mix roughly 67 mL of concentrate into cold water to make 1 litre. That is near enough 1 part to 14 parts water.
Yes. Household bleach is usually 3 to 8 percent. This is 15 percent, so use less of it and always dilute.
No. It is for cleaning surfaces, tubs and tools, not for adding to substrate, grain, agar or bulk.
It is better not to. Diluted hypochlorite loses strength within a day, so mix small fresh batches as you need them.
It corrodes metals, especially aluminium and unpainted stainless steel, and harms electronics. Rinse tools after use and keep it off equipment you cannot rinse.
Never mix it with acids or with ammonia. Both reactions release dangerous gases.
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Questions and answers
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Corrosive cleaning chemical for surface and equipment disinfection only. Sold for legal cultivation and lab cleaning. Keep out of reach of children and follow all handling and dilution guidance.
We work hard to keep this information accurate and to cite reputable sources, but the occasional mistake can still slip through. Always check the product label and a current reference before relying on any figure for something important.