ANOTHER (different) question - soot from fire ?

[EdinAZ]

Just returned from a month-long trip to Panama (I'll post some pics shortly) to find a problem in my greenhouse.

Background:

My greenhouse is VERY small, but I still have almost everything "automated". We spend time at a 2nd home, and take 3-4 week vacations at least once a year, so my orchids are "home alone" frequently. I do have our pet sitter fertilize while I'm gone, but other than that, "the system" takes care of everything else.

When we returned recently, I noticed a black sort of deposit on everything. At first I thought it was some sort of mold/mildew, but it was EVERYWHERE, even on hard and dry surfaces.

It turns out that it is soot from a small electrical fire in a fan that happened just before I returned. I recently replaced my old fans with waterproof fans (from Grower's Supply, if anyone is interested). I had not gotten around to removing all the old fans, but I was sure that I had them all disconnected from power, but, it turns out I had forgotten one. Of course it burned . . . and WHAT A MESS!

What I'm wondering about, is will this fine (like talcum powder or finer) soot kill things? I will obviously have to wash/clean all the plants and really the whole greenhouse. This is going to take some time.

I plan to move ALL the plants out this weekend, clean out the greenhouse itself, then start to clean the plants (I've done some of them already) individually, then replace them in the greenhouse.

ANY IDEAS about how best to clean them? Some of them will be easy enough, but many are small/fragile, and trying to clean each leaf will likely do some damage.

ANY IDEAS about any chemical/physical/systemic damage might have been caused by this soot? It's so fine, I'm sure it is blocking pores and interfering with normal respiration, but what else?

Any thoughts will be appreciated!

Thanks.

Ed

[Gin]

Hi ,
I think you have covered the bases I would wash them well ,using a fine spray on the little ones and avoid any chemicals for while, about all you can do . If left on them I would guess it would cause damage but you caught it quick .. Good Luck with them .. Gin

[Mirranova]

Hi, Dawn dish soap and rinse rinse rinse. I recommended this to a friend that grows outdoors in CA, after the last round of wild fires she had soot on everything. It does the trick, and her plants are all fine.