ABSTRACT
Concrete walls and hard surfaces in the humid and moist trophical rainforest regions are often defaced by a lush growth of green slimy mosses especially during the rainy season. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of selected common household chemical formulation for the control of weedy moss. (Hyophila involuta Jaeger)on walls in university of Benin, Ugbowo, Benin city, Nigeria. Ten different household chemical formulation tested include eleven (11) main treatments; Izal, Vinegar, Bleach, Detergent, Alum, Camphor, Washing soda, Sniper, Herbicide and Shampoo. The experimental setup was a split plot design with four different concentrations as sub treatments: (1) High, (2) Medium, (3) Low and (4) Control. The household chemicals (treatments) were applied according to the various levels and replicated three times. To determine the different levels of concentrations, spray cans (500ml) were used. The amount of volume was used to differentiate between the high, medium, low and control levels. High concentration was measured 300ml mixed with 200ml of water (H20). The medium concentration was 150ml mixed with 350ml of water. The low concentration 50ml of concentration mixed with 450ml of water. Our control had no concentration at all which made it 100% water (H20). This experiment lasted for five weeks. Plots treated with sniper showed the highest level of inhibition of moss growth at various concentration while detergent and herbicide showed similar inhibition effect on moss, there was significant difference between the four concentrations of sniper (100%, 80%,60% and 10%), while the other treatments did not show any significant difference. There was no significant difference between the various treatments by the end of the fifth week. It was observed that all the treatments had impact in controlling the growth of mosses except the control. Although low concentration of household chemical utilizes longer time before the mosses is inhibited. The higher the concentration, the higher the impact on moss.
