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One of my neighbors complained that another neighbor killed a tree in front of her home by dumping paint in the soil. (Never mind that his trees are fine and there seems no way the paint could be transported from in front of his house to the soil under her tree. She's one of those neighbors.)

At any rate, I've "dumped" leftover paint (from cleaning water-based paint off of brushes and such) near trees from time to time and this got me wondering what sort of damage I might be doing to my trees.

Q. I know it's probably a bad idea, but will it kill my trees over time?

Note: Normally I send the runoff down the drain. My solvents and oil-based waste go directly to the recycling center.

Mike Perry
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Jon Ericson
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2 Answers2

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Trees might survive it, but unless you are sure what is in the paint (solvent, pigment, fixative, etc) then dumping paint on top soil is generally a bad thing to do. Even relatively simple solvents which you think would break down or evaporate in a matter of days/weeks/months, can contaminate the water table for years.

winwaed
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11

I'd say it depends on how much paint and what type.

Water-based paint such as latex shouldn't hurt anything if it's sufficiently diluted and in small quantities. I've repainted every room in my house since moving in last year, and I washed out all my brushes, paint trays, etc. in the same spot in my backyard. The grass there hasn't shown any ill effects, and the tree that's about 15' away is completely healthy and unaffected.

However, if you're dumping a half-gallon or so of left-over paint, I'd advise against it. Why not keep the paint in case you have to touch-up your project in the future? Even if you're moving, I'm sure the next owners of your house would appreciate having the matching paint for any touch-ups they may need to make.

Doresoom
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