Dear lichenologists:

I have been trying to figure out where to find bleach that does not contain sodium hydroxide, comes in a small amount, and does not cost a lot. Lichen keys say to use commercial bleach, but most of that contains sodium hydroxide, which, considering that this can be used as an alternative for K tests, suggests to me that it would invalidate C test results. Our biology department stocks bleach but only the kind with soidum hydroxide. The cheapest alternative I could find was at Carolina Biological Supply for about $20, which was still too large of a container so it expired by the next field season. Does anyone know of anywhere to purchase a small amount of either liquid bleach or pellets? Is the sodium hydroxide not an issue? I appreciate any help anyone can give.

I recently bought a bottle of splashless Clorox by mistake. Still sodium hypochlorite for the most part, but they have added some unnamed ingredient that makes it slightly "stringy" coming out of a dropper. It still gives good reactions. I haven't done careful comparisons, but my sense is that it spreads on hydrophobic lichen surfaces more readily than straight bleach. So there might be a slight advantage to using the splashless form, but I still hesitate to recommend it without more testing.