Ok, so along with elevated humidity comes all sorts of fuzzy friends. I am not talking puppies and kittens either.

I have some white mold and fuzzy grey mold growing on top of some of the media in my pots. On my Neofinetia (wrapped in spaghnum) I have some dark green algae or something growing. Anyone else have the fight with these nasties under control?

I need to get my fans up and running. But what chemically can I do to get rid of this stuff? Should I even worry about it?

I think the algae is ok. Shouldn't hurt your plant. The other molds, you can try spraying the potting medium with physan, or phyton 27, or hydrogen peroxide. Also increasing air movement will help immensely.

Ok, I have my fans up and running. I am going to give the Hydrogen Peroxide a try on my Neofinetia to kill the mold growing on the sphagnum there. How should I apply that? Water with it? Or use my handheld sprayer to mist the Peroxide into the moss? Will Hydrogen Peroxide hurt the roots if over applied?

Actually some people say that hydrogen peroxide is even a root stimulator. I don't think there is any truly conclusive evidence of this, but at any rate it will not hurt the roots. I usually spray it directly on the medium with a spray bottle. I don't dilute it at all. Just make sure you put any unused portion back in the dark brown bottle because if it sits out in the light it will lose its special magical H2O2 properties.

I personally would not keep my Neos constantly damp enough to grow mold or algae, as this typically means bacteria have more than ample conditions to rot roots. I always let my Neos go completely dry between waterings, though they are usually only bone dry for about a day.

The air movement will definitely help, just make sure to let plants err on the side of dryness too, especially with organic potting medias.

Jon

Hi Jon,

I do keep my Neo's on the dry side, not so much by choice, but by environment. I never let the spaghnum get "crispy" though. I just recently got the humidity in my grow area above 50% sustained and that is when the green stuff took off. I am not even sure what it is. In my three years growing Neofinetia, I have never seen anything like it on spaghnum. It is bright, hunter green patches and it spread from plant to plant I think. It may have been something in the moss? I repotted quite a few neo's with moss from a new supplier.

I don't have a mold problem on my Neo's, just the "algae" spots. I occassionaly get small white mold spots on one or two Neo's but it dissapears after they dry out.

I get some greenish tint on my neo moss, and I do let it dry to crispy between waterings. I think algae doesn't take long at all to develop, probably surfaces in a matter of days. Once the moss is green, it is stained that color for good, even if you let it dry out all the way. Jon, do you let your neos dry out all the way daily, and water daily (like a vanda) or do they dry out within a few days and you water every few days? I don't have much neo experience, but I do love them! I have a couple of seedlings.

With my conditions as cool and humid as they are, I water and the plant is wet for one day, damp for about three days then dry for a day and on the next day when it is bone dry(crispy) I water again and the cycle continues. The roots will also help tell, as they are green when wet and white when dry...you just have to guess how the roots in the moss ball look.

My moss takes on a green shade after a few months, as it starts out almost white. I may be misinterpreting what you mean by patches, if it's just like a stain of green it's fine, if it is a flat "sheet" or "blob" of algae you have problems. I find with moss I have to repot about twice a year to keep the roots their happiest, so it never gets all that green.

Jon

Well, I used hydrogen peroxide on the moss on my neofinetia. It "seemed" to work on the mold, but it is back just a few days later. It did bleach my finger tips white for about thirty minutes, though. That was cool! :)

The green stuff is just a stain, only in patches here and there on some neo's. The moss I used to repot half of my neo's came from a supplier who had the long length premium stuff. I have half still potted in short fiber lower grade stuff. I only have the green stains on the premium stuff. Wierd.

I guess I may have to repot to get rid of the mold, and start letting my neo's dry out just a little more. That will set me back to watering just once a week on the neo's, but I guess I can give it a try. I saw photo's of a neo potted in a vanda basket in s/h pebbles! I want to try it, but can't bring myself to break the traditional potting method.