Anyone knows what this “stuff” growing under the fabric pot is, and WHY it might be doing it?
I have there:
-BioBizz nutrients, it’s not old…
-compost mix; all ingredients from store except I also buried down some outdoor harvested Comfrey leaf pulp in the middle of the soil in the pot. I did cook that stuff first though, just to be sure… (but doesn’t for example some mold spores survive even boiling water?)
Air humidity in the grow space is not high, even down by the saucer (it’s still winter and cold and dry outdoors here…) not more than 50-60% max after it’s been filled with water etc… and most days less than 40%… I don’t give water/nutrients every day, maybe every 4th…
That whatever-it-is growth started slowly, and went on for at least a month, in the end it seemed to pick up speed so I finally took that synthetic fabric mat away to try to stop it. It weirdly enough always grew bigger when there was very dry under the pot, and when i had filled the saucer with water and then after a couple days when I checked and it was still quite damp under there, that growth had shrinked away somehow (as can be seen in some of the photos). This is why I guessed on the possibility of “crystallized” BioBizz nutrients that had leaked from the bottom of the pot. But I don’t really believe that anymore, that growing stuff looks so much like some kind of fungi-thingy somehow, and has quite a bit of mass… Also I haven’t really poured in very much nutrients at all, as the compost mix is so filled with it + there’s that comfrey mush in there releasing a lot of nutrients as well…
Hi Momo,I use Biobizz as well and fabric pots.Never had this.It seems like a residue of some type,I know It Is obvious,but if Biobizz Is telling US the Truth,It should not be too much salts…
Edit-If It Is spreading I doubt residue,but a “living thing”
Yes it is an absorbent mat. And it totally looks like mold on the lower part of the pot itself. I just never though mold could grow so big and “fat” like it is on the mat, it seems almost jelly-like until it hardens up completely when the mat is dry. Also weird that it expands and grows more when the mat is dry.
Maybe try to water less and more frequently or put at Direct sunlight for some hours+drying very good the soil,It should die with ventilation,UV rays of the sun and less water.I had mold on top of my soil a week ago and doing this killed it
UV treatment is out of the option here right now, but I took away that absorbent mat yesterday and washed it proper, and will not put it back either.
I think the little mold that is on the fabric pot will not do much expanding there, but i will keep the saucer drier from now til harvest just to be sure.
It looks like salts to me, too. Maybe a little algae in there with it. If it’s a synthetic mat just take is and submerge in about half of a sink full of water with some dish soap and an ounce or so of bleach. Just let it soak a little and then agitate it and rub that stuff out of it. Then clean it good with fresh cold water. Hang it on a clothesline or dish rack to dry good.
I have a mat for my seed starter tray that wicks water up to the seedling starts. It looks like that after a while. I figure a good cleaning of it will lessen the chance any bad bugs that might take hold.
I would repot if it was a more important grow, and I also already harvested the main tops, so it’s just some lower popcorns left maturing a few weeks longer.
But yeah, I’ll throw away the compost after that is over with, and wash the fabric pot real good and put that out in the sun then. How long in the sun?
The question remains though: does mold spores survive hot water? Is it time dependent…
No not really. Hardly any runoff. Just water some from the top, and then I fill up the tray to half full, straight from down below…
And yes, also didn’t even use any much BioBizz in this grow, as the plants got so small compared to the pot size, and there was a lot of nutrients of all sorts in the compost…
