Set up my pots with super soil (bottom 1/2) that I made last season and left outside in a black barrel. Mixed a little with peat moss and perlite and DE for the top 1/2 or so. Then found mold on top of all three before having a chance to start the seeds. White fuzzy mold like a fine layer of cotton candy atop each pot. Is this OK? I lost 3/4 oz to bud rot and Im determined not to see that mistake repeated. I can post pics tomorrow.
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Is mold OK on the potted soil?
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It’s not uncommon to have some mold on top of soil, especially if fresh soil that isn’t because you’ve been keeping too wet. It can be bad, but most likely just indication that you have active fungi in your soil.
I would just scrape it off for now and discard properly. If it becomes a problem you can sterilize later, but that won’t exactly be good for your super soil.
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Pretty normal in super soil that layer on top. Most likely Saprophytic microbes and are very important to composting, as they break down the organic material added to compost piles to turn it into rich soil. They essentially eat garbage and poop out gold.
@CurrDogg420 @MeEasy Let’s get a few experienced organic soil growers opinions.
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White fuzzy mold is part of the compost process and totally healthy. But, it can also be a sign your compost is still a little too hot/wet and needs a little more time. But, you want it in there, it’s one of the good ones.
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Would DE be Earth Dust? Wondering?
No that’s ED. Not the guy ED but Earth Dust. DE is …well you asked for a misspelling! Diatomatous Earth.
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The reason I asked is I added Earth Dust to FFHF about 3 weeks ago and started cooking it and the same cotton candy appeared… So I went looking and I found out about the Saprophytic fungi microbes…
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Thanks @CurrDogg420 could it be too new? It was mixed up last season for a successful grow. Then the remaining super soil was left out all winter in a black barrel. Then mixed with some peat moss and perlite.
So you probably want to ‘turn’ the soil - mix it all up and get it as fluffy as you can. Air is the key to the process, it happens faster and in a more healthy way for your plant.
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@nmgeo , thanks for the interest. I looked it up a bit too. And found a wide range of fungi and microbes that are beneficial to plant growth.
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So you think don’t scrape the top fuzzy layer and get rid of it?
That’s the good mycelium type of stuff. Its a link in the soil food web, breaks down the organic material into something that’s something else is eating eventually feeding your plant. Definitely mix it in. You just need to aerate a bit, the fuzz likes warm and wet, aerating helps both.
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Thanks again @CurrDogg420 , I suspected this, but I’ve been wanting to do a grow with cocoa and perlite. This may be what puts me over the edge. Perhaps I’ll mix it in and ready for placing out in the garden later to grow some auto freebies.
Thanks for the tag NM , hi @6stringT that looks to me like a fungi call mycelium it’s one of the good guys and it helps break down the organic material in the soil making it more accessible to the plants. There is some molds that grow on top of soil too but I’m pretty sure this is mycelium
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Make a water and peroxide mix and pour it on there it should clear up
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That’s most likely called mycelium if u added the Ed to the soil it is prolly a reaction to the earth dust breaking down. It is not a bad thing but I would not let it got too bad on to as to smother the top of the soil. Myself I would use a spoon and lightly scrape the top layer off a bit and throw it away maybe just cover it up and it’ll die off as it needs air to stay live
No don’t do that. Lol. That’ll kill all the beneficial stuff and have to start all over again and hope no issue arise from it.
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The mycelium doesn’t like the light n air so it will migrate down into the soil and or what’s up top will die off
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