Help Please! Soil mix grew Mold!

S

SlackerJack

Guest
Hello everyone, I made some of FD's soild mix (or close to the same) a couple months ago. The problem is I left the lid on the bucket and it grew a layer of white mold on top and smells strong of manure. I threw out the top 4 inches of the bucket, but I need to transplant 4 little ones today. I am not sure if this soil is okay to use or if I should make some new mix from scratch? Does anyone know? I was thinking of adding some Peroxide, but am not sure if this is necessary or will do more harm than good.

Thanks,
SJ
 
:peace:I myself wouldn't use it ther might be mold spores still in it and you will have problems later on. Peroxide kills micro organisms so its not recommended.
 
Depending on what is in the mix it might just be a layer of mycrorhizae. What is in the soil mix? Personally if it doesn't smell bad mix it up good and use it. If it smells bad re-compost it.
 
Thanks for the reply Namvet, I was afraid of that. I will start a new batch of soil from scratch. :thumbs:
 
It is made of Black Gold Natural Organic Potting soil, with Steer Manure, Blood/Bone Meal, Epsom salt, Pearlite. It is giving off a strong Manure scent. I am afraid of it having any bad micro's in it. The mold was a layer of white mold, but several inches down I could almost still see a lighter color. I think it could go through the whole mix. The bottom half of the bucket looks okay, but I know mold spores can be present without seeing them. It would be so much easier to use the mix, but I don't want to kill the plants either.
 
FWIW -I'm gung-ho about reusing soil. It sounds like that happened because it was in a sealed container; rthe mold was able to grow on the surface where it would normally be inside the soil. Hit is up with some compost tea and that should out compete any mold spores since you've removed the bulk of fungi. Mold will always be present, it is a vital component to functioning soil ecology. Make sure there are good conditions so the good ones can out compete the bad ones.
 
i mixed a batch of fds mix and also had the white mold on the top layer, i just removed the top layer and re mixed it with some new soil and the plants grew healthy:)
 
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