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Help! Algae overrunning my Sarracenia seedlings!

  • #21
Maybe you just need to stop spraying them with water every six minutes... But sounds like you already have stopped? If you water them just slightly less so the top layer of soil isn't so wet, that might go a long way to stopping the algae.

UV light will help kill algea as well. If you can expose the pots to some unfiltered full sun outside for a long enough time...But then of course you would need to worry about shocking the sarr seedlings as well, so you would need to do it slowly, perhaps. But maybe that would defeat the controled aspect of your experiment...? And now I'm just blabbing random ideas.

Springtails have also helped a fair amount in some of my pots, as was mentioned; but my pings and small dews have taken a lot of them out. lol
 
  • #22
Yea we did stop spraying them a few weeks ago, now they're being bottom watered via the tray method. If I was allowed to introduce springtails I would but I think the greenhouse manager would kick me out. I like the UV light idea. Maybe a combination of more light and letting the soil dry out a little would be a good option?
 
  • #23
Yeah, I think that could go a long way, if you don't want to risk the effects of an algaecide at least. Remember that UV doesn't really transmit through glass or plastic though. I'm sure you knew that. But more light in general would probably help too.

You could also try adding a top layer of washed sand over your soil... maybe like a cm, or slightly less. I think that would work quite well actually. The top of the sand wouldn't stay wet enough for algae growth, especially if you used a more coarse textured sand in combination with higher light. Just throwing out ideas :)

Have you seen any negative effects from the algae?
 
  • #24
yea, we started with about 1200 seedlings and we're down to about 850 now...
 
  • #26
On the other hand an algaecide might just work fine. I just don't know. Haven't ever used it. Has anyone here actually used an algaecide on CP's (not a fungicide)?
 
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