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Fungus in my terrarium

ok, i finally set up my terrarium.
only after three days, it now has a fungus.
the fungus only gros on the cocoa mulch, and not the soil nor the plants.
but I dont want to chance that it will move to the plants.

between75-80 degrees is what its at.
65-80 percent humidity
soil is 75% moisture
and soil temp is about 75 degrees

here are photos of my terrarium and what i have inside.

my terrarium
http://www.patch68.com/pics/terrarium.jpg


dont mind the red, the camera put it there.. my droseras
http://www.patch68.com/pics/droseras.jpg

left side of terrarium
http://www.patch68.com/pics/assortment.jpg

my nep and others
http://www.patch68.com/pics/nep.jpg

my sarracenia (doing much better now, and you can see the fungus in back)
http://www.patch68.com/pics/sarracenia.jpg

and here are pics of fungus
http://www.patch68.com/pics/fungus.jpg
http://www.patch68.com/pics/fungus2.jpg

closeup for those that cant open the other windows
fungus3.jpg


its that white fungus that i dont know what it is, and what i should use on it

please help
 
Patch, here is a link to a current discussion about fungus, though it is geared more toward fungus on leaves, as opposed to soil media. No doubt you have already perused through it:

Fungus topic

In another discussion, it was suggested that cinnamon be used. Most people ten to avoid fungicides. From what I have read, lowering humidity and raising light puts a positive spin on the situation. Picking off the fungus wouldn't hurt. More exposure to the air would help. One thing that people learn is that a closed environment isn't good for CP's . that's why the open tray method works so well for many of them, if we are using artificial environments.


BTW, you did a fine, aestheically pleasing job on the set up!
smile.gif
 
best bet.. open the lid a bit to let in a little fresh air. A small fan inside the terrarium might help also.
 
lid is cracked.
fan is on in room to circulate air towards the terrarium.
guess I'll raise the light

temp has fallen to 71 last night in the room.
so I'll have to fix that.

i'll try cinammon. i read that post but like it said.. on the plants.. so I didnt know if same worked for the soil.
I tried picking it off.. it comes right back really quick.

thanks for the compliments.
now to keep my stuff alive
smile_k_ani_32.gif
 
Patch, you're welcome! On the way home, while doing the "stream of consciousness" thing, it hit me: I, too have experienced this phenomenon. I have seen it in the P. primuliflora container. I picked the white stuff out. Observationally, it never became a health issue.

71 degrees isn't too cold, though. It appears that you have a smorgasbord of plants together. As far as I can tell, you have a VFT & a S. purpurea that require a true dormancy period. Other plants in there don't have a dormancy but "slow down". While most if not all of them can take similar light and temperature conditions from mid-spring -> early fall, their requirements diverge. While Neps and some of the Droseras will be alright in a terrarium for the next couple seasons, the Sarrs and VFT's won't do so well next year.

Don't mean to scare ya, but just as Lowes sells those plastic cubes with plants that have very different winter requirements, so does the terrarium. Do you have Savage Garden? Mr. D'Amato does an excellent job of giving each plant a description of their respective growing conditions and dormancy requirements.
 
I have read som of "savage garden"

yet I was told that if the plants dont know it winter, then they wont need dormancy.

if i keep the temp up around 76, they should be fine right?
and if the light is on long through out the day for 14-16 hours, then the plants wont know it is winter, and wont need dormancy.

least thats the way I understood it.
 
Who told you that???

The plant may grow through the Winter yes if you fool them into thinking it is not Winter. However they will eventually decline in health if they don't get a natural rest period.
Tony
 
Patch, It's kinda like studying for finals and you've got a ton of studying to do in a limited psace of time. So the typical college student approach is to grab the largest drinking vessel you can find and start pumping your favorite caffeine beverage - for hours at a time. You pull an all-nighter and stumble into your exams. Your memory is a seive and you're barely functional, deprived of sleep. Naturally, the exams are a disaster and so is your disposition. Well, the analogy DOES break down, but you can see the picture.

All life has its cycles. You can "play" with them a little bit, but those plants that see significant climatic differences have evolved ways of conforming to those differences. Now in a million years you can take a species and if it survives infintessimal differences year after year, it will adapt. Unfortunately, that cannot be done in one season. Those plants (Sarracenia, VFT's, Darlingtonia, and some sundews require their dormancy).

smile.gif
 
(&*^&^$#$

thats like 90% of the plants i have in there
it doesnt get cold enough for their dormancy outside.

well it might, adnedarn would have to confirm that or not for me.

so, now what... just let them die cause they cant go dormant?
their in the soil..
so I just pull them and stick them in the fridge?
(hubby wont like that...but I guess he'll have to suck it up.)
 
  • #10
Perhaps what you heard that in some instances you can grow a plant through the Winter when it should normally get a rest period. For example, plants recently out of tissue culture or germinated from seed often can skip their first year of dormancy.

If your plants are well established and have been receiving a dormancy in the past then it is best to continue with it. So your best bet would be to dig them up carefully and give them a fridge dormancy for a few months.

Tony
 
  • #11
Fungus, algae whatever is a problem for me too. I had some cobwebby stuff and I just picked it off. Now in the soil mix i am growing some green algae or something all over the soil mix. I washed all the stuff in distilled water.. peat moss, perlite, and LFS... doesn't seem to matter. The green stuff keeps coming back. Doesn't seem to make the plant grumpy though.
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Patch @ Oct. 29 2004,4:58)](&*^&^$#$

thats like 90% of the plants i have in there
it doesnt get cold enough for their dormancy outside.

well it might, adnedarn would have to confirm that or not for me.

so, now what... just let them die cause they cant go dormant?
their in the soil..
so I just pull them and stick them in the fridge?
(hubby wont like that...but I guess he'll have to suck it up.)
Sorry I opened up a can of worms! No, they don't have to die. Just some modifications need to be made. Dfferent climate have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Tossing a 70 degree plant into a 40 degree fridge should't be done. There needs to be incremental changes, first.
 
  • #13
I'm a relative newbie and have had 2 terrariums for ~4mo. One of my terrariums developed fungus on the sphagnum moss used to decorate the bottom of the tank (my plants are in individual containers in saucers sitting on the moss).

Since my plants were not in the moss, I tried a fungicide called "Captan." It worked great and after two applications, all of the fungus dissapeared and the tank looks great. You can find Captan at your local nursery or online.

Here's what I did. I made the solution of captan and put it into a squirt bottle. I took out my plants and sprayed the moss thoroughly (1/4 bottle gone) and literally dumped the rest of the fungicide into the moss. I did the same thing 3 days later. The moss absorbed the water/fungicide solution and became fungus-free. The best thing about this is the fungicide remains in the moss and prevents further outbreaks. You don't have to worry too much about it evaporating out of the moss because it's a relatively large molecule and simply precipitates in the moss as the water evaporates.

As far as the fungus that's in your plant pots, I'm assuming that you can try a weak solution of captan though I've never tried it myself (it is considered a safe fungicide in Savage Garden) but I defer to the expert judgement of the more experienced members....if they say not to use it, than you probably shouldn't use it.

Hope this helps.
 
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