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Algea

Hey, for a week or so now i have been noticing my perlite greenishj colour and that i am seeign algae on the top of my soil. it is just on the top, i have no clue why its there, is it bad for my plants? so far its on the buterwort soil, adelae soil, purpurea soil, all my vft's soil, and it isnt on my neps or cobra lily

very strange, i dont like it but if its bad for the plants how can i get rid of it?

Thanks-
 
Its on most of my pots and it doesn't hurt the plants. I actualy like the stuff. Just make it stays on the soil and not on the plants.
 
yea, its on the soil, its kinda weird

on all the top of my soil, i duno how to get rid of it, i took a tooth pick the other day and poked holes into the soil for like aeriation to get rid of it but it didnt =/
 
I'd just put another layer of whatever medium it's growing in over it to get rid of it.

(Edited by Statik2426 at 5:45 pm on April 28, 2002)
 
but what if it grows agian on that new medium?
 
I get that too...I don't care for it myself. I spent part of today scraping the top layer of soil off a lot of my pots and replacing it with fresh. Some of it is just green (and green perlite) and some is that slime stuff. I guess its just algae and moss that likes the humid conditions.

Suzanne
 
Algae can indicate the presence of nutrients which are not optimal for Cp. There are forms of pearlite that have small amounts of fertilizer added (Miracid makes one) be sure you are not iadvertantly using this (I did once, and had to repot some plants very fast!) It can also indicate the mix is too dense, water should pretty much pour thru the medium, and algae buidup often may be removed by regular flushing of the pot from above (avoiding the plants when possible). Algae may become host to various bacteria, some of which fix nitrogen in the substrate, and it should be dealt with before greater problems arise.
 
i will flush it from the top for a couple days when they need water in there tray, ill do from above so itll go down into the tray, then i will try to put a new meduim on top

the perlite i have is schultz brand. if i put a new medium on the top should i just put the schultz spahgnum peat moss? or should i mix it too with the perlire? on my cobra lily i have the same mixing and no algae at all, on my others there is algea, kinda strange why it donst go on one but it goes on trhe others
 
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