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mildew ?

i brought my plant in as its fall now and it sitting in a dish of water near a basement window. i noticed there's a white substance around the inner side of the pot which is a clay pot, and oneside of my plant is turning black and mushy. what do i do?

heres a pic , its the best i can do for you to see it,. BTW is was sitting in a water dish, i did remove it for now.

rc54y9.jpg
 
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There are a number of issues here:
1. Your plant needs way more light than it's getting. The elongate leaves and pure green color are signs of etiolation.
2. This lack of light makes your plant far more susceptible to diseases, which is why it's turning black.
3. You have the plant in a terra-cotta pot. This will encourage mold growth, which is likely what you are seeing, but it also can absorb salts and will release those into the soil which can kill the plant.
 
There are a number of issues here:
1. Your plant needs way more light than it's getting. The elongate leaves and pure green color are signs of etiolation.
2. This lack of light makes your plant far more susceptible to diseases, which is why it's turning black.
3. You have the plant in a terra-cotta pot. This will encourage mold growth, which is likely what you are seeing, but it also can absorb salts and will release those into the soil which can kill the plant.

+1
Will also add that high light/heat levels retard the germination/growth of many molds and fungi. I'd get them out of the basement into a decent windowsill or at the very least, consider growing under artificial light. Windowsill light is lopsided. By this I mean that one side of the pot stays too dry/hot and bright, while the shady side stays cold, wet, and breeds pockets of disease.
 
There are a number of issues here:
1. Your plant needs way more light than it's getting. The elongate leaves and pure green color are signs of etiolation.
2. This lack of light makes your plant far more susceptible to diseases, which is why it's turning black.
3. You have the plant in a terra-cotta pot. This will encourage mold growth, which is likely what you are seeing, but it also can absorb salts and will release those into the soil which can kill the plant.



1- its fall were i iam , so its gonna have less light

2- i do have a glass aqurauim thats has frogs/toads and lizards , could i put it in there?

3- thats the pot the plant came in, and it was doing fine during the summer.
 
+1
Will also add that high light/heat levels retard the germination/growth of many molds and fungi. I'd get them out of the basement into a decent windowsill or at the very least, consider growing under artificial light. Windowsill light is lopsided. By this I mean that one side of the pot stays too dry/hot and bright, while the shady side stays cold, wet, and breeds pockets of disease.


well what i do to kill whats on it now, or just wipe the white stuff off , and thats all?

so what about the water levels, since it fall do i give it less water...or winter?

and yeah i do have a aquraim with replites in it should i put the plant in there ??
 
I wouldn't put it in the aquarium. The reptiles can tear up your plants, defecate/urinate on them, and otherwise kill them. As others have said, more light is needed for certain. You can try to kill the mold with things like CP-safe fungicides, but it can harm your plant and is only a temporary measure at best. The mold will inevitably come back no matter what you do unless you improve your conditions. Your water levels are probably not the problem. Your plant (Drosera spatulata) is tropical and grows year round so you do not need to change the water level.

In addition, the rotting sundew that you observed along with the mold indicate that your soil is probably decomposing or has contaminants. The clay pot might even be leaching chemicals into the soil, as previously mentioned. Repotting it into fresh soil in a plastic pot will solve this. (I would recommend planting it in something like 50/50 peat/sand or peat/perlite, since it looks like its growing in pure peat right now).

Overall, your light is the main problem that needs to be solved. It doesn't matter that it is fall right now, your plant needs more light and will continue to decline unless you give it more light. If you can't get anything else right now, you can use a desklamp to supplement light levels.
 
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Overall, your light is the main problem that needs to be solved. It doesn't matter that it is fall right now, your plant needs more light and will continue to decline unless you give it more light. If you can't get anything else right now, you can use a desklamp to supplement light levels.




as using the desk lamp would it be ok to use a lamp thats uses creed led bulb in it?

also should i take a of the extisting soil from the pot its in over to the new one?
 
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I wouldn't put it in the aquarium. The reptiles can tear up your plants, defecate/urinate on them, and otherwise kill them. As others have said, more light is needed for certain. You can try to kill the mold with things like CP-safe fungicides, but it can harm your plant and is only a temporary measure at best. The mold will inevitably come back no matter what you do unless you improve your conditions. Your water levels are probably not the problem. Your plant (Drosera spatulata) is tropical and grows year round so you do not need to change the water level.

In addition, the rotting sundew that you observed along with the mold indicate that your soil is probably decomposing or has contaminants. The clay pot might even be leaching chemicals into the soil, as previously mentioned. Repotting it into fresh soil in a plastic pot will solve this. (I would recommend planting it in something like 50/50 peat/sand or peat/perlite, since it looks like its growing in pure peat right now).

Overall, your light is the main problem that needs to be solved. It doesn't matter that it is fall right now, your plant needs more light and will continue to decline unless you give it more light. If you can't get anything else right now, you can use a desklamp to supplement light levels.


out of these what would you recommend

http://www.homedepot.com/b/N-5yc1v/Ntk-Extended/Ntt-perlite?NCNI-5&browsestoreoption=1
 
Miracle-Gro products always have fertilizer in them. Also, you don't need the vermiculite (that's mostly for Mexican Pinguicula).

The Premier brand peat moss probably works. Mosser Lee Sphagnum is really terrible quality (breaks down quickly and has sticks and other crud in it).

Keep in mind you can also get pre-mixed soil and pots from FlyTrapShop.

The LED bulb should be fine if it is bright enough (though if you are using it just to supplement windowsill light it shouldn't be a problem).

I would discard all of the old soil, since it looks like it's already decomposing and infested with mold. Take out the rotted plant too, since mold will grow on that if you leave it there.
 
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  • #11
Just pull it up when you repot, it doesn't matter too much if a few bits of dead roots stay in the soil. In any case, the remaining debris will come off with the soil when you change it.
 
  • #12
Just pull it up when you repot, it doesn't matter too much if a few bits of dead roots stay in the soil. In any case, the remaining debris will come off with the soil when you change it.


wel bad news they dont have anything, and the flytrapshop.com, seems to be sold old of everything ; doesnt carry soil, how about these:

PEAT- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E92KQJA/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

PERTILE- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IZ41G6/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


and what can i do right now while i wait so the plant doesnt get worse

thanks for all the help!
 
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  • #13
The perlite bag looks ok. Not much can go bad with perlite. Most garden centers sell different size bags and sizes of the actual material. The peat has to be free of any extras , fertilizer, filler, dirt. I'm not familiar with that brand but again a regular garden center has bags that you can physically read...
 
  • #14
The perlite is fine, but the peat moss is not. Schultz almost always fertilizes their products. Did Home Depot run out of the peat moss in the catalog?
 
  • #15
The perlite bag looks ok. Not much can go bad with perlite. Most garden centers sell different size bags and sizes of the actual material. The peat has to be free of any extras , fertilizer, filler, dirt. I'm not familiar with that brand but again a regular garden center has bags that you can physically read...


none of the garden center around here sell it
 
  • #16
The perlite is fine, but the peat moss is not. Schultz almost always fertilizes their products. Did Home Depot run out of the peat moss in the catalog?

i found Hoffman 15503 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss , and it has no ferts , even pics of people using it with fvts
 
  • #17
That brand looks ok, but its pretty pricey.
 
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  • #18
i found Hoffman 15503 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss , and it has no ferts , even pics of people using it with fvts

I've used the Hoffman stuff before. I found it locally once but it was also good in a pinch, from amazon last winter when nowhere local had any peat moss. It will work just fine and if your buying for a single pot there's no use getting a huge bale of peat from somewhere.
 
  • #19
There are a number of issues here:
3. You have the plant in a terra-cotta pot. This will encourage mold growth, which is likely what you are seeing, but it also can absorb salts and will release those into the soil which can kill the plant.

Why would a terracotta pots encourage mold growth? Aeration generally promotes oxygen loving bacteria which would then compete with/breakdown common molds like trichoderma. Also, terracotta pots evaporate away more water, and over-watering is a common cause of mold, so you would think a terracotta pot would overall discourage mold growth.

Increased light will fight mold and bacteria, by regulating each detritus organism through evaporation (dryness) you can create a healthier more balanced system.
 
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  • #20
Terra-cotta is notorious for mold growth because the entire surface of the pot ends up moist and therefore a perfect home for all kinds of mold, algae, and other things that plants tend not to like. And trichoderma fungi are typically beneficial, the ones that grow on the pots and are a detriment to plants are Botrytis, sooty molds, and others.
 
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