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Getting Rid of Mold on Houseplant Soil
Posted On 2010-03-05 , 1:20 AM
If you notice a white or yellow substance on the top of your houseplant soil, it may be that one of the many varieties of mold or fungus has found a home in your houseplants.
Mold and fungii are spread by spores. By the time you see the mold or fungus on the surface of the soil, milions of spores have already been produced.
When a houseplant has fungus growing on the soil, it should be separated from the other houseplants. The spores are very tiny. It only takes a small disturbance to send the spores airborne where they will move to the other houseplants nearby.
While many molds and fungii are actually beneficial to plants, they may be toxic to people. Great care should be taken with mold. They may also cause reactions in people with allergies or sensitivities to molds. It is suggested that you should use latex gloves and a mask when dealing with mold and fungii.
Several things can be done to reduce or get rid of an infestation. These methods will need to be used if changing the plant's growing environment do not control the fungus outbreak. Fungus likes darkness, heat, high humidity and stagnant air. Fungus may disappear if we move the houseplant to a brighter location, a cooler location, a drier location or a location where there is more air movement.
1. You can carefully remove the top 2 inches of soil where most of the spores would be located. You should move the plant outdoors, if possible, to do this. Remember, disturbing the soil will send the spores airborne and they will spread around the room. Then replace the soil with sterilized potting soil.
2. If the fungus returns or the infestation is extensive, you can repot the houseplant. This should be done outside, if possible, so that the spores will not be spread around the room.
Take the plant out of the pot and remove all of the soil from around the roots. The soil may be washed from around the roots taking care not to damage the roots. Before replanting, the pot should be washed with hot water and bleach to get rid of the mold and spores. Then replant in the pot with new sterilized potting soil.
3. Another method that works is to use a weak vinegar solution. The mold or fungus does not grow well in acidic soil, but be careful as your houseplant may not either.
Mix 1 part vinegar with 10 parts water and spray the affected area. Spray enough that the affected area is totally damp but not so much as to moisten the soil down more than an inch.
Spray once between waterings and don't water for a day or two after watering to allow the vinegar to kill the fungus. This will need to be repeated as additional spores already in the soil start to grow.
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White Mold or Fungus on Houseplant Soil
Posted On 2010-03-03 , 5:09 PM
Mold and mildew are types of fungus. They grow from tiny spores that will float in the air from one place to another. They produce millions of spores. Once you have a mold or fungus infestation, it is very difficult to get rid of but can be controlled.
Fungus likes higher temperatures ( 75 to 90oF), high humidity, stagnant air, and darkness. If we control these factors, we will have some success in controlling the fungus.
1. Keep the temperature in the lower range (60 to 70oF). The mold will not grow as well at those temperatures.
2. Usually it is not difficult to keep the humidity at an acceptable level. Too high a humidity is often caused by overwatering or using plant pots without drainage holes in the bottom.
Always make sure that the plant has dried sufficiently between waterings. Test the soil with your finger down at least 1 inch (2 inches in pots 10 inches in diameter or greater) If the soil is not dry that far down, the houseplant does not need to be watered yet.
If the pot has no bottom drainage, the soil will remain much moister lower down in the pot. The water has no where to go but up and will raise the humidity near the surface of the soil.
3. While it is best to keep most house plants out of drafts, some air movement is needed. This circulation will disperse the oxygen and humidity given off by the plant throughout your room and replace the air around the plant with new room air. This will benefit you and your houseplant. It will also help dry out the surface of the soil where the fungus will start to grow.
4. Mold and fungii grow best in darker conditions. If you place your houseplant in a brighter location, the mold will not grow as well.
These are just some of the methods we can use to discourage the growth of mold and fungus on the soil around our houseplants.
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House Plant Care as Days Lengthen
Posted On 2010-01-31 , 3:43 PM
Preparing Your Houseplant for Renewal
As days lengthen, your houseplants receive more light. This increase in light will cause your house plants to break out of their winter dormancy and produce a new spurt of growth.
The increase in the amount of light your houseplant receives is due to two main factors:
1. The days become longer so your houseplant receives this light for more hours each day.
2. As the sun rises higher in the sky, the sunlight received becomes brighter. This increase in light intensity provides the houseplant with more light needed for growth.
At this time of the year, many houseplants begin a phase of growth and renewal. Growth will not only add to the plant's size, but will replace fallen leaves and other areas on the houseplant where dead growth has been pruned away.
To help our houseplant to renew itself, there are a few things we can do.
1. You should examine your houseplant and prune away any dead growth. This will provide room for the new growth to fill.
2. You should do any pruning needed to control the size of the houseplant or to reshape the plant to keep it attractive.
3. You should look at your houseplants to see if they have outgrown their old home and need to be repotted. Remember that some plants, like the spider plant, like to be pot bound. Also a houseplant that is moved to a larger pot will usually grow larger so it may need a larger area in which to grow. It's old location may no longer be suitable.
4. Your houseplants can also use a good cleaning at this time of year. Cleaning the dust from the leaves will not only make them look more attractive, but will also let more of the light to reach the leaves. More light means more growth and more renewal.
As the days lengthen and the light becomes brighter, your houseplants will need more of the raw materials it uses for growth. You will find that your houseplants will need more water than they did during the short winter days. Watch your plants and give them the extra water needed, but take care not to overwater.
This increase in the rate of growth also means a need for more nutrients. At this time of year you start to fertilize your houseplants to feed this renewal of growth. Take care not to overfertilize, a little goes a long way.
As the days lengthen we get to witness first hand, in our houseplants, nature renewing itself.
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Houseplants Remove Toxins
Posted On 2009-11-08 , 3:28 PM
Now the Other Side of the Story
Houseplants do remove toxins from the air in your home. But how effective they are at improving indoor air quality depends on some other factors as well.
Firstly, houseplants can only remove VOCs ( volatile organic compounds) at a certain rate. The rate at which VOCs are removed from a room can be increased to a certain extent by adding more plants. We run into a problem in that houseplants take up space, the space in which we live.
There is another way we can ensure we benefit from our houseplant's air cleaning work. We have to reduce the rate at which toxins are added to our room air. Some things we can do to help are:
- using paints and other decorating products that are designed to be more eco friendly when we redecorate.
- using eco friendly cleaning products when we clean that give off less VOCs.
- insisting on organic cleaners for carpet and upholstery cleaning.
- not smoking in the room. It does little good to have houseplants cleaning the air if someone sits in the living room smoking a big cigar or even a cigarette.
- dust the room to reduce the amount of dust particles. Dust particles are picked up by small movements of air and are carried around the room. We can see this in the dust collecting on surfaces and on the leaves of our houseplants.
Secondly, we can keep our houseplants acting as efficiently as possible by:
- keeping the leaves clean so that they can breathe and maximize the transfers involved in photosynthesis.
- provide the conditions the plant needs to remain healthy and strong. A strong healthy houseplant will be a better air cleaner than a sick weak plant.
By taking care of the houseplants and taking care that the materials we are introducing into our living space, we can get the best benefit from our indoor houseplants.
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Houseplants Benefit Us in Many Ways
Posted On 2009-10-16 , 12:01 PM
Houseplants Benefit Us in Many Ways
Much has been written lately about the ways indoor houseplants benefit us by removing volatile organic compounds ( VOC's) from the air, but there are many other benefits our houseplants can and do provide.
- Houseplants produce and give off oxygen, replacing the oxygen we remove when we breathe.
- As the plants grow, they take up the water from the soil to use it in producing new plant material. Some of this moisture is given off, raising the humidity in the room. In the dry air of the winter, this makes the air easier for us to breathe, a definite benefit to those with asthma or other breathing problems.
- Houseplants can make the visual impact of a room more pleasing. They can round off sharp edges and provide a texture in a room filled with the straight lines and flat surfaces found in most rooms today. They can add colorful accents to the decor and draw out the features of the other furnishings of the room.
- They can create an ambience in a room that will create a calming effect. This calming effect will reduce the stress levels felt by the occupants of a room.
- Many houseplants have also been grown for their medicinal properties. Many keep an aloe vera plant in their home for the ready fresh supply of the gel contained in the leaves. This gel has long been used for the treatment of cuts and burns.
- Many herbs can be grown indoor to provide a fresh source of garnishes and spices to season our foods. They are also a good source of many nutrients our body needs. Parsley, for example, may be used as a garnish on the plate or combined in the food ( as in pesto). Parsley is an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K.
These are just a few of the ways in which we benefit from growing houseplants in our home or office.
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