Is physan 20 safe for monnierara millennium magic?

[Maru777]

Hello,

My experiment with the monnierara millenium magic seedling continues. Which is awesome because it means with all the help received from this forum I managed to keep it alive since I got it as a half a thumb size little thing. It’s now grown quite nicely and I started watering it but I have another problem - algae. A ton of algae. I want to get rid of them because I think they are out of control and I am afraid they will suffocate the roots. So after some research I found that Physan 20 might do the trick and can be used for many orchids. Is it safe for me to use it on this particular orchid though? I’ve so far not used any chemicals on any of my orchids so a bit apprehensive on this first ever application. Thank you!

[hypostatic]

Algae will not hurt this orchid's roots. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by hypostatic

Algae will not hurt this orchid's roots. I wouldn't worry about it.

Agreed. It’s only at the surfaces exposed to light.

Besides, if you apply something that kills the algae, you would then have a pot full of dead, decaying vegetation, and that can break free, settle in the pot and suffocate the roots.

Since you seem to have the culture down, if you really want to get rid of the algae, repot and use an opaque plastic pot.

[hypostatic]

Originally Posted by Ray

if you apply something that kills the algae, you would then have a pot full of dead, decaying vegetation

Oh, I didn't even THINK about the potential for all those nutrients being freed up, and the microbial bloom that would follow.

[SouthPark]

Maru ------ Ray has a great point about opaque (non-see-through) pot. The light doesn't get in, so no algae.

The health of the plant can usually be seen by the leaves etc already - so usually no need to look at their roots inside the pot. And even if we can see the roots of the plants in the pot, it's normally just going to be the roots around the walls that will be seen only - while the roots toward the middle will remain hidden.

See-through pots are probably not just unnecessary, but can also be a hassle (eg. algae, which just builds up and then you get something that doesn't look fantastic - ie. darkish green patches through-out -------- but it's ok if you don't mind it).

Maru - also - in general, keep disinfectants away from the plants .... roots, leaves and all.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by hypostatic

Oh, I didn't even THINK about the potential for all those nutrients being freed up, and the microbial bloom that would follow.

Except that’s not what would happen.

The Physan would effectively wipe out the microbes and kill any adventitious ones for about the next 3 weeks*, so you’d end up with a mass of dead organic matter that’s not decomposing, but becoming a suffocating sludge, instead.

* A customer asked the Physan company about that in reference to the use of probiotics, and they provided the waiting period.