Ugh- moldy bark!!

[estación seca]

How does your house smell =:-O

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by estación seca

How does your house smell =:-O

What really stinks is baking the red lava rock! Ugh! Not sure if the LECA is bad as I have always had a batch of rock to cook along with it but...yuck. I bleach my pots while baking the rock but that doesn't help much....

[bil]

Originally Posted by ccrow

Well, it's been baking in the oven for about 3 1/2 hours... I emailed repotme.com and got the answer I expected: "no, don't use it(so you can buy more!)" Anyway, I opened the new bag for the repotting I've been doing today. I've been mixing in a little Schultz orchid mix I had hanging around, just to use it up. I think I have just moved over to the 'use dry medium, then soak the pot' camp, lol. I don't have to worry about drying it if I don't get it wet before using it.
I guess I will try the bleach and rinse method, and figure out something to use it for later. bil, you don't rinse before baking? Doesn't it make everything smell of bleach?:-/

Well, I wouldn't use bleach. I would use Mancozeb..

---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:12 PM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

How does your house smell =:-O

It's knee deep in dog hair.

[ccrow]

Dog hair here too! I thought you were the one who said bleach, but that was Leafmite, sorry!

Actually there wasn't really much smell at all; I had the oven at 250-275F, with the convection fan running. Maybe I'll use the stuff in outdoor planters, mixed with soil. I already sometimes get mushrooms growing in those, so a little mold shouldn't matter

[Orchid Whisperer]

I'd toss the moldy bark in a heartbeat. You can get perfectly decent orchid bark at a big- box home improvement store for $6.

Also, I disagree with recycling old orchid bark to repot orchids. Good way to spread viruses and other problems. You may be able to use it as mulch in the garden, with plants that don't get the same diseases.

[katrina]

The CHC is very porous and can absorb anything you use so I would be worried about it retaining the chemicals you use in the soak. Especially bleach! There's a strong chance the bleach won't completely rinse/soak out and then you risk damage to roots.

I use bleach to clean my pots...including my clay pots...and I rinse and soak well but before I use them again they spend a few months sitting outside in the sun and rain (or snow!) before I put anything back into them. Call me paranoid...but I know the clay absorbs the product and I'm sure the CHC would absorb just as much. If not more! Plastic pots just get a good clear water soak and rinse because they don't absorb the bleach.

I've used old/used medium mixed into my outside (annual) planters for the summer but w/the mold on this stuff...I'd likely pitch it in the yard waste cans.

[Leafmite]

I have never actually used CHC so I wouldn't know about the retention of bleach. Good to have someone who knows more about that chime in!

I do sometimes get a little mold in the pots of my plants (I use organic fertilizer with many of my houseplants) but it doesn't seem to cause issues for a healthy, mature plant and, outside during the summer, mold doesn't have much of a chance of thriving.

Good luck and let us know what you finally do with it!

[RoseSD]

Originally Posted by estación seca

What you have are coir chips, also called coconut husk chips or CHC. They mold when kept wet. The white fuzzy mold attacks dead plant material only. I too would be tempted to bake it and use it.

Do you know if mine is the same thing? Mine looks like "eggs" though? I really hope I can wash them off instead?