Slimy greening sphag
 

Hello everyone...

I'm quite new at growing phals in sphag moss since I've been growing all my phals in S/H..
I am tasting those Oxygen pots and I decided to go with sphag. But lately, the top of the sphag is getting slimy green... Is this algies? Is Physan will be enough?

thanks

sure you can treat the algae with physan. live algae doesnt hurt your plants though, it just looks like algae on yer plants :)

Dont look at my stuff if you dont like algae :) ..I grow algae the best!!!

All my sphag grown phals. have a thin layer of green on top. It's not slimy, but I do need to watch the ventilation in that terrarium. It's no fun having your bedroom (where the terrariums are) smelling like a pond!

Its because the pH in you spag has gotten too low. Add some dolomite to clear it up.

Essentially,spag culture & phallies do not go together; spag likes higher light & lower nutrients than phals or most other orchids. Therefore, treat the spag as a (dead) medium. Dolomite/lime will raise the pH & eliminate algae; the other approach is to block light to the moss by using a material that doesn't host moss growth. Small river pebble is a good topping, as is small expanded clay; the latter has less surface moisture & tendency to generate condensation on its surface as compared to the former, though will still host some minor algae on its porous surface.