Algae growing on LECA - Do I need treat?
 

Hi everyone

It has been a long time since I've been around so it's good to be back.

Happy to report that my dying phal that was repoted November last year in Leca is in active growth. It had shyly grown until about a month or so ago and then it suddenly started growing 6 new roots, then a new leaf, then another 3 roots. Excellent! Excellent! It has been through a lot and it was very resilient. A phal truly set on living.

But we moved accommodation 3 months ago and the phal has been sitting on a North facing window and it has developed a lot of green stuff inside the pot all over the leca on the side of the pot directly facing North. The side of the pot facing South had none (that's why I did not notice until later but it is slowly taken over.

I assume it is algae since it is growing in a damp medium. The Phal is doing fine so far but is there something to worry? Do I need to treat somehow or should I leave it alone? I never experienced that and I don't know if it's normal or not.

Thanks
Luiza

If you have physan 20 you could flush the pot with that at 1 tablespoon per gallon. If you don't have it, I wouldn't worry too much about the algea. It may indicate that fertilizer salts are building up in the medium. You could remedy that by flushing the pot real well with plain water at least once a month. Good luck.

I get algae in my S/H pots every once in a while too. I just let it go until it annoys me then I repot in a clean pot.
Joann

Thanks tucker85 and Zoi2

There is no Physan 20 available here but I I will flush to see if it helps.

Al long as it is not damaging the Phal then I'm not too fussed although I do not like the appearance. The new roots are so young that I'd rather not repot now, maybe later , maybe in few months in a larger pot judging by the rapid growth.

I just do like Joann and let it grow but then repot and thoroughly clean the pot when I do.

I think I remember Ray saying that algae likes the same conditions as S/H so if you've got the conditions right you will get algae. As I remember you need to clean it before it gets so much it clogs the roots, but otherwise it is not a problem. As I said above I have it in mine and I just clean the pots out when it seems to be getting too much.