Green slime on sphag

[swamprad]

I repotted all my bulbos a couple of months ago into fresh sphagnum. Now, the top of all the spaghnum is covered with a green slime algae, very unattractive. Can I spray a Clorox solution to kill the algae without hurting my bulbos? Any other ideas?

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Can I spray a Clorox solution to kill the algae without hurting my bulbos? Any other ideas?

Sounds extreme. How about some sort of algaecide instead? One problem with growing in sphagnum is algae growth - one trick is to keep fertilizer concentrations lower. Many growers in Japan use fertilizer "pills" that put into the moss and these slowly feed the plant over a few months and also keeps the algae from "blooming."

 

[SlipperFan]

I don't think I'd spray with Clorox. It would probably take too strong a solution to kill the algae, and might kill the orchid. I agree with Tom: some kind of algaecide? Physan? But be careful of too strong a solution with that, also.

 

[goldenrose]

hydrogen peroxide?

 

[NYEric]

Physan.

 

[Candace]

Yup, I've used physan for this before and it does the trick without toxicity to the plant.

 

[swamprad]

Thanks to you all for the replies. I will spray with Physan and see what happens!

 

[Ernie]

Chlorox will probably cause the sphag to break down faster. I vaguely remember trying it a long time ago and don't recall being terribly pleased???

Mark, we still haven't seen your gh. Have we (did I miss something)?

-Ernie

 

[smartie2000]

Physan 20 is supposed to kill algae according to the bottle, never used it for that before though