PSA: Distilled water and pathogens As I clean algae out ...
PSA: Distilled water and pathogens
As I clean algae out of my humidifiers (again) it seems like a good time to remind everyone that while distilled water is free of the chemicals that are harmful to your plants it is also free of the chemicals that keep pathogens at bay.
Your distilled water is only as sterile as the contaminants it comes into contact with: your watering can, humidifiers, hands, tools, vases, roots, soil, etc. Even particles in the air can settle into an open container and cause contamination.
This is especially important during warm weather, in window sills and on heating mats. Pathogens loooooove warmth.
As a bonus, please enjoy these pictures of Aelius enjoying a free lunch- the algae eating midge I found on my humidifier. (Thanks for your service, little dude.)
#TipsandTricks #CarnivorousPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #HappyPlants #
As I clean algae out of my humidifiers (again) it seems like a good time to remind everyone that while distilled water is free of the chemicals that are harmful to your plants it is also free of the chemicals that keep pathogens at bay.
Your distilled water is only as sterile as the contaminants it comes into contact with: your watering can, humidifiers, hands, tools, vases, roots, soil, etc. Even particles in the air can settle into an open container and cause contamination.
This is especially important during warm weather, in window sills and on heating mats. Pathogens loooooove warmth.
As a bonus, please enjoy these pictures of Aelius enjoying a free lunch- the algae eating midge I found on my humidifier. (Thanks for your service, little dude.)
#TipsandTricks #CarnivorousPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #HappyPlants #
1ft to light, indirect
6” pot without drainage
Last watered 5 days ago
18
Best Answer
#This
Not just humidifiers! Bathrooms, too, can be a giant Petri dish, all year long, as #PipSqueakTheIntrepid and I both discovered last month. (Today marks the last week of treatment! Hooray!!) So as Hera said, be aware, and take steps to keep yourself and your loved ones, be they plant or animal or human, safe. #TheMoreYouKnow
Not just humidifiers! Bathrooms, too, can be a giant Petri dish, all year long, as #PipSqueakTheIntrepid and I both discovered last month. (Today marks the last week of treatment! Hooray!!) So as Hera said, be aware, and take steps to keep yourself and your loved ones, be they plant or animal or human, safe. #TheMoreYouKnow
@HisLobster Oh you’re right! If you have water props in your bathroom window those particles + standing water + warmth could = big trouble. (Which might explain what happened to mine earlier. 🤢)
@HeraMonstera I hate to ask but I will; what happened?
Our issue here was that I accidentally grew ringworm in the soil of a spider plant that lived right beside the faucet of my bathtub and then our new itty-bitty rescue kitten discovered that it was the best friggin plant ever to play with, dirt and all. 🤦🏼♀️🤮
Our issue here was that I accidentally grew ringworm in the soil of a spider plant that lived right beside the faucet of my bathtub and then our new itty-bitty rescue kitten discovered that it was the best friggin plant ever to play with, dirt and all. 🤦🏼♀️🤮
@HisLobster it wasn’t that serious. I had a bunch of plants (including water props and bog planters) in my east window, which happens to be in the bathroom. We had a heat wave and suddenly everything went into stress. My water props all had to be root pruned back to nothing.
Look at poor Amphitrite! This is two months of progress after “the incident.”
Not to humble brag, but my bathroom is huge and the toilet is in a water closet so it never even occurred to me that the particles might reach.
Look at poor Amphitrite! This is two months of progress after “the incident.”
Not to humble brag, but my bathroom is huge and the toilet is in a water closet so it never even occurred to me that the particles might reach.
@HeraMonstera Okay, mine is fairly big as well, and the same as yours with the toilet in a water closet; never crossed my mind either and I’ve had water props on the counter for like two or three years now. How can you tell if there’s fungus?! 👀🧐🫣
And she looks so pretty, with sturdy little roots goin’! I mean yeah, she lost a lot, but that new growth is so sweet. 🥹
And she looks so pretty, with sturdy little roots goin’! I mean yeah, she lost a lot, but that new growth is so sweet. 🥹
@HisLobster so basically, I noticed that my plants were looking over watered. They were yellowing and wilting or losing growth, but these were water props and bog plants. They can’t really be overwatered and the roots all looked super healthy.
I assumed it was just heat stress -and the heat was definitely a big contributor, but not the only problem- so I moved everything away from the sill until the weather cools off a bit but for some reason I had a hunch to actually touch Amphitrite’s roots. As soon as I did they started to crumble in my fingers. Every bit broke off but they were thick and white and not at all slimy, just very brittle.
So I started googling and apparently this is caused by a pathogen that can grow when the water gets too warm.
Here is were I think I really screwed up. I had heard that as the roots grow they leach natural rooting hormones into the water, so if you throw that water out you are throwing away the built up hormones. I had been topping the water up instead of changing it. Then that mix of old and fresh water got warm. Boom. Bacteria.
Now I change out the water entirely every time and wash the containers every couple changes. I rinse the roots off at the first sight of anything suspicious. I use root hormone powder when I start a prop and sometimes reapply after washing.
I had been adding hydrogen peroxide to the props but I stopped that too. I can’t find any advice on that that isn’t just anecdotal. In that vein; my hunch is that either I used too much and did some chemical damage or didn’t use enough and was over confident about its effectiveness.
Long story short: Old water + heat + willy-nilly chemical use is an obvious recipe for disaster and I am an idiot sometimes. 😅
I assumed it was just heat stress -and the heat was definitely a big contributor, but not the only problem- so I moved everything away from the sill until the weather cools off a bit but for some reason I had a hunch to actually touch Amphitrite’s roots. As soon as I did they started to crumble in my fingers. Every bit broke off but they were thick and white and not at all slimy, just very brittle.
So I started googling and apparently this is caused by a pathogen that can grow when the water gets too warm.
Here is were I think I really screwed up. I had heard that as the roots grow they leach natural rooting hormones into the water, so if you throw that water out you are throwing away the built up hormones. I had been topping the water up instead of changing it. Then that mix of old and fresh water got warm. Boom. Bacteria.
Now I change out the water entirely every time and wash the containers every couple changes. I rinse the roots off at the first sight of anything suspicious. I use root hormone powder when I start a prop and sometimes reapply after washing.
I had been adding hydrogen peroxide to the props but I stopped that too. I can’t find any advice on that that isn’t just anecdotal. In that vein; my hunch is that either I used too much and did some chemical damage or didn’t use enough and was over confident about its effectiveness.
Long story short: Old water + heat + willy-nilly chemical use is an obvious recipe for disaster and I am an idiot sometimes. 😅
@HisLobster oh my god, your edit/update! 🙉 My bathtub is positively SURROUNDED with potted plants.
I wonder if immunox is effective against ringworm? Or Fruit Tree Spray?
I wonder if immunox is effective against ringworm? Or Fruit Tree Spray?
@HeraMonstera That’s really interesting. I’m a lazy propagator and typically use straight-up tap water—sometimes I dump it out, sometimes I top it off, never use prop drops. I have a couple of pothos and philodendron brasil living in water, though. Like, LIVING in it, and they’ve been that way for years. I change out the water only once it looks yucky. One year we had a pesty summer and ended up with mealy bug and damned mosquitos, so all pebble trays were banned and I cleaned the water plants every few days until the beasties were taken care of. But, the bathroom plants… Never even thought about it. Actually, I thought they were the luckiest plants in the house. That room gets great light all day long and it’s humid. Double win, right?🤦🏼♀️
As far as treating ringworm in the soil, I really don’t know if those things will do it. I’m planning to just repot and clean the crap out of those roots and spray some kind of fungicide; maybe dead af, or whatever we the wild or arbor has. I’ve already moved the plant because Pip managed to get to it even after I put it “out of reach”. And I think going forward I’ll just be sure to repot all bathroom plants once a year as a precaution; not necessarily size up, but give fresh dirt that hopefully isn’t riddled with contagious fungal infections. 🤷🏼♀️
As far as treating ringworm in the soil, I really don’t know if those things will do it. I’m planning to just repot and clean the crap out of those roots and spray some kind of fungicide; maybe dead af, or whatever we the wild or arbor has. I’ve already moved the plant because Pip managed to get to it even after I put it “out of reach”. And I think going forward I’ll just be sure to repot all bathroom plants once a year as a precaution; not necessarily size up, but give fresh dirt that hopefully isn’t riddled with contagious fungal infections. 🤷🏼♀️
@HeraMonstera Oh, and gloves… I will henceforth always glove up when playing with houseplants dirt, regardless of what room the plant has lived in. Better safe than sorry.
@Ninabeena I find my top filling humidifiers get dirty really quickly but the ones with a tightly closed tank stay clean seemingly forever- at least the tanks. It’s just a trade off because those are such a pain to fill and they need to be filled more often.
@HeraMonstera I love having the ability to make distilled water for my plants instead of buying gallons every week. Cleaning them is a pain but it’s all worth it 😊
@Ninabeena definitely! I don’t know if all the rain we’ve gotten kicked up a lot of sediment or what could have happened, but my distiller looked like it was full of sourdough starter after only two gallons!
Two gallons from the distiller is like one minute of running the faucet. Thirty seconds if we’re talking about the shower head. I’m appalled. I have wanted a whole home system for years and I think I’m finally motivated to do it.
Two gallons from the distiller is like one minute of running the faucet. Thirty seconds if we’re talking about the shower head. I’m appalled. I have wanted a whole home system for years and I think I’m finally motivated to do it.
@Ninabeena no exaggeration. This is what came out from whatever volume it takes to make two fresh gallons - slightly more than two gallons of tap.
Oh my goodness. That would definitely make me want to invest in a whole house system. I only have to do my distiller about every five days. It gets the mineral buildup on the bottom but not like that. 🤗