My husband has a spider plant in his classroom. I have also rooted several babies for other teachers. All of the pots have fuzzy, white mold growing on top of the potting soil. Obvously, I have to do something. Can the plants be salvaged? Can I put the moldy soil into the compost, or do I need to trash it? april
You can put moldy food in the compost so moldy soil will not be a problem, compost needs microbes to become compost. Sometime if a plant is overwatered, in a warm/humid environment with low light the soil will develop mold. He may need to water less and place it in front of a bright window to prevent it from happening again. The mold isn't going to hurt the plant but it can cause alergy symptoms in the people who breathe in the spores. You can scrape the top layer of moldy soil off and replace with fresh or replace all of the soil if you want. Mold is all around us and we breathe in it everyday but wear a mask when cleaning out the plant so you don't breathe in a more concentrated amount.
