Thomas Smith

Help, My Aerogarden Is Moldy!

Introduction

If you have an AeroGarden and have noticed some fungus growing around the base of your pods, you may be wondering if it’s a cause for concern. In this blog, we’ll explore what AeroGarden has to say about this type of fungus and what you should do about it.

Is The Fungus Harmful?

According to AeroGarden, the fungus that often grows around the base of the pods is a beneficial fungus. It can actually grow from the peat in the pods, and its presence is common whenever there’s a biological process, such as a plant growing. This fungus can be symbiotic with the plant, connecting to its roots and potentially helping it grow better. In fact, AeroGarden recommends that you simply leave the fungus alone if it doesn’t bother you, as it may contribute to the health of your plant.

Why Does Fungus Grow in AeroGardens?

Fungal growth is common in AeroGardens, particularly under the grow domes. The conditions for growing these fungi are perfect under the domes: it’s humid and warm, which creates the ideal environment for fungus to thrive. However, once you remove the grow dome from your plant, the increased airflow will often start to kill the fungus. Additionally, as your plant grows larger, it will begin to overshadow the fungus and out-compete it for light, so the fungus should disappear on its own once your plant reaches a certain size.

What If The Fungus Bothers You?

If you find the presence of fungus on your AeroGarden to be unsightly or bothersome, AeroGarden suggests a couple of ways to remove it. First, you can try to gently scrape it off with your finger or fingernail. However, be aware that doing so may risk damaging your plant, especially if it’s still small and fragile. Another option is to remove the grow dome earlier than usual, which will reduce the humidity and help to clear the fungus out. Keep in mind, though, that doing so might also affect seed germination rates.

Conclusion

In summary, the presence of fungus on your AeroGarden is not a cause for concern, and may even be beneficial for your plant. You can leave it alone if it doesn’t bother you, but if you’d prefer to remove it, gently scraping it off or exposing your plant to more air circulation can help. Either way, don’t be alarmed by the sight of fungus in your AeroGarden – it’s simply a natural part of the growing process, and a great learning opportunity if you’re sharing the experience with a child.

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Key Takeaways

  • Fungus growing around the bottom of your AeroGarden pods is a beneficial fungus and can help the plant to grow better.
  • AeroGarden recommends not to do anything, as the plant will eventually out-compete it for light.
  • If it bothers you, you can try to scrape it off, but you risk hurting the plant.
  • You can also take the grow dome off earlier and that will start to clear the fungus out, but it might mean that your seeds won’t germinate as effectively.

FAQ

What should I do if I start to see fungus growing around the bottom of my AeroGarden pods?
A: AeroGarden recommends that you don’t do anything as this is a beneficial fungus and can help the plant to grow better. If you don’t mind the fungus, you can just leave it. If it bothers you, you may gently scrape it off with a fingernail, but be aware that this may risk hurting the plant. Taking the grow dome off earlier may also help to clear the fungus, but may result in your seeds not germinating as effectively.

Video Transcript

I’m Tom from Do-It-Yourself Home Automation and this is a look at what to do if you start to see fungus growing around the bottom of your pods on your AeroGarden.

This is my AeroGarden harvest. As I’ve shown in other videos, I’m growing some tomatoes in here. And you can see at the bottom here, there’s this other growth of these little spores of a fungus.

AeroGarden actually has some advice about that. What they say is that this is actually a beneficial fungus and it can actually start to grow from the peat in the AeroGarden pods. It’s just common to have that happen anytime that there’s biological processes like a plant growing. So it actually can be symbiotic with the plant and connect to the roots and it may actually even help the plant to grow better.

So they actually recommend, if you don’t mind doing it, is just to not do anything. Just let it stay there and it may actually help the plant. Especially, it’s common to get this because just the conditions for growing these little fungi are perfect under the grow domes.

I just took the grow dome off of this plant, but with the dome on there, you’ll get a lot of that going around the base sometimes. Now, what they say is that once you take the grow dome off, then often the airflow will start to kill the fungus. And also, as the plant gets bigger, it’ll just block it out and out-compete it for light. So it usually will just go away once the plant gets to a certain size.

But they do say, if it bothers you, again, they don’t think it’s harmful at all. They actually think it may help the plant. But if it bothers you just to see it on there, then they say you can try to take your finger and scrape it off, but you do risk hurting the plant since it is at a very kind of small young stage at that point. Or you can take the grow dome off earlier and that will start to clear the fungus out because it won’t be as humid in there. But again, that might mean that your seeds won’t germinate as effectively.

So according to AeroGarden, not a problem if you see this. You can just leave it if it doesn’t bother you. But if it does bother you, just kind of gently scrape it off with a fingernail and just realize that might risk hurting the plant itself.

So I’m just going to leave mine in place. Doesn’t bother me. I kind of like the idea that there’s this symbiotic process happening. It’s a nice learning opportunity if you’re doing this with a kid.

And yeah, well keep following along and see what happens with that fungus. If you found this helpful in any way or you want to follow what I’m doing with the AeroGardens, please subscribe to my channel. That really helps.