Can too much humidity do this?

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I moved my tropicals indoors yesterday because the low is supposed to hit 39F tonight. I put them in a smaller sized room with a humidifier, and accidently left it on high with the door shut all night. When I woke up this morning I went in to check on things, and it there was a huge cloud of fog in the room the humidity was 95% & a lot of surfaces had dripping water. I now have the humidifier on a lower setting and an oscillating fan in the room as well as the ceiling fan. Then when returning from work I noticed some of the pots have a white mold looking stuff on top of the soil. see pics. Is this from the humidity ? Or is it something else?

Here you can see the current temp & humidity, & also see the 24hr range on the left.
PXL_20220923_005428362.jpg

Here is the white mildew looking mold. It wasn't there yesterday & is on two of the pot/soil surface not the trees.

PXL_20220922_235116611.jpg
PXL_20220922_235109365.jpg
 

ShadyStump

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Did these pots have a healthy myco colony that you know of?
It looks to me that the extreme humidity coupled with the warm environment may have caused it to bloom all the way to the surface, which under normal conditions the top layer of soil would be to dry for.

That's my best guess.
Anything else that might have been dormant in the pots would likely have taken longer than overnight, so it must be something that was already there in large quantities.
Could be completely off. Just the first thing to come to mind.
 
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Did these pots have a healthy myco colony that you know of?
It looks to me that the extreme humidity coupled with the warm environment may have caused it to bloom all the way to the surface, which under normal conditions the top layer of soil would be to dry for.

That's my best guess.
Anything else that might have been dormant in the pots would likely have taken longer than overnight, so it must be something that was already there in large quantities.
Could be completely off. Just the first thing to come to mind.
As a primordial noob I'm not sure what this means, explain it like your talking to a five year old and crayons help. :) From my limited knowledge 'Myco' is mushroom fungus? It was hot out when I brought the plants indoors it was 87F yesterday and the high today was 61F. The lights seem to add more heat than I anticipated, but I know for a fact that during the summer 95% humidity and 81F happened when they were outside. Should I use a hydrogen peroxide watering solution? Turn off the humidifier? I'm leaving for a road trip tomorrow morning so really bad timing for me. :(
 

ShadyStump

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Mycorrhizae is a generalized term for fungal colonies in soil, a key one of those fungi being mycelium.
If you're tree has been in the same soil for quite some time, you're almost guaranteed to have a colony of some level in your pot, especially if there's organic matter for it to live on. If you're trees are healthy, this is nothing to worry about, and actually is likely to be part of why they're healthy. Mycelium and other fungi help break down their food - decomposing organic matter - and as a waste product release nutrients that the tree can use.

My theory is that this whole humidifier debacle hit just in time for some of that myco to be ready for a big bloom, and that's what you're seeing.
That is a hell of allot of whatever it is, though, and we can't be 100% sure it's the beneficial stuff versus mold or mildew, so, yes, I'd say hit it well with a 50/50 peroxide solution tonight, and check it again in the morning. Keep your humidifier turned low. 40% to 60% is plenty for most trees.
 
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Mycorrhizae is a generalized term for fungal colonies in soil, a key one of those fungi being mycelium.
If you're tree has been in the same soil for quite some time, you're almost guaranteed to have a colony of some level in your pot, especially if there's organic matter for it to live on. If you're trees are healthy, this is nothing to worry about, and actually is likely to be part of why they're healthy. Mycelium and other fungi help break down their food - decomposing organic matter - and as a waste product release nutrients that the tree can use.

My theory is that this whole humidifier debacle hit just in time for some of that myco to be ready for a big bloom, and that's what you're seeing.
That is a hell of allot of whatever it is, though, and we can't be 100% sure it's the beneficial stuff versus mold or mildew, so, yes, I'd say hit it well with a 50/50 peroxide solution tonight, and check it again in the morning. Keep your humidifier turned low. 40% to 60% is plenty for most trees.
Okay, thanks a bunch. I've only had the two affected trees for a short time one for less than a month & the other 8 months, and they are healthy . The pictures I posted were from the worst of the two, and I have since put the humidifier on low & on the same timer as the lights. The ficus microcarpa "melon seed" is in the pot in the pics are from & is looking great now that I've figured out the watering & light habits. I'll do the HP solution and hope for the best. Thanks again!
 

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Fungi respond real quick when they get conditions they like. The fungi was already growing in the pot but down deeper where conditions are suitable. It has just taken advantage of the increased humidity and temps to grow wildly where you can now see it.
Remember that the vast majority of fungi are not harmful and many are actually beneficial as they process insoluble nutrients to make them plant available.
As far as I know it is not possible to tell good guys from bad guys at the hyphae (white threads) stage.

The visible threads should dry up and disappear back below ground when conditions revert to normal. Out of sight out of mind so then you can stop worrying.
 

sorce

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Aye. No worries.

I wouldn't dump death into the pot no matter how lovingly well intentioned.

Anything removing the cause of the perfect environment would help.

Humidity is overrated.

Sorce
 
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Fungi respond real quick when they get conditions they like. The fungi was already growing in the pot but down deeper where conditions are suitable. It has just taken advantage of the increased humidity and temps to grow wildly where you can now see it.
Remember that the vast majority of fungi are not harmful and many are actually beneficial as they process insoluble nutrients to make them plant available.
As far as I know it is not possible to tell good guys from bad guys at the hyphae (white threads) stage.

The visible threads should dry up and disappear back below ground when conditions revert to normal. Out of sight out of mind so then you can stop worrying.
Thanks. It's all gone this morning. Humidity is down to 53%.
 
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