White substance in soil

Grayson · July 20, 2016

Last Tuesday, 2 of my co-workers came by for lunch. As I was cleaning up, I noticed a few seconds too late that one of them was pouring down the remains of his milk drink onto one of my tomato buckets saying it was good for the plant. Having googled immediately after that milk does indeed prevent powdery mildew (but as a foliar), I thought nothing more of it. But when I came back the follwing evening, I noticed this white coating over the area where the milk was poured.

I just want to know if this is a normal process of the soil breaking down the milk byproducts. If it isn't, how do I remedy it?

This was the milk used:

**carolyn137** · July 20, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grayson

Last Tuesday, 2 of my co-workers came by for lunch. As I was cleaning up, I noticed a few seconds too late that one of them was pouring down the remains of his milk drink onto one of my tomato buckets saying it was good for the plant. Having googled immediately after that milk does indeed prevent powdery mildew (but as a foliar), I thought nothing more of it. But when I came back the follwing evening, I noticed this white coating over the area where the milk was poured.

I just want to know if this is a normal process of the soil breaking down the milk byproducts. If it isn't, how do I remedy it?

This was the milk used:

Just scrape off the white stuff and all will be fine.

Especially when folks are growing their tomatoes in containers or grobags,molds of different colors can occasionally appear,again,just scrape off and if too much needs to be scaped off,since you can see the fine white lines of the mold growth,again,add more mix.

Carolyn

Grayson · July 21, 2016

Thanks! Will there be any ill effects if I let it be (or wait for the sun to come out and do its job)? I wasn't able to scrape off the soil since it was raining hard outside. It actually turned green now.

I'm still boggled as to how that milk was able to trigger such a reaction.

Gerardo · July 21, 2016

Cool stuff eh?

When you are done with your dairy containers, give them a rinse and pour that onto your container plants. It promotes microbiological parties, and your plant will appreciate it.

Worth1 · July 21, 2016

It is the sugars and other stuff in the milk that started going.

If you want to kill it you can spray it with a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide.
One part peroxide to nine parts water more or less.

Worth

**carolyn137** · July 21, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grayson

Thanks! Will there be any ill effects if I let it be (or wait for the sun to come out and do its job)? I wasn't able to scrape off the soil since it was raining hard outside. It actually turned green now.

I'm still boggled as to how that milk was able to trigger such a reaction.

If you look at my post above you'll see that I mentioned that molds of different colors might appear,and what you got was a mold that had green spores.

It could be an Aspergillis species or a Penicillium species,whatever,just scrape it off. Probably not P.notatum,which I think is the one that was initially used to produce the antibiotic peniciilin.

Again,just scrape it off as I suggested above.

Carolyn

**carolyn137** · July 21, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Cool stuff eh?

When you are done with your dairy containers, give them a rinse and pour that onto your container plants. It promotes microbiological parties, and your plant will appreciate it.

I took a nap,couldn't sleep and was thinking about this situation. Speaking just to the milk that was used and poured on the plant and described initially, if you look at the lower left of that milk container you'll see that it was UHT treated.So what does that mean?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-...ure_processing

No pasteurization at all is what it means.

So I'm thinking do I agree or disagree with Gerardo on rinsing out dairy product containers and pouring it on the tomato plants,and I'm thinking which specific dairy products, and which microbial contents do they have.

Would it be yogurt,most of which have live Lactobacilli and live Streptococci,or would it be products processed by UHT,with nothing live in them.

And as a former Microbiologist I decided to stop thinking about it and let Gerardo explain about microbiological parties.

Carolyn

gorbelly · July 22, 2016

Looks like it's just mold, which is quick to appear anytime there's a good, concentrated source of nutrition and the temps and humidity are adequate for development. It's not necessarily going to be mold that is harmful to your plants or to you. It's not necessarily going to be beneficial, either, except insofar as it breaks down the nutrients in the milk. I wouldn't worry about it.

That said, how incredibly rude of your coworker. I would never presume to pour anything on someone else's plants without permission.

July 20, 2016	#1
Grayson Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Philippines, Osaka Posts: 47	White substance in soil Last Tuesday, 2 of my co-workers came by for lunch. As I was cleaning up, I noticed a few seconds too late that one of them was pouring down the remains of his milk drink onto one of my tomato buckets saying it was good for the plant. Having googled immediately after that milk does indeed prevent powdery mildew (but as a foliar), I thought nothing more of it. But when I came back the follwing evening, I noticed this white coating over the area where the milk was poured. I just want to know if this is a normal process of the soil breaking down the milk byproducts. If it isn't, how do I remedy it? This was the milk used:

July 21, 2016	#3
Grayson Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Philippines, Osaka Posts: 47	Thanks! Will there be any ill effects if I let it be (or wait for the sun to come out and do its job)? I wasn't able to scrape off the soil since it was raining hard outside. It actually turned green now. I'm still boggled as to how that milk was able to trigger such a reaction.

July 21, 2016	#4
Gerardo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: San Diego-Tijuana Posts: 2,594	Cool stuff eh? When you are done with your dairy containers, give them a rinse and pour that onto your container plants. It promotes microbiological parties, and your plant will appreciate it.

July 21, 2016	#5
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	It is the sugars and other stuff in the milk that started going. If you want to kill it you can spray it with a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide. One part peroxide to nine parts water more or less. Worth

July 22, 2016	#8
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Looks like it's just mold, which is quick to appear anytime there's a good, concentrated source of nutrition and the temps and humidity are adequate for development. It's not necessarily going to be mold that is harmful to your plants or to you. It's not necessarily going to be beneficial, either, except insofar as it breaks down the nutrients in the milk. I wouldn't worry about it. That said, how incredibly rude of your coworker. I would never presume to pour anything on someone else's plants without permission.