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Jun 27, 2016 8:35 AM CST
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What can I do! My indoor Florida beauty draceana has mold on soil! It is an indoor plant
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Jun 27, 2016 8:42 AM CST
Name: Elaine
Sarasota, Fl
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You can scrape the mold off the top of the soil, then give it a spray or douse the soil with some diluted hydrogen peroxide - use the kind you get at the drug store, and dilute it 32oz of water to an ounce of peroxide.

The mold really doesn't do any harm, and pretty much all plants have some mold in the soil, but I can see how you wouldn't want it on the top of the soil. You could get a little bag of wood chips and put a "mulch" on top of the soil to prevent it returning. Orchid bark would work well and look nice. You can buy it in small bags at Home Depot or Lowe's. IF you see the mold coming back, put some of the dilute peroxide solution in a spray bottle and just spray the soil surface once in a while.
Elaine

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Jun 27, 2016 11:44 AM CST
Name: Sue Taylor
Northumberland, UK
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I would unpot it, throw away the compost and rinse off the roots with water and repot into fresh houseplant compost which you can get at a store or garden centre. When was your plant last repotted? You could be watering too much as well.
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Jun 27, 2016 4:07 PM CST
Name: Tiffany purpleinopp
Opp, AL @--`--,----- ๐ŸŒน (Zone 8b)
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Agree with repotting. The conditions that permit mold to grow are not what plants roots appreciate in a pot.

In the UK, potting soil is referred to as compost. In the US, compost usually only refers to freshly decomposed organic matter, like from a compost pile. One wouldn't want to put actual compost in a pot, it's too muddy and water-retentive. A porous, chunky potting soil should help you be able to keep roots moist w/o rotting or growing molds.

Dracaenas, like other woody entities, enjoy being repotted periodically. especially if there is organic matter in the mix, which decomposes into smaller particles that retain more moisture and subsequently, have increasingly less oxygen between them, which can suffocate roots and is called overwatering if it kills them. Repotting, including trimming any really long or large roots and replacing the old soil with new is how bonsai masters are able to keep potted trees alive for hundreds of years. It's often possible to put it back in the same pot after repotting, like a bonsai, depending on how much space you have to let it get bigger. Outgrowing your house is not much of a concern with the species referred to as 'Florida Beauty' (D. surculosa,) but the repotting info still applies.
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