Hydroponic fungus

***CAUTION: Indoor Hydroponics Moss & Algae ("Boggish") Gardens should not be grown in certain areas where harmful Fungi, Moulds, etc. may grow!***

This will likely be the last report for a while on the on-going growth & succession of my "Boggish" garden due to the fact that I plan to focus on a more diverse variety of topics to be featured in upcoming articles. Please don't worry there will be updates in the future at some point.

As you can plainly see from the pictures below (which were taken using a cheap digital camera with a magnifying lens in front of it), there appear to be multiple species of mosses, possibly some saprophytes/epiphytes, and/or algae and plants in my garden that seem to be flourishing abundantly. There is also an infestation of Fungus Gnats which has been left untreated by any means until now, but they may have been subject to predation by a certain little jumping spider that has managed to elude my camera iris for now. The Fungus Gnat population seemed to peak and bloom into a large population at one point which appeared to be uncontrollable, but they have since died off in a sudden population crash, likely due to lack of resources such as an adequate and regular supply of food. The black mould also seemed to be spreading wildly leaving patches of dead moss in its wake, but then some white powdery mildew began growing on the black mould, how ironic.

I have been watering the tray less frequently as of late (approximately once every 4 to 5 days now as compared to every second day with generous amounts of misting before) to try to reduce the surface moisture level to ward off too many species of mould and fungi. The pH values of the nutrient solution and growth media(a mix of vermiculite, peat, perlite(pearlite) and dolomitic limestone) have not been checked, but the plants, etc. appear to be healthy. The nutrient solution has however been topped up with fresh water regularly.



I have increased the amount of simulated daylight that my garden is receiving from it's two 4 foot 40 Watt fluorescent light sources from ~14 to ~18 hours per day which has resulted in an increased growth rate of the plants, mosses and algae.