Organic fertiliser cakes - mouldy?

[sf108]

Hi all,

I purchased some organic fertiliser cakes from "Evan" from the Ausbonsai markets last week. However after a week, 2 bags of them all turned mouldy...like serious mould. I guess I should've placed them in the fridge.

Question is - can I still use them?

Thanks

[kcpoole]

No idea on how to store them except keep dry.
Would think they should be be fine to use as they are all organic and mould should not affect the tree, but happy to be corrected
Ken

[Scott Roxburgh]

What are they made of?

The mould doesn't effect the performance of the cakes based on cottonseed or soya bean meal.

In fact, I have found that there is a white fungus/slime that forms on the cakes that helps to break them down while they are on the soil surface.

[shibui]

I agree. Should not affect nutrient value. I suspect they should have been dried better and probably not stored in sealed plastic bags. Spread them out in the sun - that will kill the mould and help reduce moisture content so they will store better.

[sf108]

Thanks a lot guys. I think that was very helpful.

Yes they're made from soybean meal etc (so I was told).

[Steven]

I got some of these as well. They were packaged really well in a Chinese style food container with holes in the lid to keep humidity down.

I still haven't used mine and they are dry with no mould on them. How did you store yours? Did they get wet?

Regards,
Steven

[Webos]

Here are some I made recently out of canola meal... Drying out on the trampoline. I still have tonnes of the mix left, just gotta find the time to press them into cakes

[Watto]

I also purchased a few containers of this fertilizer. A few have a bit of mould on them, but the ones I put around the bonsai soon lost the mould. I too suspect a bit more sun will alleviate the mould issue and I am certainly not at all concerned about it.
I am however looking forward to seeing how they go.

[sf108]

I got some of these as well. They were packaged really well in a Chinese style food container with holes in the lid to keep humidity down.

I still haven't used mine and they are dry with no mould on them. How did you store yours? Did they get wet?

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven,

Mine came in small plastic sandwich bags - so I suspect they weren't fully dried out and thus the moisture has been the cause of it.

Will lay them out in the sun tomorrow.

Last night I saw a few roaches eating them in the backyard - so I'm going to invest in some fertiliser cups to avoid insects or birds nibbling on them.