This terracotta decorative worm in my pot is growing white fluff around his neck. Is this mold? My instinct is to not keep him in any of my plant pots but does this mean I have lots of mold in my house? He immediately grows this stuff even if I have just repotted with fresh dry soil after soaking him in an antiseptic for days.
by GuaranteeLoose1258
33 Comments
The worm got a new scarf 🙂
looks more like a fungus, now the guy is terracotta so he should let water go through him, which would allow for mold/mushrooms to grow (provided they have the nutrients and not just water)
I’d say take him out, wash him, let him dry and put him in the oven to kill the ….living stuff inside of him
try not to make it crack from the heat, not sure how that would happen
also
try to research whether the white stuff is meant to be there in the first place
As with terracotta pots, it’s salts and nutrients from the soil.
That is salt from the water.
Wash it away with a garden hose and try giving your plant filtered/distilled water and it should go away.
It should not be a concern unless it is fungus (though can’t be sure looking at it)
Haha what a fashionable little fella
But I wouldn’t worry, looks like salt crystals
Looks like mineral crystals. If it were fungus, I’d assume you’d see it on the soil too. Scrape it off under water and rinse the worm off completely. Let fully dry. Try switching to distilled bottled water and see what happens over the next 30 days.
Smeg
I didn’t know what we were looking at initially because I thought it was on purpose!
This is insane, I thought it was part of the decoration 😂
This is amazing thank you op for sharing. Made my day haha
I agree, it looks like salt crystals. How funny that they only grew around his neck! If he is just for decoration and you don’t want the salt crystals coming back, you can get some Thompson’s waterproof sealant from the hardware store (make sure you get the kind designed for concrete, brick, etc) and give him a thin coat. It comes in a handy spray or liquid and takes about a day to cure, but it will keep the terracotta from absorbing the minerals from your soil in the future.
Edit: you don’t need Thompson’s brand specifically. I have this stuff and it works well:
https://preview.redd.it/wf3dq2xf2npg1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35b2a8927e377e56eedcc1873503be50306a5da8
It’s called fashion
That’s just his scarf, he’s feeling a little cold
✨efflorescence✨
Watering with distilled will get rid of it. Looks so cool though!
Your hotdog went bad I think.
It’s his beard.
My trypophobia is in overdrive
Stop why is it perfectly a little scarf for him? Don’t remove it plz
Beard?
Totally normal after circumcision
Omg I need him
I would keep him just for the comedic effect. That is one fancy worm.
Foam Cocaine
Just came it say I have that pot and it’s one of my favs 🪴
It’s more likely pulling salt and minerals out of the soil.
Don’t worry that’s clearly the neck of his royal cape. You are making him a cape, right???
https://preview.redd.it/etevu1y94npg1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b564f9e8638957a5203cddbbcd4102524407773
mmm, worm foam.
Hey, haha, I have one of those! It’s actually not decorative, he’s a moisture reader. The clay he’s made indicates the wetness of your soil; you pull him out to see if you need to water by the color of his tail!
It’s called FASHION 🙄
I thought he had a scarf, too cute
I agree with efflorescence, but it’s so weird that it’s happening in just that one spot. Kind of endearing, though. The worm is turning minerals into fashion.
Chode
Looks like some kind of mineral crystals from hard water deposits. Do you use tap water to water your plant? It’s awfully cute that the crystals made a scarf for the little guy though!