A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Humidity Trays

Hi. I have humidity trays...trays with rocks in them underneath my pots, and i keep them filled with water...for my bonsai trees. They seems to enjoy the extra humidity, but I am annoyed by the mold/algae and little white bugs who live in among the rocks. Is there another option, or an easy cleaning solution that anyone can recommend?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm i'm having visions of things without rocks... like those things you find on the floor of pools that let the water drain onto the tiles, but still let you walk on a dry floor. Know what i'm talking about? Those little sqary rubber mat things?

Or instead of rocks, you could use a sponge... but that would probably rot... Hmmmmmmmm >.o tricky. Maybeeeeeeeee you could use a plate full of water, but with a mesh over it so the pot doesn't sit in the water, but right above it. okay i'm just rabbling and inventing new things now ^.^

Someone else will come up with something better lol.

~Phoebe

Amie,

Whenever the algae becomes noticeable, dump the tiny pebbles into a fine kitchen strainer and rinse them thoroughly with soapy water. Clean the tray with a little bleach and lots of water. Then replace the clean pebbles in the clean tray and you are good to go.

If you are using a lot of fertilzer on your bonsai, the excess may be running off and helping promote the algae in the pebble trays. Bonsais need very little fertilizer.

Thank you both...great ideas. I have been perhaps overfertilizing the bonsai...one of them went all yellow because it hadn't been fertilized probably all winter...and it perked right up with a bit of green juice. :rolleyes:
Amie

^.^ No problem!
I hope something works out for ya! We got good ol Will Creed here to help us out with just about every lil problem

~Phoebe