Mold problem

[southgrove]

Hi everybody,

I am new to this forum, just started cultivating carnivorous plants 1 and ½ years ago or so. Roughly self-taught, only used the "Savage Garden" by Peter Damato for my knowledge so far. 

Currently living in Sweden, but until recently living in southern Europe. So I just re-planted a little indoor garden of CPs in one big clay pot. Maybe not exactly an orthodox way of doing it, but I wanted to give it a try. 

CPs: 
2x Sarracenia
2x Dionae
2x Nepenthes

Soil: 
80-90% sphagnum peat moss. 
10-20% white moss. 

Water: 
De-ionised battery water (recommended by CP-fans here in Sweden). 

I was watering it quite liberally, as I have been doing down south without any problems. But as I have been reading on this forum, evidently during winter-time you should give them quite little water to avoid amongst others the problem I bumped into - mold!

As you can see from my pictures, it is a great mess by now. Mold is even growing outside the pot!



I would kindly like to ask for some advice, both for the present situation and for the future:
1. If I understand it correctly, mold is mainly a problem during winter?
2. What can I do to avoid mold in the future? Chronically use fungicides? Or any other substances that makes mold feel unwelcome? Water less? Combination of these?
3. What fungicides would you suggest? And are they dangerous for the CPs? I probably won't have the same brand names as you have, so active components would be much appreciated. 
4. Last but definitely not least - do you think there is any hope for my little indoor garden, or should I just start over?



Thank you for your time. 
Kind regards,
Jan

Attachments:

[tanukimo]

First of all, welcome!

1. When I first encountered mold, it was in winter but I'm not sure if that is true in general.
2. In my situation, mold was caused by a combination of low air circulation and overwatering. I was growing a Sarracenia on my windowsill and watered it too much, and since the window was almost always closed the pot started to grow mold. It didn't affect the plant much, though, and I still have it.
3. I've never used fungicides before.
4. As long as the plants are still growing or the growing points are not moldy, I would not give up. I would replace all of the media and soak the plants in water or rinse them off before repotting. It might be more helpful to grow the plants separately next time so that even if you lost one to mold the rest will not be as affected but if you keep your growing conditions ideal mold should not appear.

[southgrove]

Thank you for the reply, Tanukimo!
And a late Happy New Year to everyone!

Gotcha, I'll try to keep the growing conditions ideal. This would mean;
Not over-watering.
Having a good air-circulation (maybe put up a fan on a timer for the plants?).

Anything else I can do to keep high-standard conditions?

Follow-up questions;
1. The soil I used, i.e. mostly sphagnum peat moss - it was an ok choice, right?
2. Anyone else with any advice on fungicides? Especially, are they dangerous to the CPs?

Kind regards,
Jan

[hcarlton]

From what I'm seeing you are growing them in a terra cotta pot? Get rid of it. Terra cotta is suggested for growing Drosophyllum in, otherwise it's well known for causing mold problems like this and leaching mineral and salt build up into the soil from evaporated water. Glazed ceramic or plastic pots are recommended.
Also, sphagnum peat is generally the go-to for CP's of these varieties, however an addition of sand or non-fertilize perlite is suggested for aeration and loosening of the soil. And powdered sulfur is the only fungicide I really have experience with, however it's completely harmless to plants.