Mold prevention that works.

[The Snark]

(Thanks to an expert here on AB for putting me on track).

Mold infections develop from two sources, airborne spores and their fungal organisms that need to have some material to grown on. Airborne spores are best controlled by a well ventilated room. Most of the mold growth in terrariums comes from spores and their 'plants' in the materials you put in. Dirt, woody material and occasionally plants. The problem in eradication of the molds is their spores are present, some of which are wearing armor. More than just armor but full isolation PPEs.

Four common methods.
1. Bake the materials in an oven. Problem: some spores will survive until you bake that log or branch to ashes.
2. Non latent biocide. You are pretty much limited to chlorine bleach. However, bleach has a problem. It's molecules are like guns, each with one bullet. Once fired, it's useless. And, there is a good chance you have a lot more spores than chlorine molecules since those molecules are also chewing on everything else..
3. Nearly all common molds need moisture. Remove all moisture, now and forever, and never allow it into the containment again. Along the lines of teaching poodles to fly.
4. Acetic acid. Aka vinegar.

It's the gift that keeps on giving. Given enough time it will chew into spores, viruses, bacteria, and just about all other micro-organisms. However, it can take some time. In my tests with the bad news bear, Stachybotrus Chartarum, black mold, weak acetic acid solutions, vinegar, takes 24 to 72 hours to play havoc with those spores.

Recommended procedure: Immerse the materials in straight vinegar. Come back in a week and rinse thoroughly. If you happen to be a little mental, like me, immerse in hot 80% acetic acid and wait a half hour. This method is not recommended as it will not only dissolve the spores but also your favorite decorative woods, slaughter your plants, and eat your lungs and sinuses. The only part of living organisms acetic acid finds indigestible is the chitin and some components in bone.

 

[Poonjab]

Yellow flock of seagulls. Exhibits identity of that that exists. Mold is the repercussion of the exuberant of the decay that elapsed through the humidity and proliferation of time. Steady and true. One could contest, rain drop, drop top, cooking up mold in a crockpot. This personifies the notion that mold will come back with the fortitude if not handled with the attribution thus previously stated. Great examination and relay to the magnification of the data relayed. This is but a vector in identifying how to treat mold to a greater standard than hemophilic normalcies. I was once lost, however I have found my true calling. March fourth in the conquest in this aptitude of mold colonization.

 

[The Snark]

Levity aside, yes vinegar does work and can even be used as a sterilizing solution. The drawback is it's 'attack' method is slow, taking up to a half hour to kill viruses and bacteria, even Covid-19, but on certain molds like the white crud growing on wood it's pretty much an instant kill. It starts dissolving the mycellium or rhizoids and hyphae, of the fungi body, often instantly. The other drawback is, while higher concentrations of acetic are more effective, it does present a hazard to skin, eyes and the respiratory tract above 10% concentration. Thus the reason why vinegar as used in cooking and salads is capped at around 7%.
And as an added bonus, after eating when you get that queasy feeling that you shouldn't have eaten that future science project in the fridge, a couple of tablespoonfuls in a glass of water chugged down can fix you right up, often within a few minutes. Vinegar readily attacks the common bacteria that causes food poisoning as well as stimulates peristalsis, the mechanism that gets your digestive tract going in digesting foods.
There is a reason why vinegar has been used as a food preservative back to the beginning of recorded history.

 

[Poonjab]

Levity aside, yes vinegar does work and can even be used as a sterilizing solution. The drawback is it's 'attack' method is slow, taking up to a half hour to kill viruses and bacteria, even Covid-19, but on certain molds like the white crud growing on wood it's pretty much an instant kill. It starts dissolving the mycellium or rhizoids and hyphae, of the fungi body, often instantly. The other drawback is, while higher concentrations of acetic are more effective, it does present a hazard to skin, eyes and the respiratory tract above 10% concentration. Thus the reason why vinegar as used in cooking and salads is capped at around 7%.
And as an added bonus, after eating when you get that queasy feeling that you shouldn't have eaten that future science project in the fridge, a couple of tablespoonfuls in a glass of water chugged down can fix you right up, often within a few minutes. Vinegar readily attacks the common bacteria that causes food poisoning as well as stimulates peristalsis, the mechanism that gets your digestive tract going in digesting foods.
There is a reason why vinegar has been used as a food preservative back to the beginning of recorded history.

You use apple cider vinegar or straight vinegar? I drink apple cider vinegar to lower blood sugar levels.

 

[The Snark]

You use apple cider vinegar or straight vinegar? I drink apple cider vinegar to lower blood sugar levels.

I'm sorry but there is no simple single answer. A web search will turn up literally hundreds of research papers that often contradict each other. And a few hundred more that go pro and con on the benefits of vinegar.

The simplest answer is apples are sprayed repeatedly with multiple pesticides, some of which contain water resistant chemicals to make them stay effective for longer period. Assume the apples that go into making vinegar are not scrupulously washed with detergents that remove all pesticides and the accompanying adjuncts. Apples are considered 'show piece' products, their sales reliant by how attractive they are. Assume show piece produce is awash in pesticides, along with all sorts of other chemicals to enhance their appearance..

Then things get much more complex. An ongoing debate constantly goes back and forth regarding enzymes found in apple cider vinegar vs pure acetic acid. For every pro you can find a published white paper that contradicts it. But one aspect explained to me by one of the foremost forensic pathologists, nutrition is virtually ignored during the entire educational curriculum when pursuing a biological PhD.
* Most of the researchers that turn out the white papers on digestion and diseases categorically and studiously ignore the nutrition aspect. It is an unassigned variable and being as such, won't fit in their analytical methodology.
* From the nutritional point of view, apples deliver their payload of a broad spectrum of nutritional components faster than almost any other food. It has been lauded in many papers as being next to the perfect food..Research has shown in the stomach apples are digested and clear the stomach extremely fast. Almost as if they are either predigested or simply readily lend to the process.

Even more complex. The stomach can produce a much more acidic environment than what acetic acid can provide. BUT, stomach acidity does not remain constant. And off into the vast number of white papers on the cholera bacteria. In all intents and purposes, a laboratory designed chemical bomb that undergoes several complex chemical processes in the stomach to produce toxins that easily pass into the blood stream. An acidic environment inhibits or outright kills the bacteria before it can start this process. So, along with all sorts of other bacteria, the presence of acetic acid can kick start a process that inhibits bacterial growth. Now add to this, when a 'bacterial bomb' goes off in your stomach, it can become static and atonic. Digestion stops in it's tracks and the natural production of stomach acids is retarded or stops dead..
The front line treatment of cholera is the administration of acidic juices. For rehydration and the antibacterial effects and/or inhibition of bacterial growth.

Peristalsis stimulation is rarely taken into account in the various studies of digestive diseases. But it has been proven the introduction of a foreign acid, specifically acetic acid, does stimulate it.


And on the purely subjective non scientific level, I've managed to give myself various forms of food poisoning in numerous locales over the years. I've found, about 9 times out of 10, drinking vinegar shuts it down. And I strongly suspect apple cider vinegar is more effective.


@Poonjab I need to add a comical note. I suffer from a strange malady often confined to health and nutrition workers in third world areas. It is a sequence of events that places said workers in an almost-under-arrest holding pattern at the various ports of entry. In my field pack I always carry is a package of unlabeled pills and a small bottle of unlabeled liquid. Medically it is easily explained. It is second nature to always carry nitroglycerin or equivalent. An instant turn around for certain heart conditions for which there simply isn't a non suspicious looking alternative since, of course, you don't want to carry the entire 500 or 1000 labeled pill bottle, or the entire pint, liter or quart of apple cider vinegar.

 

[The Snark]

@Poonjab Heading off the critics here. I mentioned all that stuff about cider vinegar and etc for a reason. The gap between nutritionists and physicians is vast. I could go on for several paragraphs but I will sum it up succinctly.
A friend suffered a major heart attack and survived. Subsequent tests revealed one carotid artery was 100% blocked and another, 90%. Atherosclerosis maximus. After a week in ICU he was moved to the floor. His wife saw the breakfast he was served and went ballistic. The nutritionist was called and she went ballistic. The physician's patient care instructions under diet were 'normal'. So his breakfast was bacon, eggs, sausage and toast with butter.
You see, physicians are holy with all those years in med school and internship. Nutritionists can get some sort of letters after their name with a couple of years of college and are often viewed by physicians as several grades below earthworms.
I can easily find a dozen physicians who will off handedly dismiss any possible benefits of any vinegar, cider or other.

@Poonjab Pardon for beating the dead horse, but the quadruple irony bears mentioning here. One of the reasons why people end up in the doctors office is poor diet thus poor diet is one of the common sources of income for doctors, after the doc gets done making a cash extraction s/he hands the patient off to extended care which usually includes a nutritionist, and very often when there is a serious outbreak of a disease, poor nutrition is often a contributing cause.

 

[Kendricks]

Yellow flock of seagulls. Exhibits identity of that that exists. Mold is the repercussion of the exuberant of the decay that elapsed through the humidity and proliferation of time. Steady and true. One could contest, rain drop, drop top, cooking up mold in a crockpot. This personifies the notion that mold will come back with the fortitude if not handled with the attribution thus previously stated. Great examination and relay to the magnification of the data relayed. This is but a vector in identifying how to treat mold to a greater standard than hemophilic normalcies. I was once lost, however I have found my true calling. March fourth in the conquest in this aptitude of mold colonization.

Dude I love you. No homo.
I'd throw a medal your way but don't have the fancy emotes.