Finding mold growing in your refrigerator is something that we cannot usually avoid, because mold exists everywhere we are and it grows on dead organic materials, just like what we keep in our refrigerator. There are ways, however, to reduce the amount of mold that will grow in your refrigerator.
You should take inventory of your refrigerator and anything that is outdated beyond use should be thrown away because if mold is not growing on it now, it will eventually. The sooner that you forget an outdated item is in your refrigerator, the sooner mold will begin to grow inside it and spread to other items nearby. The spread of mold in this way is especially true of fruits and vegetables that are often stored in a bin on top of each other. One infected item can affect the whole bin and make it inedible. It is best to go through these items as often as possible to make sure anything contaminated is removed.
When you bring fruits and vegetables home from the grocery store, we often have them in the plastic bags that we used in the produce section to pack them in. You should probably remove these items from the bags in order to reduce the amount of condensation they are exposed to. Condensation will build up inside the bag as water evaporates and mold will begin to grow.
Cleaning the refrigerator regularly is also essential to slow the growth of mold. Everything in the refrigerator should be washed thoroughly and since no surface inside it should be porous, using chlorine bleach to wash the inside should be fine to assist in removing any mold that has begun to grow. Whatever you choose to clean your refrigerator with, please do not mix household chemicals when cleaning your home. The results can be harmful or even deadly if you mix the wrong two, such as bleach and ammonia.
Before you really start cleaning it out, take the light bulb out of your fridge because they are not made to be left on for more than a few minutes and will possibly burn out if you leave the refrigerator door open for too long.
After you are done washing the inside of the refrigerator, take a few minutes and go through everything as mentioned earlier and throw out anything that you think is too old. Washing down the outside of the refrigerator is also a good idea.
Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mold Dogs are Unprofessional
When you go to hire a professional company that deals with mold contaminations, there are a few different things that you need to look for to determine whether or not the company is actually professional or not. Do they use the most modern methods of mold detection and cleaning? Do they wear protective gear? What kind of gear do they wear? Body suits? Respirators? And this is perhaps one of the most important questions of all: do they use animals to detect the presence of mold in your home?
The simple fact is that companies that use dogs to detect mold in a home or business are not professionals. They just are not. The practice of using dogs to detect mold in a home or in another building is inhumane and cruel to the animal, simply because of the knowledge that pets are just as susceptible to health damage due to mold as human beings are. A “mold dog” cannot detect whether or not the mold that exists in your home is toxic, what kind of mold it is, or in what quantity that it may exist. This is what mold laboratories and testing kits are for. All a mold dog can do is tell you if mold exists on the premises or not.
It can cost thousands of dollars for a company to have a dog trained to detect mold, but even after the dog is trained, it is almost surely money thrown down the drain. Dogs are trained to actively inhale mold spores, which is something that we as human beings are repeatedly told NEVER to do. We are told to wear respirators to filter these harmful spores out of the air that we breathe when we are dealing with mold. The animal is not aware that these spores can harm them at all. Dogs can develop severe skin, eye, and sinus infections and not to mention lung infections and even pneumonia. Unfortunately, the dog has no way of telling us that something is wrong with it. It knows, but cannot communicate this to us.
There are many other more modern, more professional ways to deal with the task of detecting mold on a piece of property. Any company that uses mold to detect dogs is not one that you want to deal with. Mold dog websites often have pictures of completely healthy animals and they will remain healthy for a while, but the typical cause of death is due to mold-related health complications.
The simple fact is that companies that use dogs to detect mold in a home or business are not professionals. They just are not. The practice of using dogs to detect mold in a home or in another building is inhumane and cruel to the animal, simply because of the knowledge that pets are just as susceptible to health damage due to mold as human beings are. A “mold dog” cannot detect whether or not the mold that exists in your home is toxic, what kind of mold it is, or in what quantity that it may exist. This is what mold laboratories and testing kits are for. All a mold dog can do is tell you if mold exists on the premises or not.
It can cost thousands of dollars for a company to have a dog trained to detect mold, but even after the dog is trained, it is almost surely money thrown down the drain. Dogs are trained to actively inhale mold spores, which is something that we as human beings are repeatedly told NEVER to do. We are told to wear respirators to filter these harmful spores out of the air that we breathe when we are dealing with mold. The animal is not aware that these spores can harm them at all. Dogs can develop severe skin, eye, and sinus infections and not to mention lung infections and even pneumonia. Unfortunately, the dog has no way of telling us that something is wrong with it. It knows, but cannot communicate this to us.
There are many other more modern, more professional ways to deal with the task of detecting mold on a piece of property. Any company that uses mold to detect dogs is not one that you want to deal with. Mold dog websites often have pictures of completely healthy animals and they will remain healthy for a while, but the typical cause of death is due to mold-related health complications.
Natural Born Mold Killers Can Save You From Chemical Exposure
While there are a lot of different commercial chemicals that are used to kill mold, a lot of people do not like to use a lot of household chemicals in their homes. There is a belief that the more we use chemicals in our daily lives, the more harm they will end up doing us and since there may be some truth to this, some people have found other ways to kill mold besides the cleaners that we find in department and grocery stores.
Three natural ingredients have been found to kill mold quite effectively, but two of them are quite expensive and one is, well… kind of stinky.
The most widely available and inexpensive of the three natural ways to kill mold is vinegar. It is by far the cheapest natural method and the most simple to use. Distilled white vinegar is the best kind to use because it has no color to it and there is no risk of discoloring anything you might put it on. Vinegar will reportedly kill around 82 percent of molds in your home. While it will not kill all kinds of mold, it will kill most of the kind that you find indoors and if it does not kill it, you will most assuredly know. All you have to do is put the mold into a spray bottle, spray it on the area of mold and if you can stand the smell, let it stay on the surface without rinsing it. The smell should go away after a few hours and the mold should have died soon after.
Another way to kill mold, even if it is a bit expensive, is tea tree oil. You can find this at most health food stores and it has a little more broad of a spectrum of fungi that it will get rid of than vinegar. Combine 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle. Shake it up to blend the two and spray on anything that has mold on it. Do not rinse it off. This should make about two cups and it should last indefinitely.
The last way to do this is by using grapefruit seed extract. The advantage of this is that grapefruit seed extract has no smell to it. 20 drops of the extract and two cups of water in a spray bottle should do the trick. Follow the same directions for the tea tree oil.
Three natural ingredients have been found to kill mold quite effectively, but two of them are quite expensive and one is, well… kind of stinky.
The most widely available and inexpensive of the three natural ways to kill mold is vinegar. It is by far the cheapest natural method and the most simple to use. Distilled white vinegar is the best kind to use because it has no color to it and there is no risk of discoloring anything you might put it on. Vinegar will reportedly kill around 82 percent of molds in your home. While it will not kill all kinds of mold, it will kill most of the kind that you find indoors and if it does not kill it, you will most assuredly know. All you have to do is put the mold into a spray bottle, spray it on the area of mold and if you can stand the smell, let it stay on the surface without rinsing it. The smell should go away after a few hours and the mold should have died soon after.
Another way to kill mold, even if it is a bit expensive, is tea tree oil. You can find this at most health food stores and it has a little more broad of a spectrum of fungi that it will get rid of than vinegar. Combine 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle. Shake it up to blend the two and spray on anything that has mold on it. Do not rinse it off. This should make about two cups and it should last indefinitely.
The last way to do this is by using grapefruit seed extract. The advantage of this is that grapefruit seed extract has no smell to it. 20 drops of the extract and two cups of water in a spray bottle should do the trick. Follow the same directions for the tea tree oil.
The Most Frequently Asked Questions About Mold
If you are a new homeowner or even an old one that is just wanting to do a little studying on what this whole concern about mold is that you have been hearing about on the news and in magazines, then there are a few basic things that you need to know about mold
What causes mold to grow?
Well, mold requires a few different things to grow and these are nutrients, air, and moisture. Molds can grow in cooler temperatures down to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and up to even around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets cooler than 40 F, most molds will become simply dormant and cease growing. They are hard to kill by change in temperature alone. Temperatures above 100 F have been reported to kill mold and its spores, but the exact temperatures that are needed to kill specific species of mold are uncertain.
How does mold get into your house?
The truth is that mold is always in your home, but it only grows there when conditions are favorable. Spilled water on carpet that is never cleaned up, condensation on windows or water pipes is a sign of high humidity that helps mold grow, as well, and even something as seemingly harmless as packing your clothes too tightly in the closet can cause mold problems.
Do harmful molds exist?
Yes! While there are only a few different kinds of mold that cause human health issues compared to the thousands of different varieties of mold there are in the world, mold growing in your home can be a serious health risk.
Does mold cause health issues in everyone? Are they always the same?
No, mold does not typically affect one person the same as another. One person might be allergic to the mold growing in the home and another may not. Some molds can cause infections that are serious enough to see a doctor for and some can cause brain damage, miscarriages, birth defects, and in some cases, even death.
What can I do to prevent mold growth in my house or business?
There are a lot of things that you can do to prevent mold from growing both on the constructed parts of your home and the items that you have inside it, such as furniture, clothes, and etcetera. There are numerous articles online to help you in preventing mold from growing, but the general consensus is to not have a high level of humidity in any area of your home, such as in a bathroom that does not have a vent to allow steam to exit the room while bathing. A similar vent should be installed in the kitchen near the stove.
What causes mold to grow?
Well, mold requires a few different things to grow and these are nutrients, air, and moisture. Molds can grow in cooler temperatures down to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and up to even around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets cooler than 40 F, most molds will become simply dormant and cease growing. They are hard to kill by change in temperature alone. Temperatures above 100 F have been reported to kill mold and its spores, but the exact temperatures that are needed to kill specific species of mold are uncertain.
How does mold get into your house?
The truth is that mold is always in your home, but it only grows there when conditions are favorable. Spilled water on carpet that is never cleaned up, condensation on windows or water pipes is a sign of high humidity that helps mold grow, as well, and even something as seemingly harmless as packing your clothes too tightly in the closet can cause mold problems.
Do harmful molds exist?
Yes! While there are only a few different kinds of mold that cause human health issues compared to the thousands of different varieties of mold there are in the world, mold growing in your home can be a serious health risk.
Does mold cause health issues in everyone? Are they always the same?
No, mold does not typically affect one person the same as another. One person might be allergic to the mold growing in the home and another may not. Some molds can cause infections that are serious enough to see a doctor for and some can cause brain damage, miscarriages, birth defects, and in some cases, even death.
What can I do to prevent mold growth in my house or business?
There are a lot of things that you can do to prevent mold from growing both on the constructed parts of your home and the items that you have inside it, such as furniture, clothes, and etcetera. There are numerous articles online to help you in preventing mold from growing, but the general consensus is to not have a high level of humidity in any area of your home, such as in a bathroom that does not have a vent to allow steam to exit the room while bathing. A similar vent should be installed in the kitchen near the stove.
Mold Just May Be Your Fresh Fruits Greatest Enemy
Fruit rot in blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries are usually the result of one chief offender and that offender is known as gray mold. Gray mold is able to affect not only the fruit itself, but the petals, stems, and the flower stalk. Fruit are a popular breeding ground for mold, due to the juices in the fruit. A wet environment is the ideal place for mold to try and grow, and the juices contained in the fruit helped provide just the environment mold calls for. Gray mold is considered the most serious disease, especially during a warm and rainy growing season.
The kind of fruit with the least amount of protection against gray mold infection is young fruit blossoms. And when the infection becomes apparent in large clusters of fruit. The blossoms will show the infection as a soft, light brown and the spot will continue grow at a fast rate. The fruit will become powdery and gray if the fruit is left defenseless against the mold. This is where the name “gray mold” originated from.
The areas of the fruit that are most susceptible to infection are located near the middle of the plant where the branches and leaves cause high humidity and air circulation is lacking. If the fruit has been exposed to the ground where soil has captured water condensation the risk is higher, as that condensation will attract bacteria and will cause mold to grow. As the mold grows, the rot will begin to set in and any fruits nearby could be infected if not tended to in a timely manner.
And while mature fruits are less susceptible after they are picked, they are susceptible never the less. However, recently harvested green fruits will become just as infected, and the disease isn’t usually detected until the fruit is fully ready to be harvested. Bruising or breaking of the skin is a major cause of the infection in mature fruits. This is, once again, because of the juice on the inside of the fruit attracting bacteria. The mature fruit can be completely rotted in as short an amount of time as forty eight hours.
There are, however, ways to prevent gray mold from infesting your fruit. First, you should select where to plant a fruit where there is a decent amount of soil drainage and air circulation. They need to be exposed directly to sunlight. You should also make sure to keep the garden weeded, as it helps airflow.
The kind of fruit with the least amount of protection against gray mold infection is young fruit blossoms. And when the infection becomes apparent in large clusters of fruit. The blossoms will show the infection as a soft, light brown and the spot will continue grow at a fast rate. The fruit will become powdery and gray if the fruit is left defenseless against the mold. This is where the name “gray mold” originated from.
The areas of the fruit that are most susceptible to infection are located near the middle of the plant where the branches and leaves cause high humidity and air circulation is lacking. If the fruit has been exposed to the ground where soil has captured water condensation the risk is higher, as that condensation will attract bacteria and will cause mold to grow. As the mold grows, the rot will begin to set in and any fruits nearby could be infected if not tended to in a timely manner.
And while mature fruits are less susceptible after they are picked, they are susceptible never the less. However, recently harvested green fruits will become just as infected, and the disease isn’t usually detected until the fruit is fully ready to be harvested. Bruising or breaking of the skin is a major cause of the infection in mature fruits. This is, once again, because of the juice on the inside of the fruit attracting bacteria. The mature fruit can be completely rotted in as short an amount of time as forty eight hours.
There are, however, ways to prevent gray mold from infesting your fruit. First, you should select where to plant a fruit where there is a decent amount of soil drainage and air circulation. They need to be exposed directly to sunlight. You should also make sure to keep the garden weeded, as it helps airflow.
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