Yuck am i right?  Who wants to think about mold.  Well, unfortunately mold is everywhere.  Its amazing how little science knows about it.  We don't even know how many species there are!  One thing we do know is that mold needs 3 things to grow.  Water, Oxygen & Food.  Mold can be in your pipes and only fragments come to the surface when drinking or potting water.  This is two out of the three ingredients.  If you left a bottle long enough chances are you'd end up with mold.

When our products are mixed with water and left, especially in dark environments, over long periods of time, they can mold.  The reason this happens is because of our natural preservatives.  We only use preservatives from citrus plants in enough ratio to ensure our products (unmixed) are stable and protected.  We also do this to ensure that nothing harmful is ever sprayed on your animals.  This ratio gives our concentrate a 5yr+ shelf life.  When mixed, our plant based preservatives can act as the "food" for mold to grow.  This can absolutely happen if you mix a spray bottle up and leave it for months on end in a dark part of the barn.  Mixing our natural products with water unfortunately finishes the equation of Oxygen + Food + Water = mold.

The good news?  The good news is this also means you are using a natural product that isn't so full of chemicals and preservatives that you can use the bottle grandpa bought.  So here's to the mold.  Ensuring that what you get is safe & natural!

• No Darkness.  Keep your bottle stored in well lit areas.
• Only mix what you plan to use.  DiO mixed is good for weeks on end but when your storing for the winter, empty those spray bottles!
• Use distilled water.  If you are super worried about mold you can always mix with distilled water.  This helps guarantee that mold isn't in your pipes.  Of course there is always the chance for mold in the air but that is rare.
• Want more info?  Check out the CDC Website or wikipedia.

In short, mold is an unfortunate reality of natural products but in our opinion, the safety that comes with natural products outweighs the dangers for their chemical laden counter parts.