Benzelsanswered grow question 3 years ago If you think its mold or some kind of organic life, the easy way to check is water a bit less often for a while, if you normally water every 3-4 days switch to 4-6 if possible, and allow the soil to dry out more before watering again. This will do two things. 1. roots grow bigger quite a bit faster. and 2. If you have unwanted microbes, they tend to die off from lack of constant moisture. If it dies off then it was alive. If it doesnt then its salt or mineral build up. Unless it starts spreading id not worry yet. like I said Ive seen similar before, as well as even getting a fuzzy layer of fungus for a week when I added milk to my compost to boost the minerals and nitrogen in it. Once the soil dried out a bit the fungus dies right off. the white stuff on the old soils and composts tends to be on the drier parts of the mix. Like the larger bark chips.