Seed disaster

[Swagalotus]

So last long weekend I decided to plant a whole bunch of seeds, mixed sundews including capes, tokaiensis, aliciae, omissa, burmannii, filiformis, dreamsicle, some vft seeds and utricularia as well. Today I was inspecting each pot individually and I noticed on the vft seeds at the very tip of the seed that there is green/ white mold growing where the root is supposed to come out. I proceed to check the sundew pots to find almost all the seeds covered in green mold. On all the pots there is a thin layer of white mold which I am assuming is the culprit of all this evil. I was really excited hoping to get some awesome plants, and now I see all the seeds covered in mold. Is there anything I can do to save some ( I have propiconazole fungicide on me, should I give each pot a spray?) and what can I do to prevent this from happening in the future, I really would not want this happening again, I was really hoping for great germination and for some great plants in a couple of months, and now this stupid fungus ruined it all

 

[fredg]

Where did you put the pots?

 

[Swagalotus]

They were under lights although not terribly bright.

 

[SerMuncherIV]

Can you provide a detailed description about your growing conditions? Temps, media, water, type of light, etc?

 

[Doomsday]

Try spraying some Hydrogen Peroxide on them, all over the mold and soil surface. Then add a fan to your grow area to create more circulation, because stagnant humid air will encourage rot.

 

[NemJones]

As doom said, a fan will help. Ive never tried peroxide, but ive heard it works.

I would set up a small fan over the trays and run it for an hour or two, then shut it off and LIGHTLY mist the pots.
Then wait like 8 hours and do it again.
Repeat untill mold is kill

This is of course speculation, but thats what I do when mold is invading

 

[Whimgrinder]

Low light + warm temps + poor air movement = mold, guaranteed. Yes, propiconazole will clear up the mold, but it sounds like it's gone too far and the seeds are probably compromised. Mold on seeds is something best prevented, rather than scrambling for a fix after its happened.

Q: did you bag the seed pots, or were they exposed to the open air? Bagging is not a good idea unless you plan on using fungal suppressants as a matter of course.

About propiconazole: it's not appropriate for use indoors, so it's best to take the subject out into the garage or other "outdoors-ish" space and let it dry before bringing the subject back inside. If that's not possible, use H2O2 at 1 part to 9 parts water, and spray liberally, repeating every few days as needed.

 

[Swagalotus]

Wow guys, thanks for all the advice. Luckily for some seeds I only planted a fraction of them so I still have some left. Humidity is around 40% in the growing area where the pots are. Temp is 75 day 65 night. Media is 50/50 peat and sand. Lights are 2 led bars which aren't very bright but they were supposed to get the seed to germinate until I got my T5's this week. Water is tap water 60 ppm, I use it for all my plants so that's not the problem.

The day I planted all the seeds I also repotted a bunch of burmannii from a sphag mix to the peat/sand mix I mentioned. I decided to bag the burmannii but not the seeds, and after a few days there was mold ALL OVER the burmannii. I think that the problem was spores in the soil since it affected all the pots that were and were not bagged. Next time I am thinking of baking my peat in the oven to kill as many spores as possible, is that a good idea, or should I spray h202 solution as a preventive measure?

I've germinated many types of seeds before and this has never happened, even when the burmannii germinated on my window with over 100 degrees farenheight and around 60% humidity no problems occurred, but the seeds were germinated in milled lfsm. I am pretty sure it was the media's fault because I've never had issues with sphag. Not saying its because I used peat, I am saying the peat ( or maybe sand) was full of spores which caused the issue.

 

[Whimgrinder]

I am pretty sure it was the media's fault because I've never had issues with sphag. Not saying its because I used peat, I am saying the peat ( or maybe sand) was full of spores which caused the issue.

That seems likely, yes. Best to sterilize this Peat in the future before using it.

 

[Swagalotus]

That seems likely, yes. Best to sterilize this Peat in the future before using it.

Is putting it in an oven or microwave a better idea? I recall reading that microwaving peat breaks it down faster, but I am not sure.

 

[Whimgrinder]

Is putting it in an oven or microwave a better idea? I recall reading that microwaving peat breaks it down faster, but I am not sure.

That is more an issue with Sphagnum moss, not Peat.

see: Start Seed and Transplants in Sterilized Soil

 

[w03]

Peat is already broken down and somewhat decayed sphagnum, so it'll take quite a bit to make it break down more.

 

[Doomsday]

Is putting it in an oven or microwave a better idea? I recall reading that microwaving peat breaks it down faster, but I am not sure.

I personally microwave my media. Make sure you wet it before microwaving it, because I've almost set some on fire once hahaha. You don't need very much microwaving (1 minute or so for small batches, depending on microwave strength). My peat never seems to degrade before I got around to repotting my plants, but it definitely stays cleaner for a lot longer, though. I just microwaved some last night before sowing some sundews.

 

[Swagalotus]

I personally microwave my media. Make sure you wet it before microwaving it, because I've almost set some on fire once hahaha. You don't need very much microwaving (1 minute or so for small batches, depending on microwave strength). My peat never seems to degrade before I got around to repotting my plants, but it definitely stays cleaner for a lot longer, though. I just microwaved some last night before sowing some sundews.

Had I know this earlier I might have saved myself over 1000 seeds...

 

[NemJones]

Ive never microwaved my soils, and usually everything turns out ok. its not an ABSOLUTE must, but it helps.

Also, Ive had some nepenthes seeds and VFT seeds become moldy and germinate. dont give up hope.

 

[Stranger]

For what it's worth, sometimes seeds just get moldy. Germinating some nepenthes seeds right now, two previous batches have both come up with a good number of seedlings but this recent one is showing signs of mold on a few seeds so it got the peroxide treatment just today. And these were all with me microwaving the media and sterilising the seeds, pots all in the same conditions.