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Anyone who at least once starts growing seedlings of vegetables or flowers can face this problem: a strange coating appears on the surface of the soil in the container in which the seedlings grow. If you look closely, it becomes clear that mold has settled there. This phenomenon raises many questions. What to do if there is mold in the seedlings? Why does mold form on the ground with seedlings? Where did she come from? Is it harmful to plants and people? Let’s try to answer them.
Mold – what is it
This is a microscopic fungus, consisting of branching threads – hyphae. Most often, these fungi reproduce by spores. There are many of them in the air around us, they are in the soil and on various objects. Mold feeds on organic matter. The best conditions for its development are heat and high humidity.
Mold is amazingly durable. It has been found in space and on the walls of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. She is not afraid of frost, so freezing the soil does not rid it of fungus spores. It is extremely difficult to fight mold fungi, it is best to simply not create optimal conditions for them to exist and develop.
Why is she dangerous
Penetrating into the respiratory tract of a person, it settles in the lungs. Accumulating in the body, mold causes various diseases, including allergies and toxic poisoning. Mold is especially dangerous for people with reduced immunity.
It negatively affects plants:
- mold is a fungus, after which more aggressive fungal races may appear, from which the seedlings can rot the roots, black leg disease is possible;
- plant nutrition is disturbed, mold waste products have an acidic reaction, therefore, they change the acid-base balance of the soil for the worse for plants;
- oxygen is poorly supplied to them;
- their immunity decreases and tissue regeneration worsens.
Most of all, mold is dangerous for small seedlings that have not yet dived. Adult seedlings have already mastered the entire volume of the pot well, its root system secretes substances that inhibit the growth of mold fungi, and the gardener will have to take care of the “kids”.
Seedling crops are grown in room conditions. It would seem that nothing bad can happen to them in a confined space, there is no contact with the street, and molds simply have nowhere to come from. Why is the ground covered with mold in seedlings?
Reasons for the appearance of mold plaque in containers with seedlings
The source of spores of the fungus, from which the mold develops, can be:
- the soil;
- mold that is already in the room;
- seeds – they may also contain spores of the fungus.
The following factors contribute to its appearance:
- heavy soil structure in containers with seedlings;
- a large amount of undecomposed plant residues in the soil is the best food for mold fungi;
- high acidity of the soil, if the soil is neutral, the growth of mold fungi is inhibited by other microorganisms that are in the soil, but with increased acidity, these mold fighters die;
- the earth becomes moldy in seedlings with an excessive amount of organic matter in the soil;
- poor drainage or its absence, in this case, excess moisture is not removed through the holes, but evaporates from the soil surface, creating increased air humidity;
- too large volume of planting capacity – the root system does not braid the entire soil, it turns sour near the walls of the pot, which contributes to the development of mold fungus;
- rare ventilation and stagnation of air in the room;
- watering with unsettled water with a high content of mineral salts;
- too frequent and abundant irrigation of seedlings;
- the absence of ultraviolet rays, window glass completely delays them.
Mold is dangerous not only for seedlings. It happens that it appears on the surface of the soil before the seeds have sprouted. In this case, seedlings can not wait. Hyphae of the fungus are able to germinate in sown seeds. The embryo will die and there will be no seedlings. Often, to speed up seed germination, containers with crops are covered with a film. The microclimate under it is just perfect for the reproduction of mold fungi. If there are spores there, they will certainly germinate, and the gardener will observe mold on the soil when growing seedlings.
The color of the mold depends on the type of fungus. In landing containers, a white fluffy coating most often appears. If white mold appears on the ground with seedlings, this is a fungus from the genus Mucor. It usually lives in the surface layers of the soil. Mukor can also be observed on products, for example, on spoiled bread. Mukor’s food is biological remains, which are abundant in insufficiently decomposed soil.
If white mold appears on seedlings, what should I do? First of all, it is necessary to increase the temperature where the seedlings grow. Mukor feels best in cool conditions.
Mold in pots with seedlings can be of a different color: green and even black. The latter is especially dangerous for both humans and domestic animals, which can also suffer from it. If brown mold appears on the seedling soil, measures should be taken immediately. How to deal with green mold in seedlings? In the same way as with the rest of its species. The main thing is to do it quickly. Every day the hyphae of the fungus grow and harm the plants more and more.
If the land with seedlings is moldy, what should I do in this case? How to deal with mold on seedlings?
How to deal with mold
It needs to be dealt with comprehensively. And first of all, you should analyze the conditions for keeping seedlings, to understand what was done wrong. You can always change the irrigation regime, if necessary, increase the temperature where the seedlings are kept, reduce air humidity, and make drainage holes in the planting container, if there are none.
It is much more difficult to fight mold on seedlings if the cause of its appearance is improperly selected soil.
To destroy the mold that appeared on the ground when growing seedlings, several methods are used.
- Mechanical.
- Chemical.
- Biological.
- People’s.
First of all, they begin with the mechanical removal of mold from the soil in a container or pot in which seedlings are grown.
How to remove mold from seedlings mechanically:
The procedure is carried out very carefully.
- With a flat spatula, preferably a wooden one or a toothpick, remove the layer of soil on which the mold is visible.
- They pour a new part of the soil instead of the removed part of the soil, otherwise the bare roots will suffer and may die.
- Dry the soil well, preferably under the bright rays of the sun. The new soil must be carefully disinfected so as not to introduce a new portion of fungal spores with it.
- All collected earth must be removed from the apartment so that it does not become a source of mold spores.
It must be remembered that this method is a temporary measure. Its use only stops the development of mold fungi. If they have already settled in a pot or container, then over time they will appear again and again. But by that time, the seedlings will already grow up, and will be able to fight fungi on their own.
You can additionally protect the upper part of the soil in the following ways:
- dry soil is sprinkled with wood ash, a fairly thin layer, the benefits of this are double – the ash absorbs moisture well and lowers the acidity of the soil, and fungi do not like this very much;
- you can sprinkle the soil with well-washed and disinfected dry river sand, it is unattractive for fungi.
If the mechanical method did not work, and the mold reappeared, you should not start all over again. It is necessary to proceed to the next stage and apply chemicals against it. Experienced gardeners are advised to use Oksihom, Fundazol for processing. Solutions of these drugs are used instead of irrigation water, usually once. You can also do it the other way:
- remove plants affected by mold and treat the soil with copper sulphate of 3% concentration;
- spray the soil and diseased seedlings with solutions of antifungal fungicides, for example, Quadris, Tsikhom.
If there is no desire to use chemicals in the apartment, you can use biological agents.
Experienced gardeners advise the following biological preparations to combat mold in seedlings: Fitosporin-M, Alirin-B, Gamair-SP, Planriz-Zh. They process seedlings on the 8-10th day of their life. One or even two treatments will not work. After the first application, it is repeated every 5 days three more times. Together with spraying, the soil is also watered with a biofungicide solution, which is prepared strictly according to the instructions.
There are also folk ways to combat mold on seedlings. What gardeners use if the ground for seedlings is covered with mold:
- Once every 2 weeks, seedlings are watered with a pink solution of potassium permanganate.
- Activated charcoal tablets are crushed and buried in the upper layers of the soil. Charcoal against mold on seedlings can also be used in another way: sprinkle the surface of the soil with crushed charcoal. Sometimes crushed charcoal is mixed with sifted ash obtained from the combustion of hardwoods. The proportion is 1:2.
- When preparing a mixture for sowing seedlings, Shungi Terra fertilizer is added to it. You can powder the surface of the soil with them. Shungite, which is part of the fertilizer, is an effective remedy for all fungal infections.
- You can spray the soil with a weak solution of Miramistin.
- Nystatin against mold on seedlings is also a good solution. The tablet is turned into powder and lightly sprinkled on the surface of the soil.
- Metronidazole against mold on seedlings is used as a solution: one tablet per two and a half liters of water.
- Spraying seedlings with a solution of Nitrofungin helps well – 0,5 drops are diluted in 25 liters of water.
Why mold can appear on seedlings and how to deal with it – all this is described in the video:
What to do if peat pots with seedlings grow moldy
Many gardeners have already abandoned the use of peat pots for growing seedlings. As practice shows, they are very often covered with mold. A radical way is to transplant the plant into a new soil and into a new container. If this is not possible, you can coat the outside of the pot wall with Fitosporin-M paste, and treat the soil for prevention with any of the methods proposed above.
How to remove mold from petunia seedlings or mold from strawberry seedlings? One of the above methods will work for this. These plants develop slowly at first, so they require special attention. It is better not to wait for mold to appear, but to properly care for seedlings and carry out preventive treatments.
Why do peat tablets with seedlings grow moldy? If the watering of the plants is moderate, and all other care activities are carried out correctly, this indicates that the peat used to make the tablets has not matured enough and has an acidic reaction. In this case, it is better not to wait for the death of the plant, but to transplant it into a new soil.
Conclusion
Any mold that appears in the soil with seedlings must be fought. So we will not only protect the planted plants from death, but also preserve our own health, which mold can greatly damage.