Peat Plugs

I am not sure that I am on the right forum. I have been having trouble with my seeds that are started in Jiffy Pots. The first tray worked out okay but the next two trays had to be thrown out because of mold. I followed directions in starting it and in the three weeks I just watered once so it wasn't overwatering. I kept the plastic lid on each tray until most of the seeds were up. I was wondering if it might be lack of air circulation? What kind of air movement is necessary? If the problem is air circulation can it be remedied without moving the Gro-Lites? The Gro-Lites are in a corner of the room. Has anyone else had the same experience?

Thanks,

Chuck

I know that there are different remedies for mold, including removing the lids for a short time each day, adding Hydrogen peroxide to your water (I think it was like 2 tsp. per gallon - someone correct me on this one if need be) and adding a gentle fan once the sprouts have come up.

HTH!

Thanks, Pagancat!! I will try all three of these when I plant my zinnias on the second weekend of February.

Thanks again,

Chuck

I always soak my seeds in water with a little Hydrogen peroxide, can't hurt and will kill any mold on the outsides of the seeds.

Dear CoreHHI,

Thanks for the tip. How long do you soak your seeds for? About how much hydrogen peroxide do you use?

Thanks again,

Chuck

I soak them overnight for most seeds. I don't really measure, I just pour a little in a cup. Maybe 1 part per 20. Same with water in the trays, just add a little H2O2. I also leave a little gap (1/8 inch) between the top and bottom of the tray once a see a few seedlings. The peat doesn't dry out fast so why not get some fresh air in there.

Of coarse something like cosmos don't need all that. Those I just simply plant in the ground when it warms up enough. They need no care so why bother fooling with them.

The tropical stuff can be a pain. The really hard seeds I nick and soak for a good 24 hrs and if I don't see anything happening for a week I put them back in an overnight soak. Also I use warm water to start with. If you pour 40 degree water over them i can't imagine that would help things out.

Dear CoreHHI,

Thanks, I really find these suggestions helpful. I am ordering a couple of annual native wildflower mixes so I am going to try these tips out.

Thanks again,

Chuck

Wildflowers are drop and forget seeds. They're basicly weeds so they germinate easily. I hate to say weeds because one mans weed is anothers prized plant. Native wildflowers are very simply to get going as long as they're native to where you are. It's like maples and sweet gum where I live. They're weeds here, I pull them up left and right. I let a sweet gum grow for 5 years and it was 20 ft tall. On the other hand I saw someone who was all impressed because he was growing a sweet gum. For him it was an exotic. Tree does have very nice color in the fall but here they're so common and are messy if you have a female. Think it's a female tree that gets the gum balls on it.

Give it a shot. It will speed up what your doing.

>chuckle<

I kind of have the same reaction to the Zinnias - they germinate *so* quickly and easily, I hate to see you put extra effort into them unless you're shooting for early blooms. I'm still pinching myself for doing that with Cosmos last year - wasted space in my seed starter for something that would've grown better direct sown... they ended up leggy, then bent - groan. Seeds I put in next to the plants bloomed soon after.

CoreHHI-
I tried soaking my seeds overnight, with hydrogen peroxide, and they ALL rotted. They were not all in the same tray, and the unsoaked seeds were fine. ?????

????? They couldn't have possibly rotted over night or do you mean that the soaked seeds later rotted in their tray? If one rotten in one tray and others in another tray didn't rot I would say you overwatered one tray. Same batch of seeds to start with, right?

That's just strange to happen.

They rotted in the tray within 5 days after soaking. These were in trays with other seeds that were fine, so no uniform rotting. And yes, all the same batch.
I'm going to try sowing batches of seeds with half soaked, half dry and see what happens.

Good idea. Soaking shouldn't have anything to do with rotting.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense. I even checked to be sure that the rotted seeds weren't all from the same vendor, but they were from 5 different seed companies.

Well that pretty much means the peat was to wet for seeds that were already soaked. The dry seeds may have soaked up enough of the water to be alright? 5 seed companies so it wasn't the seeds.

What kind of seeds rotted? I don't start flowers like cosmos etc. I just sow them when I need them outside. Maybe soaking doesn't work on the fast germinating annuals? Some seeds like to be sowed right on the surface so maybe they can't take much water?