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Anyone who at least once starts growing seedlings of vegetables or flowers can face this problem: a strange bloom appears on the surface of the soil in a container in which the seedlings grow. If you take a closer look, it becomes clear that mold has settled there. This phenomenon raises many questions. What to do if mold appears in the seedlings? Why does mold form on the ground with seedlings? Where did it come from? Does it harm plants and people? Let's try to answer them.
Mold - what is it
This is a microscopic fungus, consisting of branching filaments - 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 residues. The best conditions for its development are warm and high humidity.
Mold is surprisingly tenacious. She was found in space and on the walls of a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl. She is not afraid of frost, so freezing the soil does not rid it of fungal spores. It is extremely difficult to fight mold fungi; it is best simply not to create optimal conditions for their existence and development.
Why is she dangerous
Penetrating into the respiratory tract of a person, it settles in the lungs. Mold accumulates in the body and causes various diseases, including allergies and toxic poisoning. Mold is especially dangerous for people with low immunity.
It negatively affects plants:
- mold is a fungus, followed by more aggressive fungal races, from which the roots of seedlings can rot, possibly a black leg disease;
- plant nutrition is disturbed, the waste products of mold 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 been dived. Adult seedlings have already mastered the entire volume of the pot, its root system secretes substances that suppress the growth of molds, and the gardener will have to take care of the "kids".
Seedling crops are grown indoors. It would seem that in a confined space nothing bad can happen to them, there is no contact with the street, and molds simply have nowhere to come from. Why does the soil become moldy in seedlings?
Reasons for the appearance of mold in containers with seedlings
The source of fungal spores, from which mold develops, can be:
- the soil;
- mold that is already in the room;
- seeds - they can also contain fungal spores.
The following factors also 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 molds;
- high acidity of the soil, if the soil is neutral, the growth of molds is suppressed by other microorganisms that are in the soil, but with increased acidity, these mold fighters die;
- the soil in the seedlings grows moldy with an excessive amount of organic matter in the soil;
- poor drainage or lack thereof, in this case, excess moisture is not removed through the holes, but evaporates from the soil surface, creating increased air humidity;
- too large a volume of planting capacity - the root system does not encircle the entire soil, it sours at the walls of the pot, which contributes to the development of mold;
- rare ventilation and stagnation of air in the room;
- irrigation with unsteady water with a high content of mineral salts;
- too frequent and plentiful irrigation of seedlings;
- absence of ultraviolet rays, window glass completely stops them.
Mold is dangerous not only for seedlings. It so happens that it appears on the surface of the soil before the seeds have sprouted. In this case, shoots can not be expected. The fungus hyphae are capable of germinating into sown seeds. The embryo will die and there will be no shoots. Often, to accelerate seed germination, containers with crops are covered with foil. The microclimate underneath it is just perfect for the growth of molds. 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 the landing containers, white fluffy bloom often appears. If white mold appears on the ground with seedlings, it is a mushroom from the genus Mucor. It usually lives in the surface layers of the soil. Mucor can also be observed on food, for example, on spoiled bread. Mucor food - biological residues, which are many in insufficiently decomposed soil.
If white mold appears on the seedlings, what should I do? The first step is to raise the temperature where the seedlings are growing. Mukor thrives best in cool conditions.
Mold in pots with seedlings can be of a different color: green or even black. The latter is especially dangerous for both humans and pets, who 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 ways as with the rest of its types. The main thing is to do it quickly. Every day, the fungus hyphae grow and harm the plants more and more.
If the soil with seedlings is moldy, what to do in this case? How to deal with mold on seedlings?
How to deal with mildew
You need to deal with it in a complex way. And first of all, you should analyze the conditions for keeping seedlings, understand what was done wrong. You can always change the irrigation regime, if necessary, increase the temperature where the seedlings are kept, reduce the air humidity, make drainage holes in the planting container if they are not there.
It is much more difficult to deal with mold on seedlings if the reason for its appearance is improperly selected soil.
To destroy the mold that has appeared on the soil when growing seedlings, several methods are used.
- Mechanical.
- Chemical.
- Biological.
- People's.
First of all, they start with mechanical removal of mold from the soil in a container or pot in which the seedlings are grown.
How to mechanically remove mold from seedlings:
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 mold is visible.
- Instead of the harvested part of the soil, they pour in a new one, otherwise the bare roots will suffer and may die off.
- They dry the soil well, preferably under the bright rays of the sun. The new soil must be thoroughly disinfected so as not to add a new portion of fungal spores with it.
- All collected soil 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 molds. 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 the fungi itself.
You can additionally protect the top of the soil in the following ways:
- dry soil is sprinkled with wood ash, a fairly thin layer, the benefits of this are double - 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, for fungi it is unattractive.
If the mechanical method does not work, and the mold reappears, you should not start all over again. You need to proceed to the next stage and apply chemicals against it. Experienced gardeners advise using Oxyhom, Fundazol for processing. Solutions of these drugs are used instead of irrigation water, usually once. You can do it differently:
- remove mold-affected plants and treat the soil with copper sulfate 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 double processing will not give a result. After the first application, it is repeated every 5 days three more times. Together with spraying, the soil is also irrigated with a solution of biofungicide, which is prepared strictly according to the instructions.
There are also folk ways to combat mold on seedlings. What gardeners use if the soil under the seedlings is moldy:
- Once every 2 weeks, water the seedlings with a pink solution of potassium permanganate.
- Activated carbon tablets are crushed and buried in the upper layers of the soil. Charcoal against mold on seedlings can be used in another way: sprinkle the surface of the soil with crushed charcoal. Sometimes crushed charcoal is mixed with sifted ash from hardwood combustion. The proportion is 1: 2.
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When preparing a mixture for sowing seedlings, Shungi Terra fertilizer is added to it. You can powder the surface of the soil with it. 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 powdered and lightly sprinkled over the surface of the soil.
- Metronidazole against mold on seedlings is used in the form of a solution: one tablet for two and a half liters of water.
- Spraying seedlings with a solution of Nitrofungin helps well - 25 drops are diluted in 0.5 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 get 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 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 suggested above.
How to remove mold from petunia seedlings or mold from strawberry seedlings? For this, one of the above methods is suitable. These plants develop slowly at first and therefore require special attention. It is better not to wait for the appearance of mold, but to properly care for the 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 measures are carried out correctly, this indicates that the peat that was used to prepare the tablets did not mature 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 new soil.
Conclusion
Any mold that appears in the soil with seedlings must be dealt with. So we will not only save the planted plants from death, but also preserve our own health, which mold can greatly damage.
