Ok, I apologize if my question is a dumb one I am learning...

A week ago, I have planted a dozen of citrus seeds in small pots. Some of the seeds were planted in pure vermiculite (that should be excellent for starting seeds according to the label). Few days ago being curious, I spilled leftovers of my morning tee (I remember reading somewhere that tee may improve seed germination) in three or four of the pots, in which this morning (to my great surprise) I found growing... mold! I should say that the pots were only watered twice during the week since it looks like vermiculite holds forever every single drop of moisture it gets...

I never experimented with those fancy growing media before but having mold did not seem to be right. So, I cleaned it as well as I could... Could you, please, recommend anything else? Or, perhaps, I should not worry about mold too much...

Thank you!!!

Well, I guess, the question was even more dumb than I thought it was. Perhaps, mold has no danger for seedlings.

I don't think it's a dumb question, but it has me stumped ! Vermiculite from a sealed bag should be sterile, and offer no food for mould growth. What kind of mould, thats bread mould type of growth?, and not algae or moss. Seeds can be infected with mould, usually due to poor storage etc before planting.
You would expect the seed to be mouldy, but not the vermiculite itself.
Also what type of tea?? Black tea or herbal tea (chamomile) might be used in seed raising, white tea with two sugars might encourage mould in your pots.
Can you post more info about your problem?

Pagnr,

Thank you very-very muck for your message! I feel better already.

The mold looks quite usual, like regular penicilla (?)... White "fur"-kind-a-thing. The tea was a regular black tea that I brewed that morning fresh.

Actually, I am much more puzzled now: it appears that not only the pots I foolishly tead are growing mold! Other, supposingly steril pots are developing the same mold... It is also in the pots where seeds were planted in other growing medium (jiffy mix or something) 3-5 days later!

I was thinking about repotting seeds in other medium...another idea is to apply something that would kill mold but not seeds (soap, perhaps?) I have big plans for those seeds and do not want to loose them!

Thank you very much again! I would really appreciate your suggestions!

I'm still puzzled. If you have widespread mould, in different pots of different growing mix, it may be more about your growing area. Is it too humid or shady, or staying too moist after irrigation?

GT you can also use the baggy method to germinate your seeds, I use it myself and it works very well. I put a link below, good luck!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Seed-Starting-with-the-%22Baggie-Method.%22/

pagnr,

you may be absolutely right about the area... There are my wife's plants just few feet away, the window itself is crappy (aluminum frame, single glass) keeping temperature few degrees lower than everywhere else in the house. Vermiculite holds moisture forever! It was still damp a week after watering!

Lemandarangequatelo,

thank you very much! The method is very interesting indeed! My mom used to do something similar to start cucs. I wonted to avoid sprouting the seeds outside of growing media since was afraid to damage them while transplanting later.

Regarding the mold's origin... the media might be sterile but my hands were not - perhaps, this was how the mold was spread...

Ok, I found this thread:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/seed/msg0420345512155.html

Someone says that sprinkling the soil surface with H2O2 may kill the mold...

And this is what I did:

1) got rid of evil vermiculite! during this process, I found that 2 out of 10 seeds were eaten by mold. Guess, I did not clean them as good as I thought;
2) carefully cleaned the seeds (one or two seem to start sprouting);
3) 4 out of 8 seeds were sprayed with 70% alcohol and dried (If I'm right, this should prevent contamination and those 4 seeds should be fine; if I'm wrong and alcohol kills the seeds, I would still have 4 other seeds in the pots);
4) pots were filled with regular Jungle grow, seeds were gloriously stuck in it, and watered;
5) all pots were sprayed with H2O2 in case mold was left on pots themselves;
6) 4 out of 8 pots were moved to a warmer (but darker) location next to my computer that is running 24/7.

Let us see what will happen. I still have 4 more seeds in pots with regular seed starting medium that I did not touch.

Thank you again!

GT, you're welcome. I hope your seeds sprout without any problems now. I know what you mean regarding the baggy method. It is an inconvenience to pot the seeds in regular potting medium after they have sprouted in a paper towel. You have to be very careful when taking the seeds out of the paper towel because the roots often grow into it, so you have to gently prise the paper towel apart. Citrus seedlings are surprising sturdy though, with gentle care it can be done with no problems. I have read others don't bother taking the paper towel off, they just carefully cut around where the root is and plant it in the growing medium with the paper towel still on. If you get seeds which stubbornly refuse to sprout in normal growing medium and always mold, then the baggy method is good for such seeds.

Lemandarangequatelo,

I am testing the "baggy method" right now on those hardy mandarin seeds. Basically, I am just curious to see how it works since I am not very concerned about the result.

Meanwhile, this is how my little "germinarium" looks like:


The aluminum pipe in the back is taped to the exhaust duct of my PC that is "on" all the time. I keep the temperature between 80 and 85 F by moving pots closer or further from the pipe. The disadvantage is that the soil dries out very quickly and needs to be watered every other day. Another disadvantage is that pots are sitting in a dark spot. Do I understand correctly that light is not really needed until after the seeds sprout?

GT, that's a clever setup you have there, very nice use of the PC hot air exhaust

Yes you're correct, no light is needed until after the seeds have sprouted.

One improvement I can suggest for your setup is to put some clear clingfilm or plastic over the top of the pots and hold it in place with an elastic band. This will stop the soil from drying out. Before you do this however make sure the soil is moist but not soaking wet, or the seeds will likely mold if there is too much water and no evaporation due to the plastic. I use this method with success when I germinate seeds in pots. I've just germinated a few clementine seeds this way.

I hope your baggy method experiment is a success too

Lemandarangequatelo,

thank you for the excellent suggestion! I will give a try. In fact, I will cover them right now since the soil seems to be just at the right moisture level.

Merry Christmas!

GT you're very welcome and Merry Christmas!

Woohoo!

Looks like my very first Flying Dragon is finally emerging!! After all this time and fighting mold...

This is what I finally did:
1) removed a few seeds from the soil after they were sitting there almost for a month, cleaned them thoughtfully with soup, rinsed in hot (about 110-120 F) water, and dried for 15-20 minutes. Bonnie, thank you very much for your step-by-step instructions!
2) soaked the seeds in a cup of water for one day.
3) following the "baggy method", placed the seeds on a moist (almost dump, in fact) paper towel, put the whole thing in a zip log, put the bag on top of my computer (constant temperature about 80-85 F). Milto, thank you very much for the reference to the "baggy method"! This was on December 29.
4) on January 5, one of the seeds has developed a root (4-5 mm?); this seed was planted in a small pot; the pot was placed on a windowsill and loosely covered by a transparent plastic film. Meanwhile, one seed was tossed from the bag since it got mold, the third seed is still in the bag.
5) finally, I noticed tonight, January 11, that a green sprout starts emerging from the pot...

My conclusions:
1) yes, seeds need to be cleaned very well and possibly dusted with fungicide.
2) "baggy method" works!
3) my germinarium failed, however, PC still can be used to start seeds in a bag.

My special note on fancy growing media: what I tried (Vermiculite and Jiffy seed starting mix), seemed useless! I ended up using partially decomposed fine wooded mulch that I brought from city dump last spring. Simple solutions work!

I also planted yesterday (after starting in a bag) the rest of my seeds (whatever was not eaten by mold - 6 pc.); hopefully, some of them will start in a week too.

Again, thanks to everyone for suggestions and guidance!!!

GT that is excellent! I hope your seedlings continue to grow well

Lemandarangequatelo,
Thank you! I certainly hope so too!