I doubt it would do much good indoors for such a short period of time. I used corn meal to combat dollar spot fungus in my lawn and it takes a month or more before anything happens. The idea seems to be that corn attracts trichoderma fungi and these are mycoparasitic (they kill [some] other fungi). Not really an ideal scenario for indoor seed starting. For this year you can try bottom watering if it is feasible for you. By keeping the top layer dryish after germination you may be able to reduce or eliminate the mold growth, but that's iffy. Something you can do is lose the peat. Maybe not this year as you probably already have your supplies, but in my experience anything with peat gets the white fuzzy mold as well as green algae like stuff on the mix surface. Not everyone seems to experience this, but some do. I have a fan on my seedlings so I don't think air circulation is the problem. Well, it might be given that it is inside air that is circulating. Nothing I can do about that. What I have been using for seed starting is 100% vermiculite. I like it as it is completely inorganic and doesn't seem to support the growth of anything other than the seedling.

To apply any source of nitrogen at the proper rate involves knowing the percentage of nitrogen (as it appears you are aware) and the amount of nitrogen recommended per feeding. Typically 1 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 sq. ft. is recommended per feeding on lawns. If a product is listed as 10-0-0 that means 10% of it's weight is nitrogen. So, one pound per 1,000 sq. ft would be 10 lbs of the material scattered over 1,000 sq. ft. With that in mind here are some common organic sources of nitrogen: blood meal Hideously expensive source of nitrogen. Around 12% nitrogen by weight making it very attractive, but way over priced per unit of nitrogen. Typical analysis 12-0-0 Poultry manure If you have access to a free source of this it is the organic nitrogen source to have, but it isn't only nitrogen making it easy to overload the soil with other nutrients when used exclusively for a lawn fert. Typical analysis 3-4-3. soybean meal almost impossible to score for free, but great stuff. Typical analysis 6-1.5-2. Ideal ratio for lawns. Try to find at feed stores and the like in bulk. fish products If you are a commercial fisherperson or know someone who is, this is great, otherwise terribly expensive. Typical analysis 9-7-0. Should be enough to make anyone stop tossing fish leftovers into the trash. alfalfa meal Can be found overpriced as rabbit food at pet stores or in bulk at farm/grain stores more reasonably. Typical analysis 3-.5-3. corn gluten This is not to be confused with cracked corn or ground corn. Gluten is an isolated portion of the kernel and is not available everywhere. Where it is available prices vary dramatically depending on how it is packaged. Typical analysis 9-0-0 Brewers grains Certainly not easy to come by for everyone, but if you are buddies with a person running a microbrew, then big score time. Typical analysis of 'spent' grains 1-.5-0 cottonseed meal Not available in my neck of the woods, but for those who can get it inexpensively the typical analysis is 6-1.5-2.5. The waste from cotton mills is typically 1.3-.4-.4 so much lower, but around the same levels. egg shells Typical analysis 1.4-.4-.2 Pretty much impossible to find commercially, but should be reason enough to not send them to a landfill. Very high in calcium, a minor plant nutrient as well. feathers Doesn't much matter what creature the feathers come from. Typical analysis 15-0-0 making them a super source of nitrogen. Good luck finding them in bulk, but yet another source that shouldn't be sent to the landfill if you have them. hair, human or otherwise 12-0-0. Breaks down very slowly, but a rich source of nitrogen. Again, good luck finding it commerically, but if you are friendly with a barbershop and don't mind running it through a blender to make it break down faster and not blow away, a terrific source of N. If you are a parent cutting your kid's hair at home, you know what to do ;-) Now let's discuss manures. Typically manures are available in two forms. Fresh and composted. Here it is really, really important to remember one all encompassing, unavoidable fact. Composted anything is very low in nutrients. They get used up/leeched out in the composting process. Compost is great, just not as fertilizer for the big 3 N-P-K. Composted manure regardless of whether it comes from horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep or something else has a typical analysis of 1-1-1. Not coincidentally compost made from all plant ingredients has a typical analysis of 1-1-1 as well. Also not surprisingly the pH of compost is nearly always neutral regardless of what went into the compost. In other words, compost is compost is compost regardless of what ingredients went into it. Please keep this in mind or you will get ripped off. Now, lets take a look at some controversial sources of nitrogen you are almost certainly producing in quantity and throwing away. WARNING, the following is not for the faint of heart. Dog and human manure are rich in nutrients. They also carry the potential for disease causing organisms. Nevertheless if you have a dog you might want to consider smashing the poop with a shovel to spread it out and speed decomposition rather than sending it to a land fill. It is terrific fertilizer and the round worms, if present in the poop, are already in your soil so don't give it another thought. urine Golly gee wizz (pun intended) if there is a higher nitrogen source than urine I don't know what it is. According to some sources urine is 45% nitrogen. Think about that. 45-?-?. That is a super high nitrogen source. So high that dogs peeing in the same spot can fert/salt burn the turf. Imagine how great it could be if highly dilluted and used over the entire lawn as a nitrogen fert. Well, imagine no longer. For those willing to stomach it, you can quite literally fertilize your entire lawn at no cost. Buy one of those containers you attach to your hose to fertilize with and fill it with urine, your own or from whatever source. Water the lawn. All done. ;-) Gross? I guess. Highly efficient and cost effective? You bet. Quite literally humans flush away one of the best sources of clean nitrogen available to us several times per day. I understand it is kind of gross, but think about it.

It is one of the main ingredients in Holly-tone. It is much more complete with iron for the leaves, phosphates for blooming, potash for strong roots, calcium for strong plants, sulfur for acidity and many minor and trace elements. Here is what is in Holly-tone: Derived from: Dehydrated Manure, Feather Meal, Crab Meal, Cocoa Meal, Corn Gluten, Cottonseed Meal, Dried blood, Sunflower Meal, Kelp Meal, Alfalfa Meal, GreenSand, Rock Phosphate, Sulfate of Potash, Humates, Ammonium Sulfate, and Triple Super Phosphate. It supplies: Total Nitrogen (N) ............................................................. 4.0%       1.90% Ammoniacal Nitrogen       0.55% Other Water Soluble Nitrogen       1.55% Water Insoluble Nitrogen Available Phosphate (P2O5) ............................................. 6.0% Soluble Potash (K2O)....................................................... 4.0% Calcium (Ca) .................................................................... 3.0% Total Magnesium (Mg)...................................................... 0.5%       0.3% Water Soluble Magnesium (Mg) Sulfur (S) .......................................................................... 5.0%       5.0% Combined Sulfur (S) Boron (B).......................................................................... 0.02% Chlorine (Cl) ..................................................................... 0.1% Cobalt (Co) ...................................................................... 0.0005% Total Copper (Cu)............................................................. 0.05% Total Iron (Fe) ................................................................... 1.0% Total Manganese (Mn)...................................................... 0.05%       0.01% Water Soluble Manganese (Mn) Molybdenum (Mo)............................................................ 0.0005% Sodium (Na)..................................................................... 0.1% Total Zinc (Zn) .................................................................. 0.05%

My oldest son was diagnosed as Celiac when he was 2 1/2 years old. Back then, a blood test didn't find it, but a biopsy did. He's been on a VERY strict gluten free diet ever since. I remember asking his pediatrician why my baby looked like a starving baby. He was literally a stick with a basketball for a belly. His poor tummy would bloat so bad! I should show you pictures.......... The doctor just shushed me off and said there was nothing wrong with him. Never mind that he only weighed about 10 pounds and was TWO YEARS OLD! He ended up in the hospital with something unrelated when a resident took it upon himself to try to prove I was starving my baby. Nobody told me about this, the pediatric staff was all behind him. They fed him and fed him and fed him. And he lost a pound. Just like I did at home. This 10# child could eat a pork chop, mashed potatoes and a WHOLE can a spinach, then want more. Before he went to bed at night I would try to fatten him up with a bowl of cream of wheat then I put him to bed with a bottle of whole milk mixed with pablum. Normally that's very bad, but I figured he would keep eating during the night when he found his bottle. NO weight gain. When the resident saw even he couldn't fatten up my baby behind my back, they called in the specialist who ran tests. The day he was diagnosed, he went on a 100% NO gluten diet. It took about a year to see any difference in his weight gain. Because all of the villa in his small intestine had been stripped clear from all the gluten, we had to give it time to regenerate. He still eats like a horse and has to be watched 24/7 because he doesn't know how to read and will eat anything. ONE wrong food can set him back months. I don't know that taking out a gall bladder could cause Celiacs, because I'm no doctor............ but I was told back them Celiac's is comparable to an allergy. Why? Because it's your bodies way of reacting to something it shouldn't have. While it is not an allergy, it's like one. And it is possible, I suppose, that you developed it and having the surgery before the symptoms started is just coincidence. Again, I'm no doctor but you should bring up your concerns to him and ask for some tests to set your mind at ease. If you want though in the meantime, take gluten out of your diet. But that means reading each and every label and knowing how to find gluten in those labels. It's not always labels as wheat, rye, oats or barely and rarely if ever labeled as gluten. Some medications also have gluten in them, so you would have to let the pharmacist know. Processed sandwich meats and cheese slices are also full of gluten. As another person said, it's everywhere.