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Need help with fungus!

11 years ago

This is my first time growing peppers from seed, so I did some research on here and other parts of the internet on how to be successful. I planted the seeds on Sunday, went on vacation on Tuesday and got back Friday night, and many of them have germinated. Unfortunately, there is some light fungus growth forming on the substrate (coco coir). The seeds are planted individually in a seed tray, covered with a sheet of plastic and sitting on a heat mat. Should I remove the plastic and start using a fan at this point, or would it be enough to air them out for a while every day to keep the fungus in check for several days? The seedlings are still very small of course and I don't want them to dry out, and there are several which haven't popped up yet.

Comments (3)

sandy0225
11 years ago
The best thing would be if you could cut out the ones from your tray that have germinated, and remove the plastic from them and expose them to air. But they're probably not ready for a fan blowing directly on them yet.
Then recover the others for more germination.
if you can't do that or don't want to cut your trays, then transplant out the ones that have germinated. just hold them by the seed leaves, not the stems when you take them out.
Edymnion
11 years ago
I try not to cover at all, due exactly to that, the fungus problem.

I would definitely recommend uncovering any sprouted plants immediately. Personally, as soon as I see seed leaves, I take a butter knife and cut the chunk of coir out of the starter tray (so that I don't disturb the roots as much as possible) and put them coir plug and all into a starter pot with actual soil. Let them grow in that until they're ready for transplant outside.

One thing you can use to kill the fungus and mold though is hydrogen peroxide. Get some from the pharmacy section of any grocery store (assuming you're in the US), should be 3% concentration. Just put it in a spray bottle (or buy it in a spray bottle if you see one) and spray it directly onto the coir and the seedlings.

Even freshly sprouted seedlings can withstand upwards of 10% concentration of H2O2 without burning them, but the 3% is more than enough to kill the fungus and mold. You'll know its working when you see the soil start fizzing.
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weirdflowers
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks to both of you! I used peroxide to kill the fungus and covered the rest of them just until they came up; seemed to work out alright. This isn't just my first time germinating peppers, it's the first time I've grown anything from seed. I'll get the hang of it eventually...

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