First time trying to grow strawberries and first time using these biodegradable pots instead of plastic in my propagator. As you can see on the photo, after a few weeks the seeds germinated but I also ended up growing a lot of while and green mold.
I only watered them once at the beginning when planting the seeds and haven't really touched it once since. The instruction for the seeds said to remove the cover once they germinate which I did, and within 24h all seedlings fell flat. I put the cover back on and they all recovered but now I got loads of mold.
What am I doing wrong? What should I do next?
by reni-chan
5 Comments
In my very limited experience you can salvage them if the mould isn’t too bad. Yours seems ok.
My advice is to let it dry out completely (not to death mind) then repot into fresh earth (soil, compost, whatever you use).
Not all molds that grow on soil will rot plants. It’s give them a go since they’re sprouting already.
If they’re wilting without a cover I assume they’re losing too much moisture when humidity drops. Adding water to the soil but leaving the cover off to stop humidity collecting should work.
They look like they’re angling pretty sharply to get to light too. Put it directly on a sunny windowsill, if they grow too leggy (etoliated) trying to get to light the skinny little stems are more likely to collapse and grow fragile plants.
If there’s a vent on the propagator, open it. Lift the lid off every now and then to improve airflow. In my experience your seeds will more than likely survive a bit of fluffy mould.
If the plants are strong, they will be ok. Need to address your humidity and ventilation methods though
The cardboard pots always seem to grow a bit of mould (not Mold, that’s a town in Wales) but it never seems to be a problem