Subject: Re: Mold invasion

From: [email-masked]
Date: 12 Mar 95 20:59:43 CST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
 (Glenn T. Welsh) writes:
> I beleive all your 'mold' problems are a thing called 'dappening off' !  Try 
> this; be sure your planting medium has super drainage (add lots of 
> vermiculite). The ready to use plant/seed starter mediums are not
 recommended. 
      I have a number of peat pots with considerable mold of different hues
containing tomato seedlings, peppers, and egg plants, in which the seedlings
are thriving and not damping off at all. It seems possible to have molds
without damping off. The mold seems to form on the jiffy pots made of peat but
not on plastic. I have found that commercial starting mixes work fine for my
purposes. What doesn't work well, for starting seeds, potting soil mix.
Commercial mixtures without soil seem to be working fine for me. It is when I
used non-sterilized soil that I had problems with damping off. Lack of humidity
or drying of the surface of the peat pot seems to kill the molds.
  Cheers, Ken Hanly between Zone 2 and 3. Don't put plants too close to the
windows here unless there are no drafts. You'll freeze them. I know!