Fuzzy white mold on seedlings
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keithp2012
- Posts: 312
- Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 8:26 pm
Fuzzy white mold on seedlings
I had to transplant my tiny g. Mihanovichii seedlings to new soil as the old soil got so hard water wouldn’t soak in. I transplanted to new soil with high moisture and two days later every seedling has fuzzy, white mold growing up the base of them. Will this kill them? How can I get rid of it?
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greenknight
- Posts: 4821
- Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:18 am
- Location: SW Washington State zone 8b
Re: Fuzzy white mold on seedlings
If it's really mold, they're dead. Sometimes root hairs on exposed roots can look like mold, without pictures I can't judge which it is.
Spence 
Re: Fuzzy white mold on seedlings
I assumed the same issue with some lithops seedlings a few weeks ago. Consensus here was root hairs.
However! I did some research in case it wasn't and some people think white mould can be survivable. Advice was to quickly and very gently scrape the mould from the pot, and increase ventilation. This may not work the same with cacti.
Are you growing using the baggy method? I removed mine from the baggy immediately after finding the issue and it seems to have gone away. Now, again, mine were likely root hairs, so its hard to say whether this was exactly success or if there simply wasn't a problem. Did you sterilise the new soil at all? If not, I have heard Very dilute hydrogen peroxide can help.
Again, I believe lithops seedlings are a little more forgiving with being removed from the germination environment, cactus seedlings may not cope so well. Hopefully someone with experience with cactus seedlings can help more.
A picture would definitely help. If you are just dealing with root hairs, you probably shouldn't try any of the above.
However! I did some research in case it wasn't and some people think white mould can be survivable. Advice was to quickly and very gently scrape the mould from the pot, and increase ventilation. This may not work the same with cacti.
Are you growing using the baggy method? I removed mine from the baggy immediately after finding the issue and it seems to have gone away. Now, again, mine were likely root hairs, so its hard to say whether this was exactly success or if there simply wasn't a problem. Did you sterilise the new soil at all? If not, I have heard Very dilute hydrogen peroxide can help.
Again, I believe lithops seedlings are a little more forgiving with being removed from the germination environment, cactus seedlings may not cope so well. Hopefully someone with experience with cactus seedlings can help more.
A picture would definitely help. If you are just dealing with root hairs, you probably shouldn't try any of the above.