Mold or Fungus grew and DESTROYED my Jiffy Greenhouse - HELP

This is my very first time attempting to garden and I now have the feeling I'm not going to do well. I'm going to give it one more try though and if anyone can offer any advise to me I would be so happy.
I started with a Jiffy Professional Greenhouse and followed the instructions to the "T" with beautiful resulst in just a few days. But then after about 2 weeks I started to see small white fuzzy weblike groths. I removed the lid because the seedlings were starting to push it up and with in a week everything was DEAD (see picutre).
If there is anyone who can help me understand what I did wrong and what I can do to avoide this happening again that would be great. I'm going to restart a new tray today so, please, bring on the suggestions!

Hi Sabrina, I am a beginner too, and I had the same problem last year. I was told that I kept it all too wet and I needed a fan for circulation. This year I also add1 tsp of peroxide to my water (each half gallon) before watering and spraying. With the fan and the peroxide, I have had no mold at all this year. I hope members with more experience will correct me if I am steering you wrong.

I have a bunch of those Jiffy trays too and although I didn't get any mold on the plants I have in them, a little mold did start to get on the soil of some pablanos I had in a plastic shoe box. I think it was because the container didn't have any drainage or light(the house temp is around 70 degrees. I lightly misted it with 1:10 3% peroxide/water mix. I also put it under lights(temped at 84 degrees) and outside in the sunlight when I was at work. That was the last I saw of the mold.

I am a beginner too but I just followed people's advice I saw on the internet and it seemed to work.

The lid needs to be taken off when the plant starts to grow leaves.

SabrinaW,
From the looks of your "before" pic, I see several considerations:
►It looks like your seedlings are growing tall and "leggy," which indicates perhaps you do not have them under a light source. Is this the case? They seem to be stretching toward the light source. You can construct a simple light shelf very easily. I'll post the link for you. Concrete blocks, shelf boards and two fluorescent shop light kits from Home Depot or Lowes. Regular old 48" fluorescent tubes will do. Keep the lights no more than 2" away from the tops of the seedlings. 12-14 hours of light per day.

Simple light shelf by Tom Conner (tcfromky)

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/48/

►Epilogue1212 is spot on! Great advice. I had the same mold issue beginning to grow on some of the 208 tomato seeds I started this January. Carolyn Male (Dr. C - THE tomato expert) advised that there are some harmless mold spores that float around and sometimes settle on the soil. The saturation provides a great growing field. Hence, I dried out my seedling starter mix and bottom-watered only enough to slightly moisten the soil. I, too, have used a mixture of 1 TBSP Hydrogen Peroxide to a gallon of Warm water to help with any funguluglies. After the seedlings started getting fatter and were potted up to larger containers, once they were moistened I poured off any excess, and never let them remain in standing water.

►Unlike behillman, I remove the cover of my seedling tray as soon as the very first seedling peeps through the soil.

►Since you are growing in individual peat pellets, in the future you can move the ones that have broken through the soil immediately under the lights, and leave the remaining ones under your cover until they break through. But, once one seedling comes up, at the very least you should prop the cover open a bit to provide some air circulation to the tray. Remember: too damp/wet + no air circulation = a potential mold bed!

Keep us posted on your next attempt.

BTW, What were you starting?

Linda


This message was edited Apr 11, 2011 3:34 PM

Had the same problem ( this is also my first year growing and got 4 jiffy greenhouses) The first one started to grow mold just like that. And my mold problem was the whole reason i got on the internet and joined dave's garden! So a blessing in disguise? But I just took the top off, permanently, then turned on the ceiling fan to let them dry out. The mold went away naturally. I scraped some off too, but there were a few plants i just threw away. As soon as your first seedling sprout start to dry out the soil a little and keep it more dry than wet. That was what I read and it worked. My plants now get a little sip of water twice a day. They're doing great! I saw a big long thread discussing the mold in jiffy greenhouses... maybe you can find it.

1) I never cover my seeds/seedlings with a dome
2) I never water from the top, only from the bottom
3) I never use jiffy pots/pellets
4) I never have mold/fungus

I got the same Jiffy Greenhouse mold too. I'm certain it was from over-watering and leaving the lid on too long. Though I used starter-peat and only bottom-watered, when the mold dried it left a crusty top. I just used a medium-sized kabob stick to poke around a bit since my seedlings are still quite small and frail. I love this DG site! I learn something new every time I visit. Today: the H2-O2/water trick and why my starts are so spindly. Regarding that -->I just added some more starter peat around them today... so... Is THAT an OK thing to do? (They only had 1-2 sets of true leaves)

Here's the link to an article that might be helpful for your seed-starting.

http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/hardening-off-seedlings.aspx?utm_source=email&utm_medium=eletter&utm_content=20110411-transplant-fountain-bigsmall&utm_campaign=fine-gardening

I use the Jiffy trays on herbs and tomatoes. I keep the top on (creating a mist - sorry, Honeybee) until I get the first green. But ALWAYS, I use a fan and a small heating fan in Feb/ Never any mold.

I use cow pots after the seedlings are too big for the Burpee seed starting plastic trays. I had mold growing on my cow pots because i had them all too close together and there wasn't enough room for air circulation in between. I moved them apart today and am hoping the mold goes away. I also just purchased a 400W grow light which has increased soil temps from 60 degrees to 72! I also have a fan blowing on the plants/light all day while the light is on. I have the light on for 18 hours. Is this too much for vegetative stage of vegetables?

urbanveggies412 - I don't know the answer to your question about having lights on for 18 hours, but I figure plants need to sleep too, so I have my lights on for 16 hours.

12-14 hours of light is sufficient...

My 208 tomato and 65 bell pepper seedlings were on a 7a-7p schedule, under 4 fluorescent shop lights per shelf. They did fine.

I truly believe that a fan makes a huge difference. Circulating air is healthier for the plants, and I have read in several places (although I couldn't cite one now), that the breeze from the fan helps the plants stems to grow stronger because the resistance. Sounds good.

Last year was my first year with the fan and it has made a world of difference. I usually have it on an hour in the morning, and an hour at night. My fan has a timer, but I am not comfortable having it on all day.

Ok based on some feedback i am taking the lights down to 16 hours. They are doing really well with the 18hrs but let's see if we can get the roots growing a bit more with a couple hours more of dark.

this is my 4th year with a garden. doing it big this year. so far i have started:

quinoa, peas, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, all kinds of peppers, lettuce, strawberries, potatoes(which i really need to transplant and put outside), okra(for a friend since i hear it is gross), basil, lavender, mint, brocolli, cabbage, and i think that is all.

whatever you do- do NOT give up! I have my seeds started under cover. Once they sprout I move them out to the lights. water when they start looking a little dry, dont water for the sake of watering. There is a lot of useful info on this site, so try to soak up as much of it as you can. And most importantly, remember: do NOT give up! We've all started somewhere.

Yeah, what Lorvan said!

urbanveggies412 - You must not be a Southerner with your anti-okra attitude! LOL It is wonderful fried, stewed with tomatoes & onions, fantastic in gumbo. The only hard part is picking since they grow rapidly & can't be allowed to get too big or they get tough. Try a bowl of tomatoes, okra & onion. Cut up all, lightly saute the onion, add the other veggies. Use chicken broth, thyme, pepper, bay leaf (and if you want) hot sauce. Enjoy!

Who does not like okra???? Love them!! Love them!!! Belle