White mold!? Help!

I thought I had done everything right with my seed flats this year, finally. Right kind of grow lights, a way to keep it warm, proper watering and baked my soil, all that.

Somehow my seed flat has been contaminated with an odd white fungus.

I removed the affected tray of six roma tomatoes and sprayed the rest of the flat with a very mild concentration of Activinate, stated on the packet to use in a mild concentration to control damping off and mold in seedlings.

The next morning, two more trays had mold.

I don't know what to do. I removed the affected trays as before and sprayed again, but I'm scared that tomorrow I'll have two more moldy trays, or more!

Anybody know what I should do???

This message was edited Mar 13, 2015 2:33 PM

Weak chamomile tea can be helpful. I've used it on mold and it worked. http://www.weekendgardener.net/plant-propagation/chamomile-tea-030803.htm

The most common cause of this issue is too much moisture. Either from over-watering or if covered with a dome, not removing it frequently enough to allow air circulation. Within hours of reducing the moisture content the mold dries up and disappears. So make sure you aren't over-watering and if you are using a dome, prop one end up an inch or so. In many cases those domes cause more problems than they solve. Check out the discussions about this on the Seed germination forum.

Dave

Covers are very useful for maintaining soil moisture and humidity for germination... but they need to be removed once the seeds germinate.

I don't see that the poster originally said they were covered. Possibly watering too much or the problem could have been in the soil originally. I've had that happen. :(

Normally Mould is a real problem when the tiny plants are sitting in soil way to moist for the small plants to take up, larger plants can take up the excess moisture as they grow / develop, or the temp is a lot warmer and allows evaporation to happen quicker.
Bottom heat helps to make the mould spread before your eyes, so make sure there is loads of air movement, try to put a small stick into the little plans soil, (a lolly-pop stick) is good as the wood is soft and light in colour therefore when you stick it into the soil it should show a damp line on the wood after about 10 minutes, this shows the soil is over wet, IF the wood comes out clear as when entered the soil, the soil is dry,
I like to water my seedlings from under/bottom of trays / pots, I add water to an old washing up basin ot larger tray without bottom holes, half fill with coolish water, sit the tray of seeds into the water and after about 15 min's, the soil should have gone a darker colour indicating the soil has taken up water. allow the seeds to drain before setting back into the same situation they were in before watering.
There are products at the garden store you mist onto the seedlings and soil to help kill off mould BUT there are also home made products that some folks use, ( a small drop of vinegar or lemon juice mixed with water ( Baby bath temp water) misted onto the seeds helps BUT dont overdo the vinegar or lemon.
Soon as your seedlings are large enough to handle, prick them out into smaller pots or into trays of good quality seed compost bought from the garden store, make sure they are planted about 1 inch apart to allow root room, plenty air to circulate and allows the growing foliage room to breath.
Hope this helps a bit.
Best Regards.
WeeNel.

The tray was uncovered and hadn't been watered since planting.

I used one of the "professional" seed starting trays from Wal-Mart, 72 1" cells. It came with a dome, but I don't use those.

I gave the soil a very thorough drenching when I planted and checked the dirt each day with a toothpick to the corner. It was still moist after a week.

I was using a soil-less seed starting mix, organic, which I had cooked in a microwave with water to sterilize and "open up the pores" of the dirt.

For future episodes of this mold, I simply scooped out the affected soil and replaced it, then soaked with chamomile tea. I figured since it wasn't touching the plant, that'd help, right?

I had to toss my tomatoes because the 2" pots I transplanted them to had some kind of pathogen without my realizing. They have now been bleached and I'm back to square one.

Thank you all for your replies. For some reason DG doesn't notify me when I get replies, so I didn't know I had any until I just now decided to go hunting for them... Is there a way to change this? I'd like email notification.

Usually you get responses to threads on which you've posted. Have you marked Watch Thread right above the first post at the top?

Aye but how do I get the site to notify me by email? It does not do this.

As far as I know, you can't. The site doesn't have that feature.

You will only get a notification re mail IF someone from the site wants to get in touch to you PERSONALLY,
You will find a notification in your Mail In Box telling you so-and s- has sent you private mail sent via the Daves site, it's up to you IF you want to go onto Daves to open the mail.
When you go onto Daves, at the very top of the page it tells you you have a dmail. Maybe you also have to be a member but not sure re that. I do know there is NO notification re any other reminder about mail. If you have asked a question or replied to one then you just go back into the forum and pick up any answers / replies your involved in.
Hope this helps clear things for you.
Kind Regards.
WeeNel.

No, it doesn't do that either.

I've been corresponding privately with another gardener over this forum for some time and I never get email about it, I have to check.