Having problems with stubborn mold growth on your baby seedlings? Or perhaps the mold has found your plants before they have even germinated. Never fear, I will share with you three simple tools to have in your gardener’s belt in order to stop the mold in its tracks.
Is the Mold Damaging my Seedlings?
Thankfully, the mold is not damaging your seedlings. We do however want to prevent the spread of any mold. In my journey with growing seedlings, it always seems like mold is that pesky foe that is just lingering, waiting to build its home on top of your plants. Fortunately, if it does occur, it will not harm your plant babies!
Why Is Mold Growing on my Seedlings?
Mold growth occurs whenever there is a combination of heat and moisture. Growing seedlings indoors is often a fine balance of how much water, heat, and air to provide for the plants. Mold is a tell-tale sign that your growing conditions are not ideal for your little seedlings.
Mold is a great warning sign that you need to lower the humidity wherever you are growing your seedlings. This means that you’ll need more circulating air, less water, and possibly less heat.
How Can I Stop my Current Mold Growth on Seedlings?
- Scrape off the Mold
The first thing that you can do to help you stop your current mold growth, is to gently scrape the top layer of dirt that is covered in mold off your plant. It is very important that you do not take too much dirt from the surface of your plant, because you don’t want to expose the root system or hinder its growth.
2. Check your Humidity Levels and Add Air Circulation
Next, you need to look at how you are housing your seedlings. Is it in a greenhouse? Do you have a plastic tray on top of your seedlings? Do you have a heater in the room with your seedlings? Any one of these things could be giving your seedlings too much heat and therefore causing mold growth due to the humidity that the heat has created.
The best way to beat the mold is to get air circulation around your plants. You can put a fan in your greenhouse or wherever your plants are stored. This will help to make your plants healthier and not to have too much moisture at the surface of your plants.
3. Don’t Over Water Your Seedlings
We all know that it is important not to let your seedlings become too dry while they are growing because it will damage their growth, but who knew you could be watering them too much?! Growing seedlings is very easy, but you must ensure that they are not receiving too much water. This is a breeding ground for mold and root rot.
Consider bottom watering your seedlings. Instead of watering your seedlings from the top, try bottom watering. This is where you set your plant containers inside of a tray. We like to use these 10X20 trays to bottom water. Pour enough water into your tray until they are ¼ of an inch covered in water. Set your timer for 30 minutes. During that 30 minutes, your plants are watering themselves from the bottom and soaking up how much water they need. After 30 minutes, dump out any remaining water.
You can also use a spray bottle to lightly spritz the top of your seedlings. The key is to not oversaturate the top of the soil.
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4. Stop Mold Growth on Seedlings by Adding Cinnamon
If you have tried all of these tips and are still seeing pesky mold growth on your seedlings, try cinnamon! You’re probably wondering why cinnamon needs to be added to your plants. Cinnamon is a natural antifungal, so it will help prevent mold growth on your plants.
I like to take a tiny pinch of cinnamon and gently blow it on the dirt around my seedling. Avoid blowing it on the plant itself, as this can cause your plant to become burnt by your grow lights.
Yay! You Can Stop Mold Growth on Seedlings!
Implementing these four tips will lead you on your way to mold free seedlings. This will also help you to prevent any future mold growth. Your plant babies will be thanking you and you won’t feel like you’ve failed them.
Growing seedlings is trial and error. Don’t ever stop growing, though! Push past any obstacles that find you or your seedlings and keep on growing.
How to Grow Plants from Seeds
Do you want to know more about growing plants from seeds? I’m here to teach you all about it. Join me as I go through the trails and errors that beginner gardeners experience. Learn from my mistakes and resilience in the garden, so that you too can be more self sufficient. 🙂 Read this post all about growing seedlings indoors.
Tell me in the comments if you were able to prevent any more mold growth on your seedlings. Did you try the cinnamon hack?
Thank you for sticking around! If you would like to read my other posts on gardening, click here!
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