Nirvana Germination peat pellets have a mold?

[Serapis]

I ordered some seeds and a germination kit from nirvana. I soaked the pellets in distilled water for about 2 minutes to allow the pellets to expand with the bacto added and then drained the propagator and placed the seeds into the peat pellets. I placed the top on (clear dome, no holes) and placed in a dark spot.

48 hours later, I opened the top and encountered this.....

View attachment 1096111

I have circled the moldy looking spots that I have spotted. I have now cracked the clear lid to the propagator to allow the excess moisture to escape. Id there something I should do to transfer seeds at this point or should I let them continue?

I'm almost tempted to cut losses and try to transfer to soil in cups. 5 seeds, $33 from Nirvana going up in mold? Has anyone else seen this before?

 

[iz4nidomp4in]

Thats different, I havent seen that ever... Hmmm, does look like some sort of mold...
I read allitle bit on peat pellet mold and they say if over watered I guess they can mold... Not sure about that...
I like the soil method myself

 

[darkdestruction420]

Well, I've certainly never had that problem before. I would take the seeds out now, you dont want mold inside your soil from the pucks when you transfer to soil later on.

 

[jawbrodt]

Actually, I've had that problem a bunch of times, and have finally got it under control. I spray the tray and the outside of the pellets, with neem oil, leave the vents at least halfway open, on the humidity dome, and most importantly...take the dome off and let in fresh air, at least once a day, usually 2-3 times. Also, in addition to all that stuff.... I have a fan blowing across those vents, and never have mold problems, anymore. The same thing happens with soil too, so I know it's not just the pellets. It's the environment we're giving them.

Oh yeah,...take a rag or paper towel, wipe some of the mold off, and spray the side of the pellets with some neem, or some kind of safe anti-fungal stuff. Take the dome off for a couple minutes, 2 or 3 times a day, and you won't have to worry about it anymore. I'm sure there's other remedies, but that's what I used to do, and it worked great.

 

[Serapis]

After reading more about it online, I have sprayed water and hydrogen peroxide to kill the mold and the lid is off. I'll continue with water and H2O2 as needed, but the lid will stay off. These pellets hold some moisture. Another suggestion was water and 5% bleach. I did not want to use bleach and have the peat absorb it up against a possible baby root. If the mold shows no sign of coming back, I'll let the seeds go and see what happens. If mold reappears, neem oil will follow.

 

[jawbrodt]

^The H2O2 should work better than the neem, actually. It has antiseptic properties, whereas neem doesn't. I used neem well before I ever heard of RIU, and was really new to the whole game of growing, because I assumed that the oily film would smother the mold, or at any rate,...slow it down. It did, and it's safe for plants, so won't hurt anything. But, the H2O2 might even help speed up the rooting process, so is a good choice. I'd go that route too, if I'd knew about it, back then.

 

[sicky]

hi i used pellets to germinate mine and started to see mold on the actual roots and stem but once out the propergator and in the light it all went away the whole of ur pellet looks moldy id hit em with some light and heat. did u squeeze the excess water out of the pellet ???

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

A bit of fresh air and daylight will get rid of the mold.
Seeds don't like to be germinated in a warm humid swamp.

G.O.D.

 

[Serapis]

I left the lid cracked and a fan blowing past the open portion and this morning all the excess moisture was gone. I've turned the fan off, hit the pellets again with h2o2 water mix and left dome cracked. Most if not all of the mold appears to be gone. For all I know, it was or is a fungus.

 

[Smrt]

If the seeds havent cracked yet, GET THEM OUT of those pellets, throw those pellets away, start with new pellets and sterelize the shit out of the tray and dome. Too much humidity has shitty effects, as youve now seen. Get rid of any excess water in the tray. Take the lid off once a day for a little while, wipe down the dome and dry it off. If you want some humidity, spray the dome with fresh water, has to be fresh so that the water you sprayed releases the oxygen it has. And do the wipe down and refresher spray DAILY.

 

[Serapis]

If the seeds havent cracked yet, GET THEM OUT of those pellets, throw those pellets away, start with new pellets and sterelize the shit out of the tray and dome. Too much humidity has shitty effects, as youve now seen. Get rid of any excess water in the tray. Take the lid off once a day for a little while, wipe down the dome and dry it off. If you want some humidity, spray the dome with fresh water, has to be fresh so that the water you sprayed releases the oxygen it has. And do the wipe down and refresher spray DAILY.

I'm sure they have, it is going on day 4 now.

 

[potpimp]

This puzzles me as to why Nirvana would say use a dome for seeds. A dome is not needed for seeds or for seedlings, only for clones. I had a real problem with my peat plugs a few months ago and it cost me about 100 seeds. I squirted them with H2O2 and Fung-Oil but I still lost the seeds. Some of the seeds germed but the mold quickly killed the sprouts. They were autos and I had done a seed run so I wasn't out any money but it was still a big disappointment. Glad you got a handle on it. Bad experience is the best teacher.