propagator help please!!!

bungaro79

hi,
planted a few sets of seeds in two propagators i got from b&q. i've them upstairs out of direct sunlight and only watered them once at the beginning which was about a week ago. they are after sprouting fine but in the past day one of the trays is starting to get a bit of mould on the top. can someone please tell me what i should do next as i assume its not good all this mould! do i need to remove the top of the propagator and let them exposed to air or are they still too small for this??
i've attached photos so you can see exactly whats happening, its mainly the one closer to the window and mostly in one side of it. the last photo is of the one with no mould, just for comparison.

Technophobe

Generally speaking, once they have germinated, you can remove the lid and keep them in as much light as possible....
Keep an eye that they dont get "leggy" as they stretch to seek more light....

newbie2

As far as I'm aware, once the seeds are germinated, you can remove the lid. I just use the lid to keep moisture in the growing medium until germination, then I remove it. This prevents fungus from growing. You may need to make sure that the growing medium doesn't dry out too much. I find that seeds generally do better with a 'slightly' dry compost as it forces them to send out lots of roots to look for water - creating a strong rootball for pricking out.

*when I say dry - I don't mean bone dry. - just drier than usual. ie not soaking wet.

yellowlabrador

I normally remove the cover during the day and recover at night, but then I have no central heating. There's a vent on top that needs to be open and like the above poster, don't have them too wet. Can you move them closer to the window? The more light the less leggy

Oldtree

as soon as my seeds germinate i get them out of the propagator and onto a windowsill south facing and the get along fine, it is light they need after germination. put in trays and allow to soak up water once a week or so for an hour and get rid of excess water from trays immediatly thereafter.

bungaro79

thanks for the advice, i've taken the lids off them and put them onto the window sill which is south facing so they should get any sun we have. as for the light layer of white, should i be concerned about that or should that dry out with the sun?? and last question is how big should they be before i transfer them into bigger pots or outside??
thanks again

newbie2

The fungus should dry out with the light/heat.

When the seeds have developed their first 'true' leaves ie the leaves that look like a smaller version of the parent plants, you can prick them out and place into pots. Use a pencil to loosen it's roots and then lift them out. Lift the plants by a leaf NOT by the stem. If you damage the stem - you're fecked.

bungaro79

thanks newbie, will give that a go

bungaro79

seedlings seem to be coming along quiet well now so thanks for the help! you can see from the pics how big they are now, are they large enough to start moving them into individual trays now do you think??

paddy147

bungaro79 wrote: »

hi,
planted a few sets of seeds in two propagators i got from b&q. i've them upstairs out of direct sunlight and only watered them once at the beginning which was about a week ago. they are after sprouting fine but in the past day one of the trays is starting to get a bit of mould on the top. can someone please tell me what i should do next as i assume its not good all this mould! do i need to remove the top of the propagator and let them exposed to air or are they still too small for this??
i've attached photos so you can see exactly whats happening, its mainly the one closer to the window and mostly in one side of it. the last photo is of the one with no mould, just for comparison.

Just thought Id post this for you.

Depending on the actual propagator make and type you bought...B&Q have issued an urgent recall on certain types.


Probably doesnt affect you...but just incase...


Bottom of their webpage.;)

http://www.diy.com/

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/templates/content_lookup.jsp?content=/content/support/product_information/product_recall/product_recall_verve42.jsp&icamp=HP_recallmsg_42

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/templates/content_lookup.jsp?content=/content/support/product_information/product_recall/product_recall_verve52.jsp&icamp=HP_recallmsg_52

newbie2

bungaro79 wrote: »

seedlings seem to be coming along quiet well now so thanks for the help! you can see from the pics how big they are now, are they large enough to start moving them into individual trays now do you think??

Not quite yet. Those seedling only have their cotyledon (seed leaves) wait until they have a couple of true leaves before pricking them ou.

bungaro79

newbie2 wrote: »

Not quite yet. Those seedling only have their cotyledon (seed leaves) wait until they have a couple of true leaves before pricking them ou.

great stuff, thought it might've been after the first leaves appeared, never heard of those cotyledons!

redser7

They're a bit leggy bungaro. What type of seed are they. 2 things you need to watch with seedlings 1. Get them into as much light as possible, preferably south facing window. 2. Don't sow them too thickly as you have done in places. They will just compete for the light and start to race upwards, getting leggy. If they do germinate closely then you have to thin them out. You might have to sow again, depending on what they are.

bungaro79

thanks redser, all good info i didn't know before. in two of the pics there are daisies (they're the small ones all cramped together) and brompton stock. in the second tray are marigolds. there were over 1000 daisy seeds in the packet hence the cramped living conditions! do you think i should move any of them??

redser7

Just because there are 1000 seeds in the pack doesn't mean you have to sow them all
There's a couple ways to sow indoors. In a flat like you've done here. After they get true leaves you prick them out into small pots to grow on. The other way, which I mostly prefer, is to sow in modules. These are trays with separate compartments.
http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garden-care-watering/growing/propagation/-specificproducttype-inserts___refills/B-and-Q-40-Cell-Insert-08535B-Pack-of-5-9906493?skuId=10317198
Sow one or two seeds in each module. Thin one out if both germinate. Let them grow on in the module till its time to pot on or plant them out in the ground. It's much easier using the modules.
There's still time to start again if you want. I don't know about stocks and daisies but marigolds are fast growing. And now would be the perfect time to sow, they would be just ready for planting out in June. Lidl and aldi have good seed cheap

bungaro79

cheers redser, got a few of those trays in woodies today. the marigolds seem to be growing well, hopefully the other two will give enough for the hanging baskets and window boxes