stevelau1911

I'm sure many other people have struggled with germinating seeds especially with the seeds that take much longer for germination because the mold becomes a major problem.

I did an experiment with tree peony seeds which are very slow to germinate and are especially prone to growing mold. I had test seeds in paper towels, vermiculate, seed starting mix, nothing, perlite, and vermiculate. All of them had barely enough water to keep the seeds plump since too much water can kill the seeds.

After about a month or so I found that the perlite was probably the worst as far as fungal problems as there was the green and yellow mold forming. The seed starting mix was horrible too. It looked like the paper towels as well as empty bags had mold problems too however the mold didn't grow nearly as fast. Once a seed gets moldy, it is pretty much infected. The vermicuate was the only medium where I didn't see any fungal activity, and after doing a bit of research online, I found that vermiculate does have anti bacterial properties which perhaps makes it the best medium. Once these guys germinate, then they'll be set.

I used to resort to germinating everything outside in gardening beds because for some reason, they never seem to have mold problems when they are planted out. Even moldy seeds lose their mold after being in the soil for a few days. This bacteria free environment makes it much easier to germinate a plant like the tree peony or any other slow germinating seeds that are prone to mold.

Has anyone ever had mold problems when growing with vermiculate before?

Now I might be able to try banana seeds or much harder to germinate seeds since I finally found something that doesn't promote fungi.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

sunfish

I you germinate the seed without light,in the dark,you will not get mold . I have seed that have been in perlite for 3 months no mold.Put hem in the light,sun, you get mold.

jmoore

not sure mould is light dependent. The green mould may be algae which does need light.

For the record I use only vermiculite, good stuff.

sunfish

Mold is not light dependent maybe,if mold is forming than it comes from the seed not from the perlite.

jmoore

I agree, a good spray with copper sulphate based fungicide should ease the problem then.

stevelau1911

After putting some seeds that were getting moldy into vermiculate, it looks like the mold growth has stopped forming so I believe there are some antifungal properties in vermiculate. Usually a moldy seed gets moldy again within a few hours after getting cleaned off and returned to the same medium however after a couple days in vermiculate, it seems to have halted altogether

I also doubt that light is the factor as the mold usually starts on a seed, then puts out spores and infects the others. If they are bacteria related, then any contamination on a seed can contaminate the whole bag withing a few hours. Perhaps due to condensation from light energy, mold may spread faster in light. Anyways I plan on using straight vermiculate on all my seeds from now on.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

kentiopsis

Palm growers use sphagnum moss, that beautiful, almost-white, expensive stuff. Plunge the moss in water and then squeeze out every drop you can so that the moss is just damp. Layer the seeds and the moss; seal in the Ziploc. I imagine palm seeds are pretty tough compared to some other seed, and I haven't germinated anything else that way. My theory is that this method mimics the environment in moist leaf litter, where seeds might naturally end up.

Randy4ut

Try coco coir... best medium I have used and will not use anything else...

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stevelau1911

Eventually the vermiculate still failed, but I think the cause may be that there's a heater right underneath the germination area, raising the humidity too high which maybe makes the seeds more prone to mold.


Anyways, I resorted back to the way that has always worked and planted them outdoors where they somehow tend to lose their mold and germinate in a natural environment. There must be something in the gardening beds that are erasing the mold whenever I plant them out. I have a few thousand tree peonies in the ground now so hopefully the plant tags don't get blown away because I want to have a firm ID of each species as they come up next spring or the spring after.

Maybe I just suck at germinating things in plastic bags. It seems like once there's an infection, spores can be spread throughout all the seeds within a couple minutes. My best germination of any seeds are straight into the soil outdoors during the growing season.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

2woodensticks

might help{have not tried banana seed myself}some reptile eggs take 6-9 months to incubate so what we do is use athletes foot powder or spray[tough acting tanacton} works for me..never any mold or fungus..works for us might help...i also add a little rooting compound to my spray water,has an anti fungus antibacterial compound in it..

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got to love em..{neotropical rattlesnake..cascabell}

jmoore

I heard cinnamon was supposed to be antifungal

Yuri Barros

Terminalia cattapa leaves............knowed as Indian Almond Leaves (IAL) contain antibacterial and antifungal substances............

But I never test with Banana Seed Germination................in this case..........adding an amount of crushed dry leaves.......................

Its well known IAL to cure fish illness..........

As well as conditioning the water............of soft water Aquarium Fishes.........like Bettas.............

I used to breed wild strains of Bettas..................and I use IAL with sucess...........

Also I used Dry Banana Leaves..............to condition the Fish Water........

IAL and Banana Leaves are common in Thailand Medicine.............

Maybe if I got some Musa ingens seeds....................

I will test a substrate made of Banana and IAL leaves...............

stevelau1911

Here, I am using water crystals to try and germinate some tree peony seeds. The only other time I have had success without rotting on these seeds is when I used a slightly moistened paper towel. I hope this setup is not too wet for the seeds.

Here's how they look.


Has anyone had success in germinating seeds with water crystals before?

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

jmoore

Interesting idea. I guess providing the seed has access to oxygen then it might work.

Rose

How did the experiment with water crystals go?

stevelau1911

They failed to produce any results, but stuff seems to germinate after it is taken out of the bag. I think the oil in the water crystals may inhibit germination so it is definitely not recommended.

It may be better to simply germinate stuff in soil, and a strong light. I use a 400 watt metal halide for my seedlings.

Here's one of the angled luffa seedlings from last week. This should allow them to be nice and big when they go outside.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/