Potential fungus in Germination Bag

10 years ago

Dear Houzz forums, This is my first attempt to grow cacti (or anything other than vegetables) from seed. I chose the baggie method as many websites and individuals have vouched for it. Part of this method includes cleaning/sterilizing soil to prevent anything but your seeds growing in the grow bag.

Planting day was a little under a week ago and I sterilized soil and cleaned pots as much as I thought was necessary. However when inspecting one pot today I noticed a light grey fuzz that I do not think was there before. I could be nothing (I will keep watching it) but it could also be a fungi threat to the future of that bags seedlings.

The blue square is surrounding what I think is the fungus/spore clump. Not sure what it is if anything but I'm fairly certain it wasn't there yesterday or the days before. The green square is highlighting what I think is a just sprouted seed, currently a white millimetre with a black hat (yay!).

Does anyone have any experience growing cacti this way? Is the blue highlighted area in the photos a potential danger? If so is there anything I can do about it or just wait and see?
So far this is the only bag/pot to have this problem.

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Comments (3)

grubby_AZ Tucson Z9
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Think of fungi as a symptom of a problem and not a problem in themselves. Since the good growing conditions for fungi are so opposite from those of cacti, you have most likely a problem in watering and/or airflow that needs to be looked at right away.
Tamiya #1 (AU, SG, MY & ZZZzzzz...)
10 years ago
Dunno about cacti seedlings but when peat surface gets fuzzy with veg/herb seedlings I drench with HyPeroxide (diluted to about 1-3%), doesn't seem to hurt them. I give established cacti soaks of 3% too and they seem better for it.
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jaredasser
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you both for your responses

Dear Grubby, these seed/seedlings are in sealed plastic bags with about 90-100% humidity. While this would kill normal cacti, seedlings thrive in these conditions. The problem isn't airflow or watering, because there is none of either!

Dear Tamiya, after a quick search, hydrogen peroxide seems to be widely acknowledged as a fungus killer (thanks, I had never heard of this). Unfortunately I shouldn't open the plastic bags that these guys are in for another 2-3 months. There hasn't been much growth/spreading of whatever that grey matter is so i'm no longer worried. However if this changes, I will keep your suggestion in mind, I should be able to find a way to introduce a HyPeroxide solution without disturbing the seedlings.

I'll also look into treating seeds with a HyPeroxide solution before planting as a way of killing potential fungus/moulds. For now however the stuff doesn't seem to be spreading and this bag/pot as well as others are germinating fine. My problem now seems to be sunburn lol...