I bought a large pot (looks like the bottom quarter of an old-fashioned wooden barrel). It has zero drainage. There are no holes in the bottom or gravel whatsoever. I just put the soil right in. My father suggested I don't worry about drainage and just be careful not to put too much water. I planted some oregano, cilantro, and basil seeds and watered a little every day. I never watered directly on the seeds though, just around them. It turned out my daily waterings were too much. It was rainy and cold that week and the pot got no sunshine so there was probably very little evaporation. Some white fluffy mold started forming on top of the soil and after a while it became a veritable forest of mold. I got worried at that point and stopped watering completely. About a week later, miraculously all the seeds sprung up from the soil, their tiny leaves looking healthy, no brown, no rotting, nothing. I still have not watered since the mold really got out of control and I have decided not to water until the mold dies off. Questions: -will the mold die off? -should I scrape away the dead mold if it does die? -should I scrape away the live mold? (will be difficult to get all of it as it is everywhere even at the bases of the little stems that have sprung up) -should I put something on it to kill the mold? -should I just forget it, re-pot and put in some seedlings?
Well, the mold may or may not die off, but your plants surely will without water. You should have backed off on watering as soon as you saw the mold, and scraped at that time - it's a little late now to do it. Get some fungicide at a garden centre or hardware, labelled for house plants, and follow directions for drenching. Unfortunately your plants are so young I can't say how they'll be affected though, and if you can instead just get them out in one piece (each) and into faster draining soil(add lots of perlite - not vermiculite) in small pots with holes, and into the light, you may be ok. Air circulation if vital too.
well with them being Herbs i wouldnt use any sprays at all .. if ya can just scrape the mold off as you go .. if they are growing good then dont worry about it .. just wait a lil while inbetween waterings .. Marn
I sprayed some fungicide already. The fungicide says it is 0.4% sulphur I think. So most of the mold has died. The herbs aren't doing too well. The basil and oregano seem to have stopped growing but the cilantro is doing decent. I'll give it another week and see how it goes. If I don't see much progress I will get some seedlings.
