What to do About Moldy Seed Starting Trays? Organic Gardening Mishap #1

Ok, so you probably saw my post that I started my first batch of seeds on 3/9. I planted more on 3/17. On 3/17 I planted tons of Rocky Top Lettuce mix,  tons of Arugula, 3 Calabrese Broccoli, 5 Waltham Broccoli, 5 Stonehead Cabbage, 4 Golden Cabbage, 25 Beets (I’ll be succession planting these for a total of 160) and 6 Eggplant.

Fast forward to 3/20…. MOLD, and LOTS OF IT….

My trusty seed starting tray and almost every single cell is covered in mold.

My Moldy Seedlings

Obviously, you can see in the picture above that a few of my seeds did actually start growing, the tomatoes seemed to fare the best. I felt devastated so I went to a local store called Brew & Grow to ask for some advice.

The problem; too much moisture.  There are a few things you can do if you’re left with a moldy seed starter…

1. Mold is caused by lack of air movement and too much moisture. Open up the seed starter for a day or so and it will hopefully clear up – this DID NOT work for me. Continue to open the seed starter every day to increase air flow.
2. Start over

First I tried to let it air out. Even after a week of letting it air out – I’m still left with this moldy mess…..Soooooo, I bought more stuff and decided to start over.

By the looks of this pic, things don’t look like they’re going so well…

Moldy Seedlings in my Seed Starter

I’m too late for this with this batch of seeds, but here are some ways to prevent it next time…

Organic Gardening: Ways to Prevent Mold on Seed Starters

1. Weak Chamomile Tea – Brew 3 cups of tea then dilute it in a gallon of water, use this water to water the seedlings.
2. Hydrogren Peroxide – Mix 3% hydrogen peroxide in a bucket of water, use this water to water the seedlings.
3. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the soil (only do this one time)

What one am I going to use? From everything I’ve read Cinnamon sounds the easiest and everyone says it works amazing. That will be happening when I start my next seeds.