What is the Best weather to sow seed to reduce mold?
Hello
It is spring and I am about to sow some Drosera seeds. I am growing them in a greenhouse with plastic on the sides and roof that stops the direct sun and rain entering. The white plastic blocks out 50% of the sun. The greenhouse is well ventilated. Do the weather conditions that follow in the week after the seeds are sown make much difference to the germination rate? The forecast for the rest of this week is rain and dark and overcast conditions with temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius. This is unseasonable for this time of the year as normally it is very sunny and about 30 degrees in the day time with humidity levels often around 30 to 60 percent. I thought that I would have more chance of mold growing on the surface of the soil if I sow my seeds now before the spell of humid overcast weather. However, if I wait for a week or two until the forecast is for warmer drier weather it may reduce the chance of mold.
I have made up the trays with peat moss in them to sow the seeds and I have them sitting in trays of water. We laid the peat in the seed boxes about a week back. Is that a disadvantage over having it just freshly dampened and put on the surface before the seeds are sown? I thought if it is left for a few days some algae or fungi may be starting to grow before I sow the seed. I could easily add a layer of fresh peat on the top a few millimeters thick just before I sow the seeds if that is an advantage.
Also, it may help to either boil or put the peat moss (that goes in the very top layer) in an oven to kill algae and fungi spores. The TEEM brand peat is dry in the bag but it may reduce the amount of algae and fungi if I boil or bake what I put on the surface. If you think this is an advantage, would I only need to do it for a new batch of peat that I could add to the top of the seed trays? It could also pay to wash the peat that goes on the surface well as discussed on earlier threads. However, it would be much easier if we only had to wash and boil the peat that goes on the top 5 millimeters. A smaller volume of peat could be washed more thoroughly and quickly.
The reason I thought about the above is that I had problems with mold before.
The species I plan to grow are Drosera:
Nidiformis, Slackii, Aliciae, dielsiana, Indica, Burmanii, and Capensis
Are some seasons better than others for sowing these seeds?
Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.
|