FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello everyone,

With this being the second time I've germinated seed, I have a few concerns as I'm still learning. My venus fly trap seedlings are a couple of weeks old and are starting to shed their seed casing however I've noticed the casing has started to become mouldy. Is this normal? It doesn't seem it. The seedlings look healthy apart from this.

If it isn't normal, what can be done? Should I gently try to remove the casing? The best way I can describe the mould is like dust, only I do not believe it is dust (I know moisture attracts dust). Can I "clean" the seed casing using a cotton bud dipped in pure water?

I am a little worried, but because the seedlings look healthy otherwise I hope it is nothing.

Thank you for your time.

Mold or fungal growth is fairly common, but it is often not desirable. Usually fresh air movement and a growing-medium surface that is moist but not too moist prevents it, and a fungicide can kill it.

How are you germinating your seedlings? If you live in a humid environment, a cover on a germination container may not be necessary, and may keep the air inside too humid, promoting fungal growth. Even in dry climates (such as mine) I need to lift the lid of the germination container and fan the air once or twice per day to get some fresh air inside and fan out any accumulating fungal spores, which can become concentrated in an enclosed space.

The seeds are in a propagator and the vents are always open. I check the seeds twice a day by removing the plastic cover and allowing fresh air to pass over them. The seedlings are in moist soil (I check it regularly and stop watering if it becomes too moist).

It is not humid at the moment here in Britain and so I decided to use a propagator as I can reuse it later on. There is no mould anywhere else in the propagator, only the seed cases.

Grey wrote:Hello everyone,

With this being the second time I've germinated seed, I have a few concerns as I'm still learning. My seedlings are a couple of weeks old and are starting to shed their seed casing however I've noticed the casing has started to become mouldy. Is this normal? It doesn't seem it. The seedlings look healthy apart from this.

Grey:
What species are you talking about?

Brad

Sorry, my brain isn't functioning today. They are venus fly trap seeds. I'll pop that in the main post too.

In my personal experience, mold is nothing more than ugly to look at. My seeds have been in my seed setup for about 2.5 months, and some of the seed cells are producing mold. The mold isn't new at all, and isn't affecting the seedlings in any way. In fact, it seems that the ones growing the fastest are the ones with a little mold in the cell. I wouldn't worry. Here's something from Aaron's website:

GrowSundews.com wrote:Green and slimy algae as well as some other molds tend to feed off of the nutrients unrinsed peat provides. This can become annoying and look disgusting (although it will normally not hurt the plant).

Sometimes Venus Flytrap seeds are damaged. The shiny black casing is strong but very thin and brittle, like an egg shell. If it cracks and the seed inside dies, one may see mold as a result. So if only a few seeds are moldy, you can simply remove those particular seeds with tweezers.

If the mold is more widespread, you can spray with a fungicide. Some types of fungal growth can and will kill the emerging roots and Venus Flytrap seedlings, so it's best to try to address that issue in some way. Often merely carefully monitoring the moisture at the surface of the growing medium to keep it from being too wet, and allowing plenty of fresh air to flow over the surface (by leaving it uncovered or by fanning the air when removing the covering) is sufficient. But a fungicide can help in cases where the fungal growth seems excessive or rapidly increasing. The most destructive types of mold seem to like cool conditions, so warm and moist may generally be better than cool and moist, from that perspective, and Venus Flytrap seeds and seedlings like warmth much better than cold anyway.

Sometimes a few attempts at germination and early growth of seedlings are required to find what works well in one's specific location and climate, and to learn how to keep the growing medium surface moist enough, but not so moist as to encourage mold or algae growth.

However, if the seedlings look healthy (as you say) and it is just their old, soon-to-be-discarded casings that are developing a powdery mold (it may be powdery mildew, which loves consistently moist conditions), then the plantlets themselves may be fine and perhaps no damage will be done at all. In that case, if these were my own seedlings, I might try to gently remove the casings from the leaves (and reposition or replant any seedlings that are disrupted, uprooted or moved by this process), or I might try using a moist cotton swab to clean them as you suggested, perhaps with a weak fungicide solution if a fungicide is nearby.

At any rate, don't worry too much, if the seedlings are otherwise healthy. It might be time to give them more fresh air and less constant high humidity. Good luck--

I find that the best way to avoid mold growth is to rinse your peat moss. I know you're talking about seeds, not media, but rinsed peat seems to prevent mold growth.
On the seeds media that grows some mold, it's usually unrinsed peat. But some media with rinsing thrives with no mold.

Thank you both for your advice. I've cleaned the most problematic seed casings and removed the cases from the largest seedlings (they came off very very easily so I think they were starting to rot, hence the mould). In future I will fan the propagator twice daily to prevent anything else developing.

Thanks again !