Worrysome Mold Or No?

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magnifigh

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Ive recently started my first small indoor grow using 4” peat pots for my seedlings in an organic potting soil mix combined with worm castings and bone meal at a ratio of around 4:1:0.5.
The seedlings are around 2 weeks old, stems about 2 inches long, with vibrant green lobed leaves coming in nicely and growing more each day.
My watering cycle is roughly 2-4 sprays per plant around the base every 2-3 hours because my light gives off enough heat to evaporate the water from the top few inches of soil pretty quickly (~75 degrees F, humidity unknown but best guess around 30%). My light cycle is currently around 20 hours on/4 hours off, because the lights intensity isnt very high, and I’ve got a small fan blowing light air across the seedlings (enough to make them vibrate only slightly)

Today i lifted my pots out of the plastic tray they had been sitting in and on the bottom of some of the pots around the drainage hole, there appeared to be some kind of mold forming. It was that regular white fuzzy kind that looks like a clump of cob webs with tiny little dots in it (sorry for no pictures), and so far as i can tell, it was only forming around the hole at the bottom and hadnt worked its way too far up into the soil. There are currently no roots reaching the drainage holes from any of the plants, so i’m inclined to believe that they were not exposed to the mold (but i dont know for sure.)
I have since removed the mold and taken the pots out of the plastic tray and have set the pots so that the drainage holes may dry out.

My question and primary concern is whether I should think about repotting my seedlings. Is it better to be safe than sorry? or should the mold sufficiently go away on its own given a little dry time? Is it too risky given that there may still be a couple spores lurking somewhere in the bottom of the pot?
 
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M

magnifigh

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thats A real conundrum(without pics)
wasnt sure if pics would be helpful cause i think ive removed the mold for the most part.. here are some that show the drainage holes that im talking about (only the ones that look like theyve been picked at contained the mold— the 2 that are still circular did not have the mold at the bottom) please note that the potting soil contains fair amounts of perlite
 
CC2F9196 3CD6 43FB A3CF B3AA15E0EB38
93867A83 2253 482E BFB3 A0360BA4ABBF
8D68A05A 5A27 4360 8AA2 F5D84B446EBF
DA805A9C 571B 4FDA A5DD D3A1884A6330
14C10852 0A98 499D BF6F 20BF6FC50C31
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Mr Bee

Mr Bee

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Don't water wee bits every couple o hours.water thoroughly then leave until it's dried out a good bit.keeping the soil constantly wet is gonna cause big problems.
You want your roots out looking for water.sitting them in constantly wet soil will drown then rot your roots.roots like a lot of oxygen and grow best wen the soil isn't fully wet.good wet dry cycles are important growing in soil.
 
Usmcone

Usmcone

3
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Ive recently started my first small indoor grow using 4” peat pots for my seedlings in an organic potting soil mix combined with worm castings and bone meal at a ratio of around 4:1:0.5.
The seedlings are around 2 weeks old, stems about 2 inches long, with vibrant green lobed leaves coming in nicely and growing more each day.
My watering cycle is roughly 2-4 sprays per plant around the base every 2-3 hours because my light gives off enough heat to evaporate the water from the top few inches of soil pretty quickly (~75 degrees F, humidity unknown but best guess around 30%). My light cycle is currently around 20 hours on/4 hours off, because the lights intensity isnt very high, and I’ve got a small fan blowing light air across the seedlings (enough to make them vibrate only slightly)

Today i lifted my pots out of the plastic tray they had been sitting in and on the bottom of some of the pots around the drainage hole, there appeared to be some kind of mold forming. It was that regular white fuzzy kind that looks like a clump of cob webs with tiny little dots in it (sorry for no pictures), and so far as i can tell, it was only forming around the hole at the bottom and hadnt worked its way too far up into the soil. There are currently no roots reaching the drainage holes from any of the plants, so i’m inclined to believe that they were not exposed to the mold (but i dont know for sure.)
I have since removed the mold and taken the pots out of the plastic tray and have set the pots so that the drainage holes may dry out.

My question and primary concern is whether I should think about repotting my seedlings. Is it better to be safe than sorry? or should the mold sufficiently go away on its own given a little dry time? Is it too risky given that there may still be a couple spores lurking somewhere in the bottom of the pot?
Looks like powdery mildew
 
Madbud

Madbud

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Agree with bee, wait til the pot is light, real light in your hand. They let you know when to water and the number one mistake is over water/nute in your first grow. Be patient, forget about racing to the finish line, resist that urge to do
more. Are you growing indoors or outdoors?
 
Jimster

Jimster

Supporter
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A little mold around the drain holes isn't uncommon, since it is the area the holds the most water and stays damp. While mold is common, it isn't desirable and can cause real headaches if it gets a foothold. Avoid standing water, make sure that you soil drains well, and keep the fans running and the humidity reasonable...if it gets too high, it can cause mold. I keep my soil damp and try to avoid ANY wilting, since it is my experience that it can cause problems if it happens too often.
The other issue to avoid is Rush's disease. It occurs frequently among 1st time growers and is characterized by having every possible potential problem, often affecting a tiny spot on one leaf. OK, sorry for bad humor. What I was referring to is what Madbud mentioned...be patient! Plants, by their nature, will get brown leaves occasionally, or a few spots. The biggest problem is when plants are diagnosed with deficiencies after a week, which almost never really happens but everyone thinks they have it until they have a grow or two under their belt. Patience is as important as your light source. Well, not really...but you get the idea. It' like raising kids...the 1st one get's fretted over, the 2nd one gets thrown to the wolves! It's old news and easy by then!
 
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