I bought Psuedolithos, Lithos and Conophytum seeds on the ebay which have all germinated well. The instructions I got rec using a diluted antifungal and one or two of my pots are getting a thin green layer. any tips? I don't think I should use a fertilizer now but any tips for later on when they are ready. Thanks
Damp Off is one I see often recommended for seedlings in general, and while it's kind of expensive, it does seem to work. For some of the whitish, fuzzy molds, a teaspoon of baking soda in a quart of water will knock down the fruiting bodies, and basically stop them progressing. Works on some other fungi too. Any chance it might be algae ? If so, maybe you could scrape it off ? Diluted bleach will kill algae, and other fungi but it would likely kill the seedlings too. Unless it's only on the outside of the pots, then possibly you could wipe it off with a cloth or sponge dampened with bleach/water, and rinse. Most of the fungi I have seen when I start seeds is either whitish or blackish, often fuzzy, generally from a bit too much humidity and not enough air movement, but not green. Damping off itself you usually see only when the seedlings suddenly just fall over. Close inspection reveals the stems have collapsed at ground level, and are discoloured. Green mold is what I usually see on bread and cheese, not soil. Unfortunately, I am not sure what antifungals are available these days, or where. So many of the things that used to be around are banned now, at least in some places, including here in Mississauga, outside Toronto. But a garden centre should have whatever is available, and you just mix it a bit less concentrated than the label suggests and mist it on gently. If you don't have a spray bottle with a super fine mist setting, it can be helpful to get one, many seedlings are extremely fragile and very little spray force will knock them over, which is best avoided.
Now I've a bit of time to think, Sulphur powder is a pretty safe, widely available fungicide, can be used dry or mixed with water. Captan is another common one, if you can find it, it's relatively low in toxicity. Even ground cinnamon has antifungal properties, though I don't know what it would do to seedlings. It is most often used dry, to dust cuts and wounds on plants. Sulphur is sometimes called Flowers of Sulphur, I think. It's bright yellow,with a bit of an odour but it's not bad and goes away pretty quickly.
I don't think they need a great amount of feeding. I used to feed my lithops once in fall, once in spring, but have never grown them from seed. If you used a no soil seed mix, you might want to use a balanced fertiizer, mixed at no more than quarter strength, and use that to water them once or twice, maybe once now and once at summer's end. As you may know, being from South Africa, their seasons are reversed from ours, so they grow most and bloom in our winter season.
Wow thanks for the great response. What I see now looks much more like alge by your description but the instructions I had said to use an anti fungal more as prophylaxis then anything. I know I wont use fertilizer for quite some time. Right now I use 1:1:1 perlite:comercial potting soil: play sand so I bet I have more then enough fertilizer from the potting soil alone for a while. I guess I will have to hit the garden center. I tend to do most my shopping on the amazon due to time restrictions but I do have a pretty sweet nursery not far from where I live. Thansk!
Happy to be of help. Just fyi, I would not use play sand for any plant mixes.. it has a nasty habit of packing down into rock over time, because it is chosen for it's uniform grain size and relative smoothness, which makes it want to pack. You need sharp, or coarse, sand, if you're going to use sand. I find most of my local hardware/Home Depot type places sell concrete sand that is just right for the purpose. It feels very coarse and harsh in your hand, kind of like 60 grit sandpaper, but has many different particle sizes, up to small stones and pebbles of quarter inch size or so. I gather that not all concrete sand is the same everywhere, so if you can get them to let you grab a handful to feel and look at, it helps. What I get around the GTA works fine for me, and most places that sell stone should also have something you should be able to use. The place I go, they shovel it into a 60 lb. bag and it's about four bucks. I get something called quarter inch chip from the stone supplier too, for my succulents and bonsai. Not sure why, but hardly any nurseries carry so called 'horticultural sand' which is what I just described, though one place told me I'd find it if I went to a head shop :-), which is just not happening! I suspect because it's heavy and cheap, maybe it is just not worth enough for them to bother with it. Was your potting soil one that has actual loam in it, or one of the common peat/perlite with no actual dirt combos? Just curious.. if it had loam, it will have some nutrients, if not, it won't. Probably won't matter much. Not a lot you can do about algae. And you need the strong light for these guys. I think they advise the antifungal largely because of the risk of damping off problems which can affect any seedlings, no matter how careful you are. It's such a bummer, I've had whole flats of new sprouts fall over in a day, yet the next flat over will be just fine. The darn pathogens are everywhere, all they need is conditions that suit them to start growing. I always wash seed flats 'n pots in bleach and air dry them. I have considered cooking the seedling mix too.. but I hear it smells kind of nasty. I'd wash the flats and starter pots in the dishwasher but the flats are too big, and the plastic would no doubt melt with the heat of the sanitizing cycle :-).
Depends on what type of plastic it is. Pots are usually made of polypropylene (PP), which can be boiled, or polystyrene (PS), which cannot. I have heard that the "algae" actually are cyanobacteria. Best to find out exactly what it is if you want to try some kind of anti-algae product.