Weird fungus on seeds in rockwool

I have seen this on 2 different strains from different batches/breeders though, but honestly I honestly know nothing of outdoor diseases etc so it’s completely possible. I’ll sterilize both to be safe.

Didnt even think of that but very possible it would pass a fungus that way n then give it optimum conditions it takes over.

As we both said adding h202 in the water the whole mess is in sterilzes it
But yes as you said seed needs h202 treatment also.

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Still. H202 man . Thats youre safe general fungus killer. With other benefits too. Warm em up a lil if you can. Let em breathe early

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There is no fungal issue in the rockwool. Rockwool is glass fibers, it is sterile. There is nothing for the fungus to feed on. It is attacking your seed because of stagnant air. You do not need a heating mat or hydrogen peroxide to germinate seeds, unless they are incredibly old and exhibiting low viability.

I have never used peroxide and unless the seeds themselves were bad, I have never had a germination issue at room temperatures. Even a cool basement floor (65F or so) germs seeds just fine.

You can get 90%+ germ rates just tossing seeds outside in wet dirt in late spring, no need to complicate matters.

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Youre a lucky guy idk what else to say.

You are right that a good seed will usually pop at room temp eventually with no extra care just moisture.
But
Ive always had faster rates with warmth. Slow pop = lost seed energy
and time for fungi to kill your very fragile seedling before its on its feet.
The h202 is to kill the fungi on the seed or wherever it may be in this situation.
Honestly i pop em in old paper towel method now. Much better germ rates than throwing in medium n hoping they come up right.(not twisted or upside down etc. ) I pop em put the taproot in medium with shellhead resting on the top

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Right now its not about popping the seed. He pops seed. There is a fungal issue taking them from him by the time they lift off. Thats where h202 will help.

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Neither of our ways are wrong. Just different situations call for different things. Yes he could do as you say but if it is a botrytis on the seed as @lefthandseeds said
Then your no extra work way wont help at all. H202 on other hand removes the fungus.

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It is weird how a lot of videos/tutorials I’ve seen use humidity domes. However, these almost never involve cannabis seeds and they plant like 2 or more seeds per cube. To be safe I’ll use some h202 on the seeds this next round and try without the dome.

This is a guy I follow a lot and generally he has given me solid advise when I was growing in rockwool cubes:

Pretty much any video/article I find on starting seeds in rockwool uses a dome, but I also think it seems a bit wacky because it creates perfect conditions for fungus etc… I’ll definitely try a round without.

Humidity is 30% outside the dome in my small space for germination. Hopefully that’s not toooo low for germination. I move them to another space with higher humidity after they sprout.

In all honesty, this is because of how badly bro-science has infiltrated the cannabis cultivation world. I know what you mean when you say pretty much any video/article you find says to do this. I witness this all the time—incorrect information filling the first couple pages of Google results when I search for something cultivation related. But it is factually incorrect advice when people suggest starting seeds under a dome (unless you are growing aquatic plants, lol). I’ve been using rockwool for close to 20 years now, so I like to think I’m somewhat expert at the stuff, and I’ve never used a dome for starting seeds. Never. And my success rate starting seeds directly in rockwool starters is close to 100% over the course of my growing career. You will almost certainly experience a complete 180 when you start seeds without the dome.

In related information, it’s somewhat common for rockwool to come with beneficial bacteria/fungi hitchhikers. I’m talking about things like trichoderma, and mycorrhizals… I’ve witnessed the colonization of these microbes on my rockwool cubes countless numbers of times over the decades. I suspect they are hitchhiking in from the warehouses they were stored in, alongside such microbial products. I’ve even had a “mushroom” fruit once from a colonized rockwool cube. This colonization is almost certainly not a bad thing, and wouldn’t harm plants (might even help!). The reason why I bring this up is only to say that it’s possible that it wasn’t mold or anything like that, and may very well have been one of these beneficial fungi, but because of the poor conditions for the cannabis seeds, the fungi won the resources battle. I don’t know, I’m just throwing that out there.

But the bottom line is simply that you are using a humidity dome and that creates horrible conditions for cannabis plants, both young and old. Domes are for rooting clones, only. And aquatic plants! (I used to farm aquatic plants for sale to the aquarium hobby, and I exclusively used 1020 flats with humidity domes to raise them. Aquatic plants LOVED that environment!)

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I think you are on to something with the cuttings. That’s probably how people started using it for seedlings. The vid I show above, the guy is really good and has tons of killer grows of things like chili peppers and veggies etc. And I think he is actually a professional in the cultivation industry and even he is using a dome to start seeds :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

I’m definitely going to pitch the dome this next test. I had a couple good runs with it, but even on those runs the cubes would smell like feet LOL… I should be starting my next test here tonight and I’ll post back what I did and the results.

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Dont throw your dome away. Bleach n save it. Its not trash.
I agree you do not need to have it. But it should be working either way.
This will answer it all.
From time you wet seed til it pops how many days?

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So earlier this year my strawberry nuggets both were up 72 hours after going in cube, and a few others were also that fast. I’ve had some take 5 days and I don’t usually tolerate anything longer than that… They just get tossed

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Yeah 72 hrs cold pop is ok.
Warmth would make it 24 or less probably.
The dome off will let air in which will help but until the seed pops you got to keep wetting it in that 30%rh. Spray bottle works good.

Dude hush isnt wrong but the dome alone isnt the issue unless its kept sealed for days.
which you should have a sprout before then and be allowing tgem air soon as they sprout. They pop in domes everywhere w/o fungus.
They are actually called propogation domes. For propogation. Not humidity domes.

Seed Shells need water not air to soften n crack water softens the shell warm water does it faster. Warm h202 water does it even faster.proven facts.
Idk. I got a lot of book in my head but i do most by common sense. If anything organic sits in moisture for days it rots. Seed is organic matter
Answer is having em pop n lift off b4 that.

With the dome off the seed has air to help fight fungus from thriving but the seed must still be wet (moist)til it pops or it never will.