B Will

So I made up another batch of the mix, but this time I did so in the outdoor greenhouse.  It's our first season with it, and I was a bit concerned about starting seeds out in it earlier this year, having always done so inside.  (It's a high-tunnel using plastic over metal piping).

This batch did not sprout any fungus.  The outdoor temps have been swinging between 40 degrees at night and mid 60's during the day (we had a cold front; greenhouse is open).  It's been fairly cloudy and humid/rainy.

I'll keep experimenting but the fungal growth definitely appears to prefer the indoors, even with circulating fans and under artificial lighting.

Next I'll try taking some of the batch and bringing it back inside and see if fungus takes off or not.  I might end up switching to outdoor starts, but I'm still wary of seed starting outdoors in the cold month of February.

Karl, I am quite jealous of your tomatoes!  Mine are way behind and I had to resort to buying plants at the store.

I found that the base mix seemed to work better last year, though I use sand instead of vermiculite.  I had trouble finding vermiculite at the local stores (both garden centers and the lowes/depot/tractor supplies of the world).  Where do you typically find yours?  I am concerned my soil seemed very dense/hard this year even though the sand ratio should be the same?

Skandi, I like your suggestion.  I'll try putting each in separate cups, as well as mixing them in pairs to see which starts the mold.  The cow manure from home depot I used the past few years without issues, so i'm not certain that was it, but I suppose I could have gotten bad batches.  I would prefer to use local compost, but the composting facility near me had tons of garbage (plastics) in it.  Yuk!  I'm working on getting more local sources (horse stables) and have my own cooking, but it wasn't ready yet.

Annie, I will take a look at the EM1 mixture.  I've been trying to keep things basic/organic, and I've been trying to add in and thinking of doing my own organic fertilizers like mushroom compost and vermicompost.  Looks like EM1 is certified organic, so I'll take a closer look.  Thanks!

Hugo, do you grow your own mushrooms?  I tried one year with Shiitake, didn't take, but 3 years later I found one log that appears to have actually taken with it.  I'm looking to try again this winter.

So this is my third season using soil blocks, and last year I had a stellar year utilizing them... easily the best starts and best garden I've had, thanks to permies!

This year, luck seems to be against me and I've lost a good share of the seedlings I've started.  Those that did make it have grown very very slowly and are way behind. The previous two seasons I was utilizing a slightly different recipe, but ran across Eliot Coleman's official one from his book and figured it would be more beneficial.

Last year, my recipe looked roughly like this:
* 1 part peat
* 1 part compost (the one with a cow on the front from Home Depot)
* 1 part play sand
* sprinkle of homemade bone meal, which was boiled, cooked/dried and blended down to a powder.

This year, I used something closer to Coleman's recipe for the 2-inch blocks:
* 3 parts peat
* 2 parts compost
* 2 parts play sand
* 1 part garden soil
* Fertilizer mix, comprised of equal parts vermicompost, bone meal (as above), blood meal, fish emulsion, garden lime

All were fresh bags opened right before I mixed them.  I did not sterilize the soil; have never had to before.

The 3/4 blocks I used his recipe with mostly filtered peat and no fertilizer mix.  Of course, no fungus issues on those.

What happened is tri-fold:
* Seeds planted directly in the 2-inch blocks, but covered, failed to germinate.  I had about a 10% germination rate on cauliflower, collards, peppers.  Fresh seeds.  I switched to using the 3/4 uncovered method.  For squash I left these uncovered in the 2 inch, and had great germination, but still fungus I controlled immediately.
* Seeds planted in the 3/4 inch blocks sprouted well and hand no fungus, but seemed to have a hard time rooting properly and have sort of "languished" on the surface.  I had better initial germination rates by not covering them as I did before, but they seem to fail to establish properly and grew very slow.
* Seedlings transplanted into the 2 inch blocks from the 3/4 inch died within 24 hours.  Within 12 hours, I had an incredibly thick white fuzzy fungus, which looks like saprophytic fungus, but resulted in severe and immediate dampening off for alot of the transplants.

The process I followed:
*Mix up the soil and immediately use.  Containers were washed with soap + water in advance.
*For soil blocks, I tried using chamomile tea to wet the soil to make the blocks, hoping to prevent the fungus from starting.  No joy.
*The soil blocks are just wet enough to hold together.
*For seeds, planted and then put on temperature controlled heat mats on the floor (~75 degrees).  Use a small fan for air circulation.
*For seedlings, immediately transplant into the soil and put back under grow lights.  Circulate air with fan.

I've had some success using chamomile, cinnamon and peroxide to combat the fungus, but often its too late.  An example of the blocks attached.

Has anyone run into this problem and identified what needed to be done to prevent this from happening?  Is there something in the fertilizer mix that may have caused this, such as fish emulsion or vermicompost?