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Hey Guys! I'm new here and to gardening and I need some wise words from you pros out there. I made my own seedling pots out of newspaper with a flour/water glue. I put potting soil in them that was slightly moist. They have been inside for about a week now and I noticed that there is white fuzzy mold all around, in between them, and on the top soil. I need to start planting my seeds but I don't know if this mold will effect them. Do I need to get new pots and soil? Can I continue planting anyways and try to dry it up? Whats my problem?! Please help wise ones!

I'm not to familiar either but from what I was told at lowes when I was asking about that same mold on the peat pots there, he said that that is normal, just the process of the paper breaking down, but you should see what others have to say.

What is in the potting mix? It's common to see a little green mold, algae on the soil surface, but not white mold on everything.


Eric

As noted, I have seen that when I used to use some peat pots for seed starting. After awhile of being bottom watered, the sides of the pots would start to mold like that. It is a sign that everything is staying too wet. I don't know that the mold would hurt the seeds directly, but the too wet will. If you haven't planted seeds yet, maybe you can just not water for awhile until everything dries out. I find it much easier to use plastic pots, even plastic drink cups, which don't get wet and don't hold so much moisture in.

morningflower wrote:I made my own seedling pots out of newspaper with a flour/water glue.

The flower/water glue is a great invitation for mold. There is an oragami method for folding newspaper into planting boxes without glue. Peat and paper pots are always a problem for mold and damping off. I like to add some well composted wood chips to my potting soil to help keep the molds under control. Any soil or compost from some non-weedy area where you are likely to find mushrooms growing is a good source of mycorrhiza fungi to add to your potting mix. Mycorrhiza are good fungi that help protect plant roots from damaging molds. You can also buy potting soil with beneficial microorganisms added.

I am a newbie too and am having the same problem. My pots are made from newspaper also. I did some research this morning and multiple sources suggested removing the plastic so they can dry out and sprinkling cinnamon over the soil to kill the mold. Hope that helps!

There is a way to make paper pots without the glue, just byl folding. In Burpees catalog is a wooden dowel-type pot maker devised for this. I came up with my own improvised equipment to do this last year, but like others have said, had a problem with drainage, plants staying too wet. Just did a trial amount of plants, all died!

There are greenhouses though, that make all their pots of all sizes this way and are very successful....have friend who volunteered working at one. If I find out more, as I'll be seeing her next week, I'll pass along the info.

would making holes in the bottom fix the drainage problems. I had hubby bring me home some newspapers so that I can try making some pots. Does anybody know of a really good tutorial for making some good ones that aren't too thick in the bottom (drainage, and for allowing the roots to penetrate)

Here's a thread that has links to a couple youtube videos on making newspaper pots:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=123303&highlight=newspaper+pots#123303

I found it by typing newspaper pots into the Search the Forum keyword box...