harryhh
Cool Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:38 am
Location: Northcentral Illinois, Zone 5a

Tip for the treatment of seedling fungus that needs testing.

Perhaps a good treatment for seedling fungus.

I've tried this on 28 tomato seedling in two different seed starter trays and it worked well. But it needs more testing by others. Please don't test this on all of your seedlings. Test it on just a few if you have some that you can do without.

I had that white fungus on all 16 of the tomato seedlings in one tray and most of the 12 in another. I put a little 91% isopropyl alcohol in a shot glass and used a small artists paint brush for application. I made sure to touch the brush on the side of the shot glass to drain some of the alcohol so that it wasn't too wet. I then brushed alcohol on the fungus of the three most infested seedlings, making sure not to touch the seedling itself.

The next day, most of the fungus was gone on those three seedlings. There was still a bit in the depressions of the soil.

Then, not being as careful and cautious as I should have been, I went ahead and applied the alcohol to all the seedlings. When the brush was freshly dipped in alcohol, I applied it to the most prominent fungus. When much of the alcohol on the brush was used, and the brush a bit drier, I used a slight pressure to get the bristles down into the dips and depressions of the soil.

I wasn't careful enough, and when the brush was fairly dry and I was poking it down into the soil, I accidentally touched several of the tomato seedlings. Over the next several days I could see no sign that those particular seedling were affected by the alcohol at all. But, the brush was already fairly dry and the touch was very light. With a fairly dry brush and a light touch, it likely didn't get any alcohol on the seedling. I don't have enough seedlings to test what would happen if the brush was not so dry and alcohol was sure to get onto the seedling.

The brush I used had soft brown bristles that are a bit less than 1/2 inch long. When the brush is dry and the bristles fluffed a bit, the bristles splay to only about 1/4 inch. So, the brush is fairly small and does not hold much alcohol. And, I removed some of the alcohol by touching the inside of the shot glass after dipping the brush. I certainly did not wet the soil much at all. I just barely dampened the surface.

If you have fungus on your seedlings, you might carefully try this treatment on a few of them at first. And, let us know what happens. If you have extra seedlings, you might intentionally get a bit of alcohol on a couple of them and see what happens.

Hope this works,
Harry

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rainbowgardener
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Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Not sure what you are talking about "white fungus." "I had that white fungus on all 16 of the tomato seedlings" but then it sounded like maybe you were talking about something on the soil, because you were talking about not getting any alcohol on the seedling? I have seen potting soil getting a little moldy if it stays too wet. Is that what you mean?

Anyway depending on how old/ well developed these seedlings are, you are maybe being extra cautious. We often recommend rubbing alcohol as a treatment for scale insects. Once again we say to put the alcohol on the insect, not the plant, but since they are right next to each other, I'm sure sometimes people also get a bit on the plant. Not good for it, but probably won't wither up and die, unless it is tiny baby and tender.



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