A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 White Fuzzy Growth on Sprouts

Hello everyone,

I am brand new to gardening this season and planted my first seeds 2 days ago (radish, green peppers, and lettuce). To my surprise, the radishes have already sprouted quite a bit, but unfortunately they have a white fuzzy growth on them.

I've heard this was a sign of overwatering, so I took the cover off my my greenhouse container that they are plated in as to let more air get at them. These are indoors right by my south-facing window which gets lots of sun all day.

My question is, will this fungus or whatever it is go away, or do I have to start over? Will the plants survive the attack of the white fuzzies? thanks!

Hi pp, and welcome to the forum! The radishes will probably be alright. If you can put a fan on them, or open a window so they can get some breeze, it should help.

Alright, sounds good. I will give that a try. Thank you.

Definitely sounds like some type of fungus. You should never keep freshly germinated seedlings covered. Covers are only to keep seed starting mix from drying out so fast so the seed will germinate as quick as possible. Once the seed germinates, the need for a cover ends. They will most likely survive, but certainly uncover them and get some air movement around them like Dave said if possible. Also, seedlings should not be kept constantly moist. Only seed should. Let the soil dry out before watering.

Thanks for the tips, it's great to learn all these new things. I can't wait to start seeing more growth!

pp...be careful not to cook those other seeds...you don't want the peppers warmer than about the upper seventies...they could cook under the covers, so at least set them on a little ajar.
The lettuce should be even cooler, if possible, so you may want to get them out of the direct sun until they sprout.

What I did was took the cover off and placed the plants outside in the sun so they could get some breeze and cool off a bit. The temperature is about 18 celcius today. Is this a good idea? I'll bring them back in later.

Radishes are fine outdoors down to near freezing in containers. If the sun didn't burn them today, I'd leave them out...same with lettuce. Keep us posted! We want to know!

Just an update...

I ended up taking the cover off and putting the container outside. The plants sprouted fine and I just transplanted the radish and lettuce plants into my garden today.

Woohoo! It's great that you're keeping us updated. I'll be curious to see hw the radishes do, I've never tried translanting those.

I'll keep you posted. I have about 4 plants that were transplanted and about 20 that have grown from seeds outdoors in my garden. So really, I didn't need to start them indoors, but it's my first time gardening so it's all an experiment.