Growing from seed is awesome. Under those tiny husks lie the dream of new and great plants, the hope of genetic preservation, and the culmination of ideas made tangible and manifest.
Oh, but when fungus/botrytis attacks: that’s when it’s totally UNAWESOME. Dude, it sucks! You gotta be very vigilant because once some of that fuzzy crap hits, it can spread like crazy. A few causes of this could be things like over crowding, poor water quality, poor air circulation, and/or a combination of all of the above. Seeds and media have the potential to carry nasty spores that will jump at the chance to grow when provided the opportunity. Prevention is key here. Now that I have space, I plan on giving my next year’s crop lots of space to allow air and light to penetrate.
I’ve had to move the plants and seeds from one location to another this past year and no doubt the stress, the conditions, and crowding contributed to the outbreak. Hey, it happens!
The crop below is of an anthocyanin free (AF) cross I did using Sarracenia ((purpurea ssp. purpurea f. heterophylla x rubra ssp. jonesii) x (leucophylla x rubra ssp. gulfensis)) x mitchelliana – AF clone. Yeah, I know. I love ’em greens.
Ugh, gross!
So, how did I deal with it? I’ve tried to use a sulfur based fungicide, but that does not always do the trick. Once that botrytis fungus hits, it can be a huge pain to get rid of and spraying may not always work. Many of the seedlings as you can see have succumbed to the f*ckin’ grossness, yet a few of the plants still look salvageable. First off, I was sure to glove up as I posted about here.
Next, I began to separate and trim off the crappy dead foliage. I make sure that the foliage is disposed of in an area far away from the growing area when all done.
Left: I grabbed a clump from the infected seedling pile.
Right: Clipping off as much of the dead foliage as possible.
An important note here is that after the use of the trimming apparatus it is a good practice to clean/sterilize the clippers. Simple use of a 1 to 10 ratio bleach / water solution, or even something like Clorox cleaning wipes can do the trick. I did not have my lighter on me at the time, but I would imagine dousing the tools in alcohol + flame would work just as fine. You don’t want to spread any Sarracenially Transmitted Diseases…
I separate the salvaged seedlings out in a separate working tray and begin to pot these up in fresh media and giving them plenty of room. Some folks say that at this young age, the young plants are “too fragile” to be moved about. In my experience the young plants could more than handle all of this jostling about. I mean, check out those young and strong healthy root systems!
Salvaged seedlings.
Next I fill a pot with fresh potting media. My typical mix is a rough 1 part peat to 1 part perlite ratio. In the shot below, I threw in a little bit of horticultural sand. I dig a hole using the label, (a pencil also works) and gently lower the roots in. I’ll then use the label to also gently guide the roots in. Next I backfill the hole and give it a nice press to ensure the roots are happy and snug.
Potting up the cleaned and salvaged seedlings.
Gotta be sure to give these guys room for light and air. I used a 3.5 inch pot and put 4-5 seedlings in each pot. They should be good for another year or two at this stage. I’ll then give them a nice watering and set them aside in a separate quarantine area of the greenhouse away from the rest of the plants to monitor their growth and (hopefully) speedy recovery.
All clean and happy!
After I was done with this salvage project, I was sure to clean up my garden area and tools. Gloves were then disposed, and I wiped down with some hand sanitizer. I’ll update you in the coming weeks as to how these babies fare! Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
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Photo credit: All photos in this post were taken by my talented and musical niece, Khadijah. Since I was gloved up with fungus covered gloves, I was not too keen on handling the camera. Thanks again, Khadijah! You rock!
