Hi everyone,
Well, my seeds have been sitting in the fridge for almost 8 weeks and I’m thinking about planting them out soon, as the temps here will be back down to around 25°c this month.
It seems Captan is commonly used during this phase to clean the seeds, and then in the soil mix for germination. I don’t have any of that stuff, it isn’t sold here, and besides I keep reading warnings that it’s pretty toxic not to mention carcinogenic, so I’d like to find an alternative.
Would a more “organic” fungicide such as copper or bordeaux mixture be suitable? Would hydrogen peroxide be sufficient? Is there something else in the range of less toxic fungicides that would be effective?
You shouldn’t need any kind of fungicide if you’re planting outdoors. Captan is used to help prevent damp off which is usually an issue with really damp to wet conditions. Planting outdoors, that hasn’t been a problem for me. It was when I tried germinating in the refrigerator then moving outside. If you feel you must “clean” the seeds, then rinse them in the hydrogen peroxide and I’d rinse that off before putting them in the soil.
1 Like
Thank you @roseseek !
I will stick to peroxide then.
1 Like