DogsNDaylilies said:Rick,
I'm concerned that if I take the humidity dome off for any real length of time, it will eliminate much of the greenhouse benefit of the seed starting kit. Thoughts?
I guess the rule of thumb is that once "a few" seedlings emerge in a tray, it's better to remove the humidity dome since damping off CAN kill seedlings very rapidly. If your white hairy fungus is NOT killing seedlings, maybe it's harmless.
One approach is: "They haven't killed seedlings yet, so don't fix what isn't broken". But I've killed so many seedlings with damping off that my red flag pops up and my siren goes "Danger, danger, Will Robinson!"
I think the main downside of removing the dome would be that the peat balls will dry out faster. Could you balance that with more frequent waterings?
Another downside would be that the seeds would not stay as warm. Are you really relying on the Greenhouse Effect to keep seeds warm? I would think that ANY sunlight through a clear dome would over-cook most seeds.
(Uncovering after emerging is also a good idea because most seeds like more warmth when germinating, then more coolth to grow on, if you want them to grow short and leafy rather than as long-legged stems.)
Hmm, maybe for once I have a practical suggestion: can you move the
sprouted peat balls to another tray, and leave that tray uncovered?
That way you would gain the benefit sought by those who try to put only very similar seeds into each tray. They don't have the option of removing each one as it sprouts, so they HAVE TO remove the dome for everything at the same time. Hence they want everything in one tray to emerge within a day or two of each other.
