Mouldy Paeonia Mlokosewitchii Seed

[HairyBeast]

Hello,

I received some Paeonia Mlokosewitchii seeds from the seed exchange, and have started them in damp vermiculite in a small pot. They were sown about 2 weeks ago. I've noticed that some of the seeds have developed a fuzzy mould around them (at the top of the pot in the image), I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to nip this in the bud/prevent it spreading?

Many thanks, Jordan

[Véronique Macrelle]

It seems too wet to me.

you can collect each seed, clean them with absorbent paper and soak them for 1 or 2 days in water with 1 drop of washing-up liquid.
For me, it's easier to sow them in the soil/potting mix, avoiding getting the sowing pot wet too.
in my house, even when they were rooted in vermiculite, very few were able to adapt to real soil afterwards

[Jeffnz]

Remove the seeds, wipe clean then soak them for 24 hours in water to which a mouldicide has been added, this will hopefully kill existing moulid and mould spores. In my experience dishwashing liquid will not kill mould/mould spores. Not sure why but paeony seeds do seem to be susceptible to mould, maybe the seeds were not sufficiently dry before packing and sending.

[Leena]

I would remove the moldy seeds and throw them away. Many times there are always some seeds which get moldy while others don't in the same conditions, and I have thought that there is something wrong in those seeds. Maybe they were not dry enough or maybe they were not fully mature when collected, and there is something wrong in them. Sometimes seeds may look right but they are not, and then they get mold instead of starting to germinate.

[Vinny 123]

Unless the vermiculite was sterilised (easiest to do in a roasting bag in the microwave using damp vermiculite), there is no guarantee where the mould came from.

Does this species not go through the 2 year cycle from seed typical of Paeonia? I have grown it from seed, but can't remember.

I have grown many, many random Paeonia from seed and just sown it in a pot and left outdoors, and two winters later, I have plenty of seedlings. Unless someone wants to play with the timing, shortening/halving the time to get a seedling by using refrigeration, I see no reason not to sow seed conventionally, and possibly even if I did want to shorten the timing by a year.