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Mold in the air

       
                 
   

Molds reproduce by spores. A single piece of grain covered with matured spore producing bodies will send a multitude of these little "seeds" flying off in search of a new homes. Bless their little hearts. They only want to be fruitful and multiply, but we're not going to let that happen. Are we.

Aside from the spores produced by our crop, there can be at any given time, hundreds or even thousands of various spores per cubic meter of air coming from nature. Only a few of these like to grow on wheat, but they must be taken into account if a mold free crop is desired.

It takes about 5 days for a spore to germinate and grow to where it is becoming visible. The crop cycle is 10 to 14 days. Therefore preventing contamination during the early stages of crop development is critical. Spores that contaminate the crop during the last 5 days may grow to visibility, but are not going to be a problem for quality nor a concern regarding loads of new spores. However there will always be a few spores that escape our controls in the early days and those will reach reproducing stages toward the end of the crop cycle.

For this reason, we do our soaking, sprouting, planting and first few days of soil growth in a separate room, isolated from the older trays that are in the light and nearing harvest. The older crop will be be "fruiting" out scads of mature mold spores even if not highly visible. Never should a finished flat of wheatgrass be brought into the sprout-plant room near the time of soaking, sprouting and planting.

Because some spores will always be present naturally in the air, an air filter can help, especially during planting. Spores are relatively large, so a filter does not need to be a top notch or HEPA type in order to be highly beneficial.

I have grabbed toaster sized filters for 6 or 7 bucks at the thrift stores and they ran for years. We run one in the planting room and another in the finishing building. It only takes a few minutes to circulate all the air in the room through one of these. Running one for 10 minutes just before planting will help a lot..

Once planting is done, different folks have different routines for shelving the trays during the 3 or 4 day early growth stage "in the dark". Most growers, of course, are convinced that their own method is the best. All I know for sure is that they are all wrong and my way is superior. (That's a joke}

Once the flats are watered and shelved, We pull out nice new fresh, sterile, clear plastic. (Saran wrap-like) We cover the row of trays and wrap around the edges so that they are sealed. After planting is done and cleaned up, we turn out the light and don't see our grass again for 2 or 3 days when it is time to move them out of the dark and into the grow room. A home grower can just wrap a flat in a darl plastic bag.

If at this point the crop shows no fuzz, other than the normal root hairs, you're nearly home free.

We usually do not water the grass on the first day out into the light if the crop looks well rooted and still moist. This day of drying off the surface of the seed helps kill off some possibly existing molds on the surface. (This dries out the not yet well developed fungal hairs) If the grass is not thoroughly rooted and well on the way to 2 inches tall, it must be lightly watered on this first day.

Now that they're out in the lighted grow room, trays need to be placed as to allow good air flow between each other. Some use fans for added circulation. I seem to do fine with a filter that really pushes the air.

If the trays have been well watered upon planting, avoiding watering on this first day in the light will allow seed tops to dry off, killing newly developed molds that have not taken hold yet. This is a fine line though. It's like chemotherapy where you are trying to provide enough stresds to kill the pest with out injuring the host. This shoulkd only be done if the grass is over an inch tall and well rooted on "coming out" day.

Seed that has been planted very densely will produce a thick mat of grass that will impede ventilation to the seed surface. This will surely cause any beginnings of mold to really flash.

At cooler temperatures, (65 to 69 F) molds are a little slower to grow.

                 
      Mold from the soil      
 

There is no universal answer to the task of finding a soil that produces minimal molds. Every locale has it's varying soil types. These may come from the yard or garden, the compost pile, bulk soil dealers or bagged products. You will do best to experiment in order to find the best source in your own area.

Fortunately, if the other mold sources, (seed and air) are kept under control, rarely will the soil itself contribute enough of a problem to ruin a crop.

Soils that are very rich in nitrogen, such as pure cottonseed hull compost, or not completely composted manures have given us problems in the past. We currently use a mix from a bulk dealer that contains sand and various well digested organic materials.

You may find a soil or mix that works well right off the bat. You may want to experiment some. I always continue to experiment with soils. Have a little fun finding your green thumb.

And don't hesitate to contact us for help. That's why we're here.

Be sure to read over our growing page for a lot more mold insight.

 

 
                       
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