Usually after 15-20 days post transfer of Arabidopsis seedlings in pots, fungus is growing on pot soil. Please suggest me how to avoid this problem. Is there any fungicide that I can use? but it should not interfere with Arabidopsis growth & development.
Dear Kishor,
I think you are growing seeds in heavy (more clay) soil. You should use a good potting mix. I suggest you check the Perdue website at the link below. They give control of fungus also. Also, cleaning seeds before planting can help if it is a seed-borne fungus. You can use sodium hypochlorite solution to starilise seeds.
Good luck!
https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/Hort/greenhouse/pages/101-ways-to-grow-arabidopsis.aspx
Some Arabidopsis growers choose to autoclave the soil before planting in order to kill the pests and pathogens such as bacteria and fungi living in the soil. If you search online (using 'autoclave Arabidopsis soil' as key words), you can see many references pop out (attached article is one of the examples), although some suggest that autoclaving may affect soil property or change the compositions of the nutrients applied in the commercial potting soil. But, you can always try a small bucket of it to see the result.
Dear Kishor,
As Yuan-Yeu Yau said, we usually autoclave the soil before planting. This can help a lot. However, fungus grow still if there are too many bacterias and fungus in your environment. On this condition, we usually cover a layer of roseite.
Hope that helps.
Sincerely,
Keli
@ Kishor,
What kind of soil are you using? When I grew cotton, tobacco and Arabidopsis, I used different kind of soil mixes (prepared from the Greenhouse staff). Some plant species may like a specific soil mix and added fertilizer (N:P:K) ratios in terms of growing healthier and faster.
Try not to keep the soil too wet (you can add vermiculite as previously mentioned to aid drainage). Do not over water your trays. If there is excess water sitting in the trays this encourages fungal growth as does high humidity and too high growing temperature in your glasshouse or growth chamber, so if you can reduce these it will help. Arabidopsis is not a bog plant so can survive on small amounts of water given often (e.g once or twice a day). They will need more water as they bolt and set seed, but once the seed starts to dry reduce the water again.
Hope this helps
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