Help with mouldy soil

[headburro]

Hi all,

I've just planted my first ever crop (salad leaves and broccoli rapini) in my new beds and have just noticed that, a week on from sowing, some of the soil in the cold frame is growing a white, fury mould.

What is it? What has caused it? How can I treat it? Is it likely to harm my seedlings?

I know I'm not supposed to post links, but I have taken two photos and you can see them via links in my blog post here. Sorry for the link, LJ

Any and all help gratefully accepted

[Nicos]

Not a soil expert ...but mould loves calm still air...have you got a good through draft??

[nick the grief]

Hi HB,

Shot in the dark here. Have you got this uncovered? If so I suspect it's probably got waterlogged with all the recent rain & as Nicos said the poor airflow has encouraged it.

It may cause your seedlings to "Damp off" but there isn't much you can do about that now as treating the mould will more than likely inhibit germination. If you can rig some sort of cover that sits above the coldframe it would help as it will keep the rain off & allow the ground to dry out a bit.

They may be OK but they might not be.(pretty obvious I guess!)

[headburro]

Cheers both - after reading your replies last night, I took the cold frame lids right off to let the elements get to them. Let's see what happens.