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I started sprouts of radishes. I took 3 coffee paper cups, filled them with soil, put 1 seed in each cup and watered a litte bit.

After few days all 3 radishes sprouted but 1 of them has white little hairs just above the soil. What are those hairs and why only in 1 of cups?

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Marian Paździoch
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  • when you say 'soil', do you mean soil straight from the garden, or do you mean proprietary seed and cutting or starter potting compost? – Bamboo Sep 24 '16 at 12:09
  • This was soils bought in a shop. What do you mean by "proprietary seed"? – Marian Paździoch Sep 24 '16 at 16:24
  • 'proprietary seed and cutting potting compost', not proprietary seeds - just means commercially produced, but it sounds like you used proprietary potting compost, just not seed and cutting, sometimes called 'starter' compost in the USA I think. Seed and cutting potting compost wouldn't (or shouldn't) have uncomposted material within it like this one has. – Bamboo Sep 24 '16 at 18:02
  • My "soil" was sold as "bio soil". – Marian Paździoch Sep 24 '16 at 18:54
  • And was it for use on open ground, or specifically intended for use in pots? – Bamboo Sep 24 '16 at 20:08
  • Good question, I'll check - by "open ground" you mean outdoors or without greenhouse over the head or something else? – Marian Paździoch Sep 25 '16 at 12:26
  • open ground meaning ordinary soil in the garden, in the open, so like beds and borders, as opposed to being used in pots or containers – Bamboo Sep 25 '16 at 12:34

1 Answers1

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It looks like a saprophytic fungal growth - saprophytic fungi are harmless to growing plants, and exist because there's dead (usually woody) material in the soil which they are digesting. I can see some twiggy, or little woody bits in the soil in your cup, and this may be in association with that. If you didn't use new, proprietary seed and cutting compost, this fungus will have been present in whatever soil you did use prior to your putting it in the cup - its just there was some mycelium in the portion in this cup and not in the others. Only water when absolutely necessary to keep the seedling growing - wet soil will increase growth of the fungi exponentially. When the seedling is big enough, (two sets of true leaves) transfer it to another container with fresh potting soil.

Bamboo
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