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I sowed sweet peas in kitchen roll centres on 21st Jan and they have all germinated but the cardboard now has white mould on the outside. Does anyone knowif this is harmful? It's a bit soon to transplant the seedlings.

I've had this with various things grown in loo rolls but it's never caused any problems.

Biggest problem is the rolls start to disintegrate before you're ready to put them out. can you stand them in trays or pots if need be?

The white stuff should be ok.
You could try wrapping the whole bundle in clingfilm to keep the moisture in, if you haven't already.

Yes  you can use trays to put them in and try a rubber band around them to keep them tight.

It's reassuring to know that the white fungus isn't harmful. They are tightly packed in a cardboard box that is higher than the rolls so, if they disintegrate, the main problem will be root disturbance when I want to plant them, which is what I was trying to avoid by using the tubes. I'll transfer them to a cold frame in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the advice everyone.

clingfilm is a good idea,cheers nigel!
i put our,october sown,sweet peas in the coldframe a few weeks ago,nervously,and they have been fine
Rach x

My sweetpeas have germinated and are quite leggy they are on windowsill In modules can I transfer them to pots and when can I move them to uh greenhouse? I sown the three weeks ago thanks  ???

Yes as soon as they are big enough pot them on then give them another week to grow roots then stick them in a cold greenhouse should be fine.

Equally theres not reason why you cant transfer sweetpeas in toilet roll tubes into bigger pots if they are disntegrating.

They are pretty tough things.
Lovely sweet pea flower dreams for June! Cant wait to have the first bunches in a jar!
good luck
X sunloving

Thanks Sunloving
These are going I'n my garden this year. I planted lots :D out last year with my beans on the plot and never really got to enjoy them. You cannot beat the smell as you walk I'n a room with fresh cut sweetpeas. Right next job this morning pot the little sweethearts up into bigger pots till next week then it will make more room for veg seeds. When do I pinch them out? Not sure if that's what you do with sweetpeas?

You do pinch them out you are right!
I normally do it after the thrid or fourth set of leaves. Makes them branch out.
x Sunloving

I got some sweet pea seeds, but I have no room for anything indoors (OH is already going mad about my peppers and I haven't sown the tomatoes yet  :-\ )
I guess I can direct sow them - when should I do that? Should I do it at the same time as the eating peas?? I usually do those March and cloche them...

If you do not have any space for sweet peas, you could chit them on some kitchen roll and then put them outside under bottle cloches.  March will be fine they are tough little cookies.  Are you warmer than us Antipodes maybe you could do it Feb.

Mine have been outside all winter beside the water butts  covered in a sheet of plastic only brought them in a few times when it was particularly cold.  They are looking very bonny.

My packet of 6 packs of sweet peas came from the 99p shop, and the first packet of 10 seeds are in water until 2morrow when I will plant them on the window cill with the compost that came with the sweet corn from the 99p shop.  All the seeds that I bought from Liddlys (whatever it is called) and the 99p shop will wait until the weather gets better and they can go in my plastic greenhouse, if Dulce (the cat) has not slept on the roof and demolished it by then.  I have so many seeds, I am so lucky, but most are just 4 packets for 99p but last year they did OK.  Roll on summer.

First lot sowed Oct 2011, 2nd lot november 2011, third lot planted January 2012, the mice have eaten most of them  :-\

Quotethe mice have eaten most of them

You must be gutted.  One yeat I had loads of things on the windowsill and one morning came down to find total wipeout.

I catch the little blighters in the watering can.

What annoys me is I had them covered and decided to take the tops off to protect some other small seedlings, still, Tony has sowed some more, these are all for the plant sale, we sell loads so, it's just as well he did  ;D