Pictures would help. I've seen some peoples plants have minerals sweat out of their plants after the season stopped.

If you think it might be a fungus or anything actually growing on your overwintering plant, hit it with a peroxide spray.

I seem to be mentioning that a lot lately, but it really is a damned good panacea for this sort of thing. Just get regular 3% topical strength from a pharmacy (or the pharmacy section of your grocery store), put it in an opaque spray bottle (if you're lucky, you can find it for sale in a brown spray bottle already), and just spray it down.

The 3% won't hurt your plants, won't even hurt a seedling, but it will kill any kind of fungus, bacteria, mold, etc that it hits. Even kills algae.

Edymnion,
Are you saying to spray the 3% peroxide , straight from the bottle on the plants/seedlings ? I know it is not a harsh stuff. I use it as mouth wash all the time.

Seysonn

Yup, spray it right on, straight out of the bottle.

In the research I've done online, even seedlings can take upwards of 10% concentration of H2O2 without being harmed, so 3% won't even make them blink.

Its also a good thing to water with straight if you have a plant with root rot. It sterilizes everything to stop active rot, and quickly decays into regular water and oxygen, helping aerate the soil. The only reason not to use it is if you have been trying to create a healthy microbial biome in your soil, because this stuff is indiscriminate. It'll kill the good bacteria along with the bad.

But as just a surface spray, the only thing it can kill are molds, fungi, and the like. It'll decompose before it gets deep enough to affect anything around the roots (unless you soak the bejebus out of it).

Well before all this info came in, I tried Neem oil spray. I will wait a few days and see what happens.

The 3% won't hurt your plants, won't even hurt a seedling, but it will kill any kind of fungus, bacteria, mold, etc that it hits. Even kills algae.
Edymnion
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Very interesting. If this kind of application works without any harm to the plants, it should be used regularly in place of chemical fungicide. In our wet PNW climate we get a lot of mold problem. Peroxide then should be a good solution. I will definitely try it this coming season.

I have heard before using much diluted peroxide as foliar spray to invigorate pepper plants. It has bee claimed that THUNDERING produces peroxide and helps plants.
So here we go with yet another use of peroxide.

Seysonn

Seysonn: Though an effective fungicide, H2O2 is a rather pricy EVERYDAY fungicide. The traditional organic concentrates such as neem oil, potassium bicarbonate, wettable sulfur, and even Serenade are far friendlier on the wallet.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin.
I didn't knew that H2O2 works as fungicide.
You are right, it is pricy for large scale application.
This could be another tool in fighting fungus gnats, maybe. I have used camomile tea, cinnamon and mosquito dunk (your recommendation) in the past against damping off.

Seysonn