|
| This is one of the commonest forms of seedling loss, yet it is very hard to find a useful googleable access. If you find this article helpful please comment to keep it " in the headlines". Damping-off disease is a general term to refer to a number of conditions that result in early seedling death. In a typical case seedlings will germinate then fail to thrive, eventually collapsing about a week after germination, though DOD can cause death as much as a month later. There are a variety of causes, both bacterial and fungal, which it is usually impossible to identify specifically. The only effective treatment is prevention as, once a seedling is already showing symptoms of DOD, it is usually too late. After sowing keep the sowing area very well ventilated, if necessary use a fan. This will reduce the number of fungal spores ( which are present in any normal atmosphere) that settle on the compost. Water with a dilute solution of Bordeaux mixture (Copper Sulphate) for at least a month. Other commercial mixtures are available (though expensive) but do not rely on them without pre-sterilization. Small seeds are the most vulnerable. Good luck - Ian. |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| I ought to have added that, although commercially purchased seed should be sterile (in practise it often is not), seed saved from the garden never is. Since for the average gardener, fully sterilizing seed is not a practical option (dusting with sulfur will offer some protection), no method is completely foolproof. - Ian. |
|
| i didnt sterilize my soil before repoting my seedlings and i did that about 2 days ago. if my soil was bad how long would it take to see if my plants got the dod and for the fan i can use one on seedlings? |
This post was edited by John_JJ on Tue, Apr 9, 13 at 2:10
|
| My guess is that if the plants were big enough to re-pot, they were old enough to not have a problem. If you want, aim a fan on them (you can use a timer so it only runs 1/2 or 1/3 of the time, periodically). A fan from 12 or 15 feet away is enough of a breeze to help. PS - a fan helps toughen up the stems so when you put them outside in the wind, they are sturdy and don't blow over. Two benefits! Last night I re-potted 5 week old pepper plants and I'm not concerned about damping off. The stems seemed woody enough (not soft). |
|
- Posted by runswithscissors MT 4/5 (My Page) on Tue, Apr 9, 13 at 21:54
| Forgive me....bordeaux mixture? I have not heard of that, can you explain what it is? |
|
| NO!!! please read the internet: Cornell University scientist Dr. Allison Jack has discovered that sterile medium bordeaux mixture, etc. IS ALL WRONG!!! The traditional organic method of earthworms and compost is powerful, cheap, and works best. Her research proves this. To prevent damping off, I use a mix of 30% compost, 30% bark, and 40% peat based potting mix, called pro-mix. You must have plenty of beneficial bacteria in the soil, and these are found in abundance in compost, expecially with worm casting enriched compost. Last year, I attempted rose cuttings, and lost hundreds and hundreds of cuttings, because everything was sterile. Then I added compost, and the miracle of life happened. :) . I now use compost with all of my seedlings, and osmocote, because the seedling will never get damping off, and grow much stronger if it has a nutritious medium. |
Here is a link that might be useful: How to prevent damping off, according to Cornell soil scientist Dr. Allison Jack
|
- Posted by runswithscissors MT 4/5 (My Page) on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 14:10
| Do you add worm castings or do you just rely on your own compost to have them? I have alot of worms in my yard, but honestly, they don't seem all that interested in my compost pile. (or perhaps I misread the scientific study). |
|
- Posted by runswithscissors MT 4/5 (My Page) on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 14:54
| Overdrive - your post sparked my curiosity and I did some research into vermicomposting. I am amazed at how the humble earthworm might be the key to controling damping- off and other fungel diseases, not to mention adding super growing power to seedlings, at the stage they really need a kick-start. (at least in my operation.) Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I'm going to start a worm bin for the future, but in the mean time I'm buying some worm castings to put in my germination mix for now. It makes perfect sence really...worms and plants did evolve together, didn't they?! |
|
| There was one study also done just using leaf compost without the worms, and the fresh leaf compost also worked well, they compared it to compost that had been stored for several years and the very old compost did not work as well. If you have access to worm castings, that is great, but worm castings are pretty expensive unless you have your own worms - my garden centre sells compost supposedly enriched with worm castings (who know how much or little), but I have been using both the compost from the local leaf composting company, and the store bought compost, and each one of these works well. I have also discovered that ground bark is very cheap, and is good to add to the mix, because it is both organic, and very porous, so the drainage is excellent and that helps to avoid a soggy soil, which as everyone knows is disaster - - A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Even in the times of the Bible everyone knew the seed needed good soil, but now we are told to use sterile mix with no nutrients - supposedly the seed already has a store of nutrients - which is true enough, but my own experiments with adding Osmocote to the potting mix, bonemeal, and compost, results in fantastic healthy seedlings - Is anyone surprised? |
|
- Posted by darobi2459 5 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 0:07
| I have used jobes organic fertilizer when I transferred my seedlings to bigger cups. I also sterilized the mix (kill gnats mainly). They seem to be doing really well since the transfer, but it just might be the added space. |
|
| It is really sad to think of the millions of dollars of chemicals that have been poured into the environment, poisoning it, with antifungal agents, when organic methods work better and cheaper. |
|
- Posted by runswithscissors MT 4/5 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 22:08
| Perhaps worm castings are becoming the "in" thing because I just bought a bag (19 Qts) of them for $12 at our local feed store. (Eko brand). Does that sound like an expensive price....a bag of miracle gro was $19. |
|
- Posted by naturemitch 3/4 WI (My Page) on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 13:16
| Avoiding damping off is simple. Use a soilless mix, when seeds germinate....remove lids or plastics that have been used to keep in moisture, and put a fan on them. Also, learn not to overwater your seedlings. I have been growing by seed for decades and have no issues with damping off. No teas used, certainly no sterilizing, just a good quality soilless mix. Totally don't recommend adding compost to small containers of seedlings. Compost will mess with drainage, and more people loose seedlings to overwatering and poor drainage than you can imagine. Not against organic, practice it myself, but put the compost on top of the mix when seedlings go into their large summer containers. |
|
- Posted by susanzone5 z5NY (My Page) on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 17:11
| Air circulation is the key to preventing damping off. None of that other costly stuff matters. If you do some research you'll see that worms aren't even very good for the garden. They eat the nutrients your plants need. |
|
| this is such an important topic it should stay as a permanent "sticky" at the top, for always - best regards, paul m. |
|
| Thanks for all you comments. Like any good gardener (I hope) I will always keep an open mind on most issues. At present I am running my own trial with a variety of seed, some commercial some collected from the garden, grown in 1. a sterile sand and garden soil mix grown in the open air and 2. a commercial vermiculite and peat-based mix without any additional sterilization but with plastic covers to prevent post-infection. OK don't tell me - it should be the other way round! I should also point out that any peat-based material is very environmentally incorrect as peat is a much over-exploited natural raw material and is actually banned from garden use in many countries, including mine!!! I'm not including non-sterile garden soil even with added sand as 20 years experience tells me it is no good. I will now contradict everything I have said by saying that the best I results I get are from direct sowing!! This is evidence in favor of OVERDRIVE that non-sterile soil works best. If anyone can tell me why it works in the ground but not growing modules I'd love to know. Will keep you all posted. - Ian. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Growing from Seed Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.