Seedlings Dampening Off
Hey Growmies! I recently have been struggling with seedlings dying. I soak them for about 24 hours, then put into a paper towels to germinate and always get a nice taproot. My issues started when I planted the seed after it had germinated. I plant them about ¼” deep and add some Great White in the hole and lightly cover with top soil. About 50% I can get the seedling to come up, but shortly after they fall over and die, the other 50% don’t even come up.
I have figured out (with the help of our community) that the most likely cause is a fungus or something like that and it is most likely a result of over watering. The other thing that could be an issue is the Great White being too much for the little gals.
I changed up my practices and I am having much better results. I bought a bag of seedling soil and mixed it 50/50 with worm castings (thanks Green Goblin). That gives me a very light soil which really helps. I water the cup before I plant the seed and I have decided to not use Great White (yet). I will use Great White when I transplant to the final pots in a few weeks.
The last thing I have changed is that I am bottom watering. This prevents me from over watering and keeps excess moisture off of the seedling itself. So far, in this new run, I have germinated 6 seeds and all are up and looking good.
Not sure if anyone else has struggled with this so I thought I would share what worked for me.
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Nice! I was going to say it may be the soil itself. Sometimes it’s just too hot…
