"Judith Smith" wrote

Bugger, bugger, bugger........

I have in previous years lost some tomatoes to damping off - despite,
as I thought being meticulous re hygiene in my greenhouse and using
cheshunt compound

Last year I kept them all in the house on window sill until ready for
potting on to 3 inch pots - all fine.


This year:

Washed plug tray, seed tray, seed tray cover all in disinfectant and
washing up liquid.

Bought new seed potting compost.

Soaked compost well with Cheshunt compound

Planted my 42 seeds and put them on windows sill in bedroom - two
weeks ago.

Bottom watered with Cheshunt compound

Only sixteen seeds through - tallest about an inch. Thought I'll
speed up germination and use the heated sand bed in the greenhouse -
so moved everything in to greenhouse.


This morning - 14 of them all with damping off - gone, finished,
done!!

I am very sure that it is damping off.

So the point is - what more can I do - does the greenhouse itself need
a good Jeyes Fluiding or something.

Is the damping off "spores"/bacteria or whatever in the green house
and air-born?

Or - despite my certainty - could it be something other than damping
off??

For now I am repeating last year - starting again - and keeping in
the house until ready to pot on.

Perhaps you are keeping them too wet, or too cold and wet (humid).
Normally once I've sowed my seeds and put them in the heated propagator in
my heated greenhouse (min 50°F) they don't need watering again until they
are up and growing and then only to keep the compost just moist. I raise the
trays up off the bottom of the propagator so they don't stay wet from
condensation.
Alternatively, what sort of compost are you using? I had a lot of trouble
once with a peat free compost (New Horizons) and cured it by going back to a
peat based compost (Levingtons).

--
Regards
Bob Hobden