[savbo]

Hi

although most of my 40+ tom seedlings are looking great (all at seed leaf stage), 3 or 4 have rotted off immediately below the seed leaves - what causes this?

M

[prakash_mib]

hmmm... interesting. i had to sacrifice one chilli plant this year for the same reason. It was in the plug and one day it bent its head and said me dying. had to pot the others immediately.

[prakash_mib]

ah... found by searching. it is called damping off. there are many citations on this site but not one sticky or article about it. probably some exp members can write a shorty on this please.

[Kristen]

Have a look / search for Cheshunt Compound. Its not a common disease, so I'm not surprised there isn't a sticky, as such.

Using tap watering, rather than rainwater, is advisable - the water company will have already killed off the bugs (hopefully!) whereas rainwater will have picked up all the muck off the roof etc. and is better suited to somewhat older plants.

[savbo]

ah - I'd heard of it but known it was quite so specific in its effect. Used tap water so prob down to leaving the propagator lid on too long and maybe overwatering.

[Kristen]

Well it may just have been "too wet" - rather than damping off disease.

Damping off is normally because containers were not clean / sterilised, or likewise the compost not sterilised.

I had a whole tray succumb to what looked like damping off last year - turned out to have been a snail that have climbed up the bench and had my baby petunias for lunch