Lost seedlings to damping off last year. How do I avoid this year?

[Twoddle]

As per the title!

We have quite a damp house, prone to mould, so maybe this was why last year's tomato, pepper and courgette seedlings (on the kitchen window sill) succumbed to damping off and stopped growing and eventually keeled over at the base of the stem. Can't do much about the house, but would love some tips on prevention, so that this year's seedlings thrive. Leeks through already, so trying to get ahead of myself ...

TIA

Damping off is a difficult one to solve. Don't re-use last year's pots or seed trays, or not without a thorough clean or sterilise. In commercial gardens they heat sterilise the soil to kill the fungal spores, but at home I think the best you can do is make sure the compost is not too waterlogged as the disease thrives in damp and warm conditions. I have found that taking the cover off the propagator once the seedlings have germinated helps a bit.

Thanks for posting this, have an RHS Level 2 exam in Feb and this is one of the topics. Good revision.

Oooh what Wizzska said

Also - the Kitchen is a damp and sometimes humid place (think of all the steam from your veggies) - do you have another windowsill you could press into action?

If you're happy to use chemicals, you could try cheshunt compound. Some of my gardening chums sterilise compost in the microwave!

Thanks for some useful info. I am using fresh trays, but had already sown my leeks in last year's compost - oops. I'm not using a propagator this year, and have moved the seedlings over the the dining area windowsill, away from their earlier proximity to the steamy kettle!

I've swotted up online too: have sprinkled them with cinnamon and garlic, and am watering with chamomile tea with a bit of vinegar in! They seem healthy so far, although I have scraped a little bit of mould off the surface this evening.

Do you know if, once you have signs of damping off, however slight the attack may be, if it's inevitable that plants will die? I'm hoping not!

Thanks again.

I've never managed to save anything once damping-off has taken hold. But I've never heard of the cinnamon and garlic recipe, either. Just be careful not to overwater camomile tea!

I suppose once the stems are weakened, they're done for. I have had moulds on the surface of seed trays before and damping off hasn't taken hold - maybe they've been a different kind of fungus?

Anyhoo, here are all the tips I found online (once I got off [on] my arse and looked) for preventing/containing damping off:

Use a sprinkling of cinnamon on the soil surface, garlic and chamomile tea mists to keep fungus at bay.

Circulate air, using a gentle fan intermittently.

Stir up soil surface.

Don?t over-water plants, letting the surface of the soil dry out before re-watering.

Water preferably from below (or by misting).

Don?t use tray covers (as in covered propagators).

Keep plants in the warm and sun ? damp, dark and cold encourage fungus.

Apply sphagnum moss, ground finely, to the soil surface.

Soak seeds in water with a crushed garlic clove before sowing.

Add a tablespoon of vinegar per gallon of tap water (for watering), as tap water is alkaline and therefore more conducive to fungus and damping off; a slightly acid water will help prevent damping off.

Sow seeds on the soil surface and cover with vermiculate or similar ? a substance less likely to harbour fungal spores. Shallow sowing means less expanse of stem exposed to the soil/compost and therefore any fungus in it.

HTH, bocca. I should have looked online in the first place really - have answered my own question!

Good grief, what a lot of wierd and wonderful internet advice there is.

Seems to add up to 'do everything that fungus doesn't like'

• keep them on the dry side, especially the neck/stem
• keep them somewhere breezy
• keep everything slightly acid

I am desperate to sow some seeds but holding myself back - bitter experience says January is too early for Tomatoes etc even though they will germinate into luscious baby seelings for me to coo over and to make me think of summer.

Must rush to greenhouse and check if Onions are up. Tagetes and echnacia are, I know

Weird and wonderful indeed!

Have you sown leeks, missingtheaction? That's all I sow in January. I have bitter experience of early sowing too. I cheat and use onion sets in March - although we sowed over-wintering onions this year, so they went in in the autumn. I grew Japanese giant onions from seed one year - they were fun.

February isn't too early for some tom's - not long to wait now.

This looks like the place I need for help for my first time tomato seedlings! I have sewn some in a heated propagator, and watered the compost with cheshunt stuff before I planted them. They came up very quickly, look quite strong but are very spindly.Is this because they haven't got enough light, and should I now leave the lid and/ or the heat off? I too have them on the kitchen windowsill as its the lightest room. Any advice for a novice veg grower gratefully received!