Damping off for no good reason

[Deft]

I've always had damping off problems because I live in an old moldy building, but its gotten to the point where I can't even get a single canna plant going. I can get basil and cuke and pumpkin and all sorts of other seed to start no problem though which is strange.

I've tried soaking then straight in soil, paper towel with H202 (they germ that way but the root stops at 5mm and then the whole thing goes soft and brown and is dead).

Is there any completely sterile way of starting seed? Once they put out leaves I think I can do ok even though root rot has plauged me (its not over watering, I water very little and wait till plants droop to give them more and the roots still brown and die).

Clones don't take either and I've always had great success over 90% with clones till recently. Now they just brown up and slowly die from no roots over months sometimes, before they would die within 14 days if they were going to die. Its like the brown gook is feeding them just enough to stay alive.

 

[Deft]

I wonder is SM 90 safe for seeds/clones?

 

[KnightShield]

yes sm90 is very safe..all organic smells good too! but wow man sounds pretty rough, i have not sprouted beans in quite some time but when i do. its a must to sterilize the medium for better success...wrap up some soil, coco or whatever and bake that shit for 20 min or so. pressure cooker works good to. also use clean water like some distilled from the supermarket until they are big and healthy. beware of springwater that got SODIUM in it..it inhibits the little sprouts...i look for the big 0% sodium and good to go.

for the clones why not explore new methods, i get 100% and never any yellow, altho good genes do play a big factor

 

[Deft]

Yea it does smell good. Good idea on the baking of the soil, I'll have to try that.

I never get any root hairs anymore, and very few white roots. They're usually thin and brown

 

[bigbluntbob]

i have baked the soil before, once while i was in a "slump", i wish i remembered the outcome.

do you add any heat to the seedling mix or your cloning medium ? that might help. i used to get the brown gunk but it went away when i added a heater to my cloner.

after seedlings break the soil try watering with lukewarm water. i have heard that this helps prevent dampening off.

good luck

 

[FreezerBoy]

I've never tried soil baking, largely because of the stench that was supposed to accompany the process.

Someone here reported on a visit to a University's agriculture dept. where they learned the trick of zapping damp rockwool for 30 sec in a microwave.

I'm probably paranoid but, first you had success, now you don't plus you got brown gunk ... I'd take a 0.5% bleach solution and give the room and all equipment a good bath.

 

[Deft]

Yea I did the bleach thing but I think its still in the rug and the books that are in between my closet and veg box. I don' think temp has much to do with it, my temps are usually 80 during the day in my closet and box and probably 74 at night right now.

Seeds don't pop through soil anymore, like I say the ones that pop open (about half) only get the tap to about 1/2 cm and then they die. I put a pot with seeds sown direct outside and they did better, the taps came out and they broke ground but then the tip of the fat white root browned and worked its way up and then they died too. I'm sure its a pathogen inside but weather its a virus mold or bacterial I have no idea, I wish I could send a root sample to a local hort school like I would with anything else but I'm paranoid.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

why dont you grow in soil? not off the street soil but new from bag stuff.

 

[Deft]

I do, thats why I think its weird that I am getting "dry" rot. I don't think its something I am doing because I have 3 vegetable gardens I tend outside and window boxes with basil etc and they are all thriving. I actually do odd jobs including gardening for a living in summer (allows me to have a super flexible schedule and go to school in winter), I've never had any problems growing plants I've studied them in college and have been in love with ecology/plants since I popped out.

I think I am going to take a basil seedling and put it in my box and see if it is affected.

 

[Deft]

Heres some history, I started growing cannabis I think around 06 when I joined here. My first grow went very well even under just two-three cfls in shop reflectors in my closet and It was good bud even pulled a little early (only time I have ever seen heavily accentuated patterns/spirals/colors when smoking was that bud). After that grows started to go downhill, at first they would just start to die and slow in flowering (more than normal) and that happened more and more and sooner each consecutive grow. Then it started affecting veg and leaves would die at the same rate they were being put out and the plant would slow and almost stop growing. Now I can't get seeds to germ or clones to send out roots, clones get cankers where roots would come out of the nodes then brown and mush up.

I'm going to pull my peyote (I have seed to start more later on) and remove all soil from the room/closet and vacuum and take out the rug and bleach everything and not grow anything for the summer to hopefully cut out any pathogen.

 

[Deft]

Something is killing my roots I think I am going to have to move to solve this .

Every root is thin and brown and has been for some time, they look like this. There is something living in the soil that gets in the roots and they get thin and brown and die and the plants stop growing, this sucks I want to be able to grow again.

I'm looking for help so any suggestions are welcome.