Damping off on large seedlings

[Labradors2]

I've had some problems with large seedlings (which should have been planted out, but I have been saving them for a friend who is still getting her garden prep'd).

Both plants (Little Lucky and Prudens Purple) seemed very healthy and vigorous and I had potted them up (in Promix) into 1 Litre waxed cartons with holes in the bottom and they had been sitting outside in a large container along with other (smaller) seedlings.

High winds caused both of them to flop, but on closer inspection, it appeared that the stems were narrower at the soil line. PP broke off and I was able to root the top and re-pot her. She is now doing well.

LL flopped last night. I took it inside, removed the flower buds, staked it, added a little more soil and watered well, but it didn't revive much overnight.

I think the best thing would be to get it into the ground and plant it deep if it is to have a chance.

I'm just curious to know if it is normal for a seedling that has been a bit wind- battered to have a thinner stem at the soil line or whether it is damping off that is the problem.

I will try to get a picture.

Linda

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

I've had some problems with large seedlings (which should have been planted out, but I have been saving them for a friend who is still getting her garden prep'd).

Both plants (Little Lucky and Prudens Purple) seemed very healthy and vigorous and I had potted them up (in Promix) into 1 Litre waxed cartons with holes in the bottom and they had been sitting outside in a large container along with other (smaller) seedlings.

High winds caused both of them to flop, but on closer inspection, it appeared that the stems were narrower at the soil line. PP broke off and I was able to root the top and re-pot her. She is now doing well.

LL flopped last night. I took it inside, removed the flower buds, staked it, added a little more soil and watered well, but it didn't revive much overnight.

I think the best thing would be to get it into the ground and plant it deep if it is to have a chance.

I'm just curious to know if it is normal for a seedling that has been a bit wind- battered to have a thinner stem at the soil line or whether it is damping off that is the problem.

I will try to get a picture.

Linda

If there are high winds, high enough, they can and will snap off the stem, but won't cause that narrow brown area at the soil line.

I've posted about larger seedlings having damping off here at TV before, and it was a surprise to me to find that seedlings up to 5-6 inches tall could have damping off.

But, I wouldn't expect Pro-Mix to have any of the spores from the three genera and species that can caase damping off.

What product did you use to germinate the seeds?

If it is damping off best to throw out the plants b/c they aren't going to recover.

I wish I could show you the picture in my tomato monograph book which shows a flat of tomatoes of the height I mentioned above turning yellow, flopping over and dying.

Carolyn

[Labradors2]

Thanks for the response Carolyn.

I just scraped the soil away so that I could take a picture of the base of the stem, but it's a dull day and the pictures didn't come out very well even with the flash. However, I discovered that I'd added some egg shell and fish meal to the soil at transplanting time and I suspect that this might have caused problems. (The egg shells were for the multitude of worms in my garden BTW!) I grew the seedlings in regular Pro-mix and potted them up into Pro-mix for veggies (which contains mycorrhizae). I also noticed a tiny little white insect crawling in the soil, and that there were some bumps above the soil line and a tiny root sticking out. It's trying valiantly not to die!

It still looks very sorry for itself almost 24 hours later.

I also had a smaller seedling that inexplicably flopped. I ended up rooting that one in water, and just as I was about to pot it up, I noticed some signs of mould on the veins of the leaves so I ended up tossing it out.

Linda