Damping off! **Please** help!
SchlumpfLouise
Posts: 18
I started my affair with gardening last year, we bought one of these cheap plastic greenhouses and starting growing various plants from seed. I then met damping off and had a terrible time with it. I read all I could find about damping off and this year I set out on a mission:
We bought a new cheap plastic greenhouse, new seed trays, new everything, new seedling compost, etc. We went hygiene mad.
I've painstakingly sown my seeds at a good distance apart from each other to avoid overcrowding,
I've provided good drainage using grit and mixed it in with my compost,
I've watered from below as sparingly as I can,
I've sprinkled grit on the surface of larger seeds,
I've opened the greenhouse most days to allow good air circulation,
I've used cinnamon on the surface,
Nothing seems to have worked and my seedlings are suffering and dying because of damping off again, the ones that haven't yet died I'm so scared they will end up dying anyway 
I was wondering if anyone else can advise what I should do?? (I've removed the offending pots and I still have some other trays in there which don't seem to be affected... yet).
Should I cut holes/flaps in the side of the greenhouse to improve air movement?
Has anyone had any luck with charcoal?
Should I do a deeper layer of cinnamon?
I didn't want to use chemical, but now I'm starting to be open to the idea to avoid the heartache, can anyone recommend a brand which I can spray the surface with?
What else can I do? This is driving me mad!
I have 0 budget to buy anything better than this cheap greenhouse and my windowsill is full. Please help!
Posts
I have had the same problem in my cheap plastic poly tunnel this year. I got sick of it in the end and 2 weeks ago took everything out and put it on the patio outside. The seedling have never looked better. I just think I could not get enough ventilation in the tunnel as it only opened at one end. Where in the country are you? Maybe your seedlings could go outside too.
SchlumpfLouise - don't lose heart
What sort of seeds/plants are we talking about here?
I don't have a greenhouse, only a wooden version of what you have - I've not started any frost-tender seeds yet as in the past I've found that the contrast between night and day temperatures has been too much for them - I plan to sow my tomatoes, courgettes etc this week - they'll start on the kitchen and diningroom windowsills and it's not until they're too big for those spaces that they'll go out into the mini-greenhouse.
I find that because of the confined space and restricted air-flow in a mini-greenhouse the variation in temperatures is much greater than in a conventional greenhouse and you cannot get the same results. The mini-greenhouse is more useful if used more like a cold-frame than a greenhouse.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Ditto Dove & Scroggin.
Thank you all for the fast responses. I'm in the West Midlands (city centre, Wolverhampton) and I'm growing pretty much everything except veg! Most seeds have been sown with wildlife gardening in mind (trefoil, cornflowers, snapdraggon, wallflower, verbena, etc...), but there also a few pretty things in there like various poppies and morning glory and my vast array of sweet peas! There are also a few perennials I'm trying from seed.
I haven't really got anywhere indoors to start seedlings. Also, in a rented Victorian house, I'm not sure the temperature variation wouldn't match the greenhouse!
So I think I'm reading from this to not try to argue with nature and just wait and sow when conditions are right outside?
Should I take the plastic cover off the greenhouse (gradually over the next week or so) and then only put it back on if frost is forecast? I'm realy very grateful of your replies....
Sweet peas can be hardened off and put outside - mine have been planted out with no protection for a while - and you can direct sow some more now
All of the rest, with the exception of Morning Glory, are hardy and could be sown direct outside.
I would keep the greenhouse 'door' wide open in the daytime and 'ajar' at night - that will suit everything except the Morning Glory.
For the Morning Glory I'm afraid it's far too early - they really don't like cool weather and won't grow - if they are started off in the warm and then put outside in the cool the leaves turn white. I've not even sown mine yet and probably won't do so until the end of April/beginning of May. I'll then keep them indoors on the kitchen windowsill until mid June when they'll be planted outside. If I were you I'd get another packet of Morning Glory seeds and start another lot off on the kitchen windowsill (I used to have a Victorian terrace with a north-facing kitchen window - it is possible
) If both lots succeed you'll have double the Glory!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
After last year, I've only sown a few seeds out of each pack, just in case this very thing happened, so thankfully I've got plenty of seeds of everything still left!
I did have to plant out some of the sweet peas already which were ones Monty told me to sow in Autumn, they had to be planted out! The other sweet peas in there are maybe 4" and I've moved some of them to a sheltered spot next to the house about a week ago and they are holding up (I did search the forums first and found many people said they were quite hardy). Even some of last year's sweet peas are still going thanks to the mild winter!
I will take your advice with the Morning Glory and sow them much later, however my windowsill is full with other seedlings and plants already! Quite happy with my litle Callicarpa bodinieri seedlings on there!
I started this thread a couple of weeks ago with just this problem in mind. http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/talkback/damping-off/283320.html
The problem with these plastic constructions is that they provide wild fluctuations between night & daytime temperatures and this is responsible for much of the problem.
How big do people reckon seedlings have to get before they're safe?
Ommthree
It all depends on what type of seedlings ....
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.