Season 2, Episode 7: Preventing Damping Off Disease

There is nothing like the excitement of seeing your tender seedlings popping through the soil in your indoor garden area!  You immediately have visions of future harvest from these beautiful plants.  This will be the best year ever in the garden!  Then, something starts to happen: fuzzy mold appears on the soil surface, the stems become thin and weak, and the seedlings wilt and die.  You add more water to the tender seedlings because they might be drying out.  Instead, this seems to have the opposite effect: more seedlings are wilting!  Soon, the entire tray looks horrible and is a complete loss.  This, my friends, happened to me last year!  It is most likely damping off disease, and if you garden indoors, you eventually will have to deal with it.  In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I discuss 9 steps for Preventing Damping Off Disease.

Podcast Topics

Damping Off Disease attacking a tomato seedling in 2016

In this podcast, I discuss the following tips for Preventing Damping Off Disease:

1. Plant seeds in containers, and then place the containers in trays
2. Water the tray, not directly on the soil (bottom up, not top down)
3. Sterilize containers, tools and trays for 30 minutes before reusing them
4. Use warm water to water your seedlings
5. Do not overwater! Only add enough water to fill 1/4″ to 1/3″ high in the tray
6. Use a heating pad to start seedlings
7. Use good draining potting mix. Do not use your garden soil or compost!
8. Do not fertilize your seedlings
9. Provide 12 to 16 hours of light from your grow lights.
10. BONUS TIP: keep the lights 1-2″ from the top of your seedlings when they first germinate

Links

While initially looking healthy, this tray of tomato seedlings is doomed – 2016

I discussed the following links on this podcast:

• University of Minnesota Extension – How to prevent seedling damping off
• How to Garden Indoors
• 8 Steps to Starting Plants Indoors
• Winter Care of Indoor Succulents

Friends of Small Scale Life

As I develop friendships and communities online and in real life, I have seen really good people doing great work and will be recognizing these people on Small Scale Life.  For some, I will be setting up affiliates and memberships with them as this blog and podcasts grow.  In the meantime, please check out the work friends have completed and take advantage of their offers below:

• Nature’s Image Farm – If you are planning on buying some fruit trees for your yard or comfrey for your herb garden, please check out Nature’s Image Farm!  When you place orders using the code “SSL,” you will receive a 10% OFF all nursery stock plus FREE shipping.  It is time to plant, so why not order something from Nature’s Image Farm?  Even if you do not buy anything, this is a going to be a great resource for new homesteaders like me.  Check out the Homestead How-To Page for more hillbilly homesteading information.
• Small Scale Gardening Facebook Group – Share your gardening stories, questions and ideas with over 200 fellow gardeners!  Join today!
• Aaron Clarey’s “Reconnaissance Man” – Written by local Minnesotan author, blogger, podcaster and economist Aaron Clarey, “Reconnaissance Man” is the book that guarantees you live life right the first time or at least ends your wandering in the desert. By perfectly and clearly explaining the process by which a person figures out who they are and what they want out of life, “Reconnaissance Man” provides the reader a clear road map to life, ensuring you don’t waste precious decades on worthless degrees, careers you hate, and people you don’t love.

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