Oh no... I think I have damp off

[cythaenopsis]

I was pretty careful about germinating my tomato seeds and transplanting the seedlings, but somehow a couple of pots managed to get some fungus growing on the surface. A light white spiderweb type fungus/mold. And one of the seedlings that was doing rather well had fallen over--the stem shows the typical "pinching" of damping off.

So I scooped off the top layer of potting mix and laid over some fresh mix. I propped up the seedling with some packed medium and then put in some toothpicks to help support the seedling upright. Is this a lost cause and the seedling is destined to die no matter what? The seedlings in the other pot weren't showing stem issues, but is that destined to happen now? Should I dump both pots to avoid contamination to the others?

[Cole_Robbie]

Damping off is caused by pythium bacteria that you cannot see. The mold is a coincidence, although both the mold and the bacteria might prefer similar environments.

I usually toss anything that falls over. As far as what will happen to the other seedlings, I don't think there is any way to tell. I get damping off the worst when it is cold and wet. I also have it in my high tunnel in a low spot that does not drain well.

[TightenUp]

if i recall another post you made mentioned watering multiple times a day(if i'm wrong disregard this post).

Sounds like you are not letting the growing media dry out before watering.

[cythaenopsis]

I did change my watering habits to once every other day, or at least until the surface of the soil is dry. It was only two pots that started to show the fungus and just one seedling that had gone limp at the stem base. Trouble is, the seedling was quite healthy otherwise and one of the better ones in terms of growth progress. I've got a very small growing situation here... not dozens of plants where I wouldn't miss a few tossed out. I did have a lot of seedlings at the start and selected a few that I saw as the best growing ones, then gave away the rest.

We had two days of raining and cool weather, so maybe that helped exacerbate the wetness of the soil. I'll definitely pay more attention to this going forward.

So if it looks like the damping off is not isolated to this one plant, would it be a good idea to use some water infused with a little bleach to kill it off?

Thanks for the advice!

[Salsacharley]

Last year I had bad, pervasive damping off. I saved many seedlings by re-potting them in moist soiless media after cutting off their stems an inch above the damp off, and putting them in the dark for about 3 days . I also treated all my seedlings with a diluted hydrogen peroxide mix that seemed to work well. I was able to save the majority of the damped off seedlings doing these things. This year I used soiless media and was more consistent with my watering and I've had zero damp off so far.

[cythaenopsis]

Thanks for the suggestion on diluted hydrogen peroxide, salsacharley. I had scooped off the top layer, then covered it with dry potting mix. After giving more time between watering, the top layer is not staying moist for very long. Looks like this may have helped... will have to do the peroxide to be sure.

The one seedling I was worried about seems to have recovered itself. I'd staked a couple of toothpicks around it and then used a twist tie to help keep it upright. I took off the twist tie today and it's able to stand on its own again. So it might just make it (I put the twist tie back on just in case).

It's interesting to see how there's that growth curve, after achieving a certain size the plants just take off. They're starting to show some decent growth now.