Losing all my plants help me

about 6 weeks ago I planted my first tomatoe and pepper plants along with a bunch of herbs. 3 weeks later or so I planted my beans, peas, spinach, carrots, more peppers, roma tomatoes, radishes. They were all planted in Jiffy peet pellets and started in the plastic greenhouses. At first they all started growing well for the most part and grew well for about three weeks. I made sure that followed the direction and gave them the sun I could while still keeping them warm and they were doing well. I made sure that they stayed moist but not soaking wet and not dried up. Now they are all dying. I have lost every one of my herbs, my tomatoes have completely died off the beans that did sprout are now turning brown and falling over. The only thing that is doing good are a few pepper plants and my peas everything else that has sprouted is now dead.

I am very confused at what happened and why they are all dying. I did get my peas transplanted outside tonight with the few radishes that were kinda growing, and the two spinach plants that looked like they might be okay. Its still way to cold to transplant the peppers. What could have happened?

It sounds like it could be a fungus called "damping off" which attacks new seedlings. They just seem to fall over and die for no apparent reason. Frustrating as all get out.

Someone else posted in another thread about damping off and what they did to combat it. I will see if I can find the thread and post the link for you.

Gwynn

As you describe things the most cold tolerant plants seem to be hanging on best. Plastic green house, South Dakota hmmm. Here in NE Iowa nothing has a chance this year outside unless in a full time heated green house. Damping off does seem a good bet too. All else seems reasonable in your approach.

Old Hippie wrote:It sounds like it could be a fungus called "damping off" which attacks new seedlings. They just seem to fall over and die for no apparent reason. Frustrating as all get out.

Someone else posted in another thread about damping off and what they did to combat it. I will see if I can find the thread and post the link for you.

Gwynn

Gwynn,

I think i read part of that thread and i was kind of thinking that might be part of the problem. I don't have the perfect setup for starting seedlings so I don't have total control like I would like. Its very frustrating I was so excited to see the progress they were making and then it was like one day they all just started dying and I couldn't really stop it. My peas on the other hand are almost out of control they are growing so well

westie42 wrote:As you describe things the most cold tolerant plants seem to be hanging on best. Plastic green house, South Dakota hmmm. Here in NE Iowa nothing has a chance this year outside unless in a full time heated green house. Damping off does seem a good bet too. All else seems reasonable in your approach.

they were inside in the plastic greenhouse thing that you buy at walmart.

Can you get some air to blow on your seedlings, that sometimes helps with dampening off disease. An other question would be have you feed the seedlings? If not they need some food, as peat pellets do not have any. Use a half strength fertilizer. Peas, spinach and radishes are usually direct seeded in the garden. Hope this helps some. Happy gardening and do not give up.

Patty from Yorktown

Try a solution of 1/2 hydrogen peroxide and 1/2 water. Soak the affected soil.

Patty from Yorktown wrote:Can you get some air to blow on your seedlings, that sometimes helps with dampening off disease. An other question would be have you feed the seedlings? If not they need some food, as peat pellets do not have any. Use a half strength fertilizer. Peas, spinach and radishes are usually direct seeded in the garden. Hope this helps some. Happy gardening and do not give up.

Patty from Yorktown

no i didn't add any type of fertilizer, I didn't think I would need to. Will it be possible to save those plants that are still alive?

+1 on the peroxide and water.

Another thing you can do is water your seedlings with Chamomile tea (add a little green tea too, if you want). It acts as a disinfectant ANTIMICROBIAL/ANTIBACTERIAL and will keep dampening off at bay. If you were using a seed starting mix you could also treat it with cinnamon.

The fan idea is also a good one. Good air circulation can help slow down fungus.

Lastly, you should remove your plants from the dome thingy once they sprout. They need to breathe and need more light than they can get in there.

dizzygardener wrote:+1 on the peroxide and water.

Another thing you can do is water your seedlings with Chamomile tea (add a little green tea too, if you want). It acts as a disinfectant and will keep dampening off at bay. If you were using a seed starting mix you could also treat it with cinnamon.

The fan idea is also a good one. Good air circulation can help slow down fungus.

Lastly, you should remove your plants from the dome thingy once they sprout. They need to breathe and need more light than they can get in there.

I removed the lid and try to keep them in the light as best as I can. As of right now i do not have anywhere to put them where they get good sunlight and stay warm at the same time. I think I may just try over again with the greenhouses, I just have to figure out what to do with the plants that are still going okay until I can get them outside.

scmelik,

Just do the best you can with what you have. Do you have a south facing window? How about some night fluorescent lights? That might be a good place to start.

By the way, "disinfectant" was the wrong word. See changes above....

dizzygardener wrote:scmelik,

Just do the best you can with what you have. Do you have a south facing window? How about some night fluorescent lights? That might be a good place to start.

By the way, "disinfectant" was the wrong word. See changes above....

no i don't have a south facing window. The rooms where I have an east facing window the house next to me blocks the sunlight. The only windows I get decent light in are the west windows. Of course in the last two weeks we haven't had sun so it hasn't really mattered. No lights this year, next year I will have a growing station that will have lights and the right heaters to control things better.

With the peroxide mix do I add that immediately and every time I have to water? How about fertilizer?

I'd do the peroxide watering first then I'd switch to chamomile tea every time I water.

You can add a little fertilizer to your plants once they get their true leaves, but use a very weak solution. Another way of giving you plants some nutrients is to pot them up into a little container of Mel's Mix. They will be able to feed off the compost. If you don't have your Mel's Mix ingredient yet you can find some decent potting soil mixes that will tide you over until you can get your plants into your SFG. Just look for mixes with a little compost in them.

dizzygardener wrote:I'd do the peroxide watering first then I'd switch to chamomile tea every time I water.

You can add a little fertilizer to your plants once they get their true leaves, but use a very weak solution. Another way of giving you plants some nutrients is to pot them up into a little container of Mel's Mix. They will be able to feed off the compost. If you don't have your Mel's Mix ingredient yet you can find some decent potting soil mixes that will tide you over until you can get your plants into your SFG. Just look for mixes with a little compost in them.

I thought about getting those throw away cups and filling them with MM to plant in. I may do it that way rather than using the peat pellets this time.

That's what I do except I use a very good organic potting mix instead of MM. My compost is sitting outside teeming with critters. I don't want to bring it into my house. LOL

I've recently switched to starting my seed in vermiculite as outlined in this thread: http://squarefoot.creatingforum.com/t6213-the-best-use-for-vermiculite-isn-t-in-your-garden

This has worked flawlessly for me. I start the seeds in the vermiculite then I transfer them to little cups of potting mix.