Seedlings dieing after 4 days dampening off?

[Specopsgrows]

4x4 tent
600w hps
Flow through hood
6 inch inline fan
6 inch spider farm oscillating fan
5 gal fabric pot
2 cool mist humidifiers
Distilled water
Fox farms dirty dozen (hydro grow big)
Cheap brick coco 60%
Perlite 20%
Earth worms castings 20%
Seeds from different breeders off North Atlantic seed
Autoflower seeds


I'm having a problem with my seedlings dampening off i think. I have grown before in soil but never in coco. I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do for the best chance of success. I know I had a lot wrong when my 2 seedlings died. My timer wasn't working so my light didn't shut off. I didn't wash my coco and the ph was like 4. My carbon filter clogged and Temps shot up to 85-90°f.

I have since fixed the carbon filter, timer, and washed the coco now my ph is the same coming out as going in. Do I need to buffer it with any nutrients and if so how do I do that. The roots never grew bigger than they were when planted. They looked great for a couple of days then the stem shriveled up and then fell over. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[mobshit]

600w in a tent for seedlings is a bit overkill. your temps probably killed it. probably didnt have enough humidity in the air to support 90F. Usually you would be in the 70%+ humidity to make that temp work

 

[Natep]

To much light and heat with a hps.

 

[TreeBee]

4x4 tent
600w hps
Flow through hood
6 inch inline fan
6 inch spider farm oscillating fan
5 gal fabric pot
2 cool mist humidifiers
Distilled water
Fox farms dirty dozen (hydro grow big)
Cheap brick coco 60%
Perlite 20%
Earth worms castings 20%
Seeds from different breeders off North Atlantic seed
Autoflower seeds


I'm having a problem with my seedlings dampening off i think. I have grown before in soil but never in coco. I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do for the best chance of success. I know I had a lot wrong when my 2 seedlings died. My timer wasn't working so my light didn't shut off. I didn't wash my coco and the ph was like 4. My carbon filter clogged and Temps shot up to 85-90°f.

I have since fixed the carbon filter, timer, and washed the coco now my ph is the same coming out as going in. Do I need to buffer it with any nutrients and if so how do I do that. The roots never grew bigger than they were when planted. They looked great for a couple of days then the stem shriveled up and then fell over. Thanks in advance for your help.

View attachment 2193098

That does look like damping off with a shriveled stem like that.

 

[GNick55]

nothing to do with the light/heat though if it survived that would eventually affect it,.

 

[ChefRuggy]

How are you propagating your seeds? Paper towel method, water soak, or directly in the coco? I ask because it may not be your setup, but your prop method itself.
I've learned over the years that with the paper towel method, even if you remove them immediately after seeing the tap root emerge, it's best to cut around the seedling and plant the seed with that small piece of leftover paper towel. Those little cling on roots act like velcro, and once torn away, well, your picture is the exact result I ended up with.
I now find the most success with scoring the seed with a piece of sandpaper, soak overnight in warm water, then place directly into my growing medium with a homemade "single greenhouse cover" for each seed. (Which is a - cut in half, top portion of a water bottle). A few holes in the sides for air circulation... lid left on, and removed only to lightly spritz the growing medium daily, then replaced. I would have to say I now have a 98% success rate of not only the seeds popping, but of the plants making it through to maturity, since doing it this way.

 

[Specopsgrows]

forgot to put its dimmable set on 400w. I'm pretty sure the heat killed them also. After my humidifiers malfunctioned ( my fault) and it was raining in the tent humidity was 100%. That clogged my carbon filter and was drastically reducing airflow. Before the filter clogged temps were 73-75 60-70rh. Now that I have removed the filter completly until I can replace it temps are like 68 with 60-70rh. Pretty confident the heat did them in just wondering if there is anything else I can do to boost my chances of success.

This one was in the tent also when the temls spiked. The top leaves all curled under and she showed a lot of heat stress. I know she looks horrible she was an outdoor a buddy had that started flowering to way to early so I moved it to my tent and revegged it still trying to get it back to health.

 

[stanknkatz]

That was definitely caused by damping off. That's pretty much a textbook picture example of what it looks like. FWIW, I always spray mist the top layer of soil in the pots with this, and I haven't had a seedling damp off in forever it seems like.

 

[Specopsgrows]

How are you propagating your seeds? Paper towel method, water soak, or directly in the coco? I ask because it may not be your setup, but your prop method itself.
I've learned over the years that with the paper towel method, even if you remove them immediately after seeing the tap root emerge, it's best to cut around the seedling and plant the seed with that small piece of leftover paper towel. Those little cling on roots act like velcro, and once torn away, well, your picture is the exact result I ended up with.
I now find the most success with scoring the seed with a piece of sandpaper, soak overnight in warm water, then place directly into my growing medium with a homemade "single greenhouse cover" for each seed. (Which is a - cut in half, top portion of a water bottle). A few holes in the sides for air circulation... lid left on, and removed only to lightly spritz the growing medium daily, then replaced. I would have to say I now have a 98% success rate of not only the seeds popping, but of the plants making it through to maturity, since doing it this way.

Paper towel method I've always used that before with my soil/photo grow and never had an issue. Once the tap root is 1/2inch long i plant root down just below the surface barely cover with soil and cover with a cut power aid bottle. Remove to spirits with ph distilled water. They grew great the first 3 days. I didn't give them any nutes as people say they can live until the cotyledon leaves start to yellow. On the third day is when I had the horrible heat spike and when I checked on them one was fallen over and stem shriveled the other lasted a couple more days but then ended in the previous picture I posted. I didn't pull the bottles until day 3 above soil maybe that was to long also which exasperated the heat issue.

This is what my next bean is looking like in paper towel now been hesitating to put it in until I know if I need to do anything else to the coco

 

[Specopsgrows]

That was definitely caused by damping off. That's pretty much a textbook picture example of what it looks like. FWIW, I always spray mist the top layer of soil in the pots with this, and I haven't had a seedling damp off in forever it seems like.
View attachment 2193186

I know its causes by a fungus but is my thinking correct in that the higher temps could have caused the seedling to not produce sufficient roots to be able to get the nutrients to fight off the fungus. While also providing more favorable conditions for the fungus to reproduce. Awesome ill order some of that and give it a go. I'm happy I started with the free seeds I got instead of the better ones

 

[Specopsgrows]

I flushed the coco two days ago with tap water until the ph came up from like 3 to 5.5 then flushed with distilled water ph at like 6.2 until it was coming out then same as going in. How wet do I want it when I plant this seedling should I water the entire thing until runoff or? And do I water with nutrient water as soon as shes above soil like a lot of people are saying or do I need to wait. Was going to start with 1/4 dose when she pops above ground

 

[HeadHunterpipes]

Just for the sake of saving money on your power bill and a light for your seedlings.

Amazon.com

 

[Specopsgrows]

Just for the sake of saving money on your power bill and a light for your seedlings.

Thats not a bad option. This light has worked for me in the past and its what I had im planning on another 4x4 and making this one a dry tent. Want to get the controller 69 and a led light just need to get the coin.

On another note a lot of my questions have been answered in this thread https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/first-time-in-coco-coir-need-some-help-questions.155126/

The post further down by Imzzaudae has a lot of good info

 

[stanknkatz]

In my experience ( and believe me I've cooked a few seedlings in my day) if it was heat, the whole seedling would be shriveled up. Your shriveled up growth starts right at or above the soil level, which is classic damping off. Picture attached I think shows it pretty clearly.

Went back and reread your post. I have a firm rule on my seedlings and clones that once the dome comes off, it stays off. You take it off, it dries out just a bit, you mist it, replace it, warm temps, increased humidity, it's a sure recipe for damping off, in my garden anyway.

 

[Specopsgrows]

So I washed my coco until it ran clear then buffered in a 150% cal mag solution ph to 6.2 aimed for 2 8h soaks but the first ended up being about 15 hours and the second was 12h. I then strained all the water off squeezed it dry enough to not drip. I then mixed in about 20-30% perlite.

I let the seed go way to long germinating in the paper towel so when it was planted the Cotyledon leaves were slightly yellow and it had like 2 inches of "stem" before the root. I planted it with the leaves just barely above the surface and water it with seedling strength fox farms hydrk schedule plus I added a little silica. This is day 3 so far so good. Temps have been 73°f 60%rh.

To my next question im watering around the plant every day with about 100ml of nute water. The soil is starting to dry back around the edges since its drying out after being buffered. Should I water the entire thing until run off when it starts to dry out or just continue to water around it in bigger circles as the root system grows

 

[MellowRello]

4x4 tent
600w hps
Flow through hood
6 inch inline fan
6 inch spider farm oscillating fan
5 gal fabric pot
2 cool mist humidifiers
Distilled water
Fox farms dirty dozen (hydro grow big)
Cheap brick coco 60%
Perlite 20%
Earth worms castings 20%
Seeds from different breeders off North Atlantic seed
Autoflower seeds


I'm having a problem with my seedlings dampening off i think. I have grown before in soil but never in coco. I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do for the best chance of success. I know I had a lot wrong when my 2 seedlings died. My timer wasn't working so my light didn't shut off. I didn't wash my coco and the ph was like 4. My carbon filter clogged and Temps shot up to 85-90°f.

I have since fixed the carbon filter, timer, and washed the coco now my ph is the same coming out as going in. Do I need to buffer it with any nutrients and if so how do I do that. The roots never grew bigger than they were when planted. They looked great for a couple of days then the stem shriveled up and then fell over. Thanks in advance for your help.

View attachment 2193098

It's almost always either too low humidity or too wet media, or both. If it's hot in the tent, the humidity needs to be higher, it's about VPD.
Sprouts that size are drinking from the air, not the root.

 

[MellowRello]

4x4 tent
600w hps
Flow through hood
6 inch inline fan
6 inch spider farm oscillating fan
5 gal fabric pot
2 cool mist humidifiers
Distilled water
Fox farms dirty dozen (hydro grow big)
Cheap brick coco 60%
Perlite 20%
Earth worms castings 20%
Seeds from different breeders off North Atlantic seed
Autoflower seeds


I'm having a problem with my seedlings dampening off i think. I have grown before in soil but never in coco. I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do for the best chance of success. I know I had a lot wrong when my 2 seedlings died. My timer wasn't working so my light didn't shut off. I didn't wash my coco and the ph was like 4. My carbon filter clogged and Temps shot up to 85-90°f.

I have since fixed the carbon filter, timer, and washed the coco now my ph is the same coming out as going in. Do I need to buffer it with any nutrients and if so how do I do that. The roots never grew bigger than they were when planted. They looked great for a couple of days then the stem shriveled up and then fell over. Thanks in advance for your help.

View attachment 2193098

You listed a bunch of factors and parameters but not the RH, humidity. Probably the most important thing for a sprout that size.

 

[MellowRello]

You listed a bunch of factors and parameters but not the RH, humidity. Probably the most important thing for a sprout that size.

I didn't see the PH you mentioned until just now. Yea, that's a problem.

 

[HerbalEdu]

Damping off (or damping-off) is a horticultural disease or condition, caused by several different pathogens that kill or weaken seeds or seedlings before or after they germinate. It is most prevalent in wet and cool conditions.

There are various symptoms associated with damping off; these reflect the variety of different pathogenic organisms which can cause the condition. However, all symptoms result in the death of at least some seedlings in any given population.

A number of different fungi and fungi-like organisms cause the symptoms of damping off, including:

• Alternaria – a genus of fungi that can cause leaf spotting.[2]
• Botrytis cinerea – a fungus, also known as "grey mould". Symptoms caused by this often accompany other symptoms.[2]
• Fusarium – a genus of fungi.[1]
• Macrophomina phaseoli – a fungus that causes charcoal rot on many plant species including Zea mays and Pinus elliottii.[citation needed]
• Phyllosticta – a genus of fungi that can cause leaf spotting.[2]
• Phytophthora – a genus of plant-damaging oomycetes (water molds), whose member species are capable of causing enormous economic losses on crops worldwide, as well as environmental damage in natural ecosystems.[3]
• Pseudomonas – a genus of bacteria that can cause leaf spotting.[2]
• Pythium – a genus of parasitic oomycete. Once classified as fungi, and consequently sometimes still treated as such. Along with Rhizoctonia solani, attacks by Pythium are most associated with producing roughly circular patches of dead seedlings.[2]
• Rhizoctonia – a genus of fungi with a wide host range and worldwide distribution.[3]
• Sclerotium rolfsii – a corticioid fungus in the family Atheliaceae. It is a facultative plant pathogen and is the causal agent of "southern blight" disease in crops.[4][5]
• Thielaviopsis – a small genus of fungi in the order Microascales. The genus includes several important agricultural pathogens.