Sup guys, annoyed a bit, i am having a hell of a time, getting my seedlings off to a good start. Woke up this morning, could see it did the same as the last one. I grow in DWC, some of you might already know this.
I start my seedlings off the same as i have for years, paper towel then into Root Riot Cubes, but into seedling dome under head mat. Once tap root shoots threw, they go into hydroton in my dwc bucket, which i top feed once a day until the roots shoot out from the net pot.
Well lately the tap root pops, i put them into the dwc bucket in hydroton and they stall. Stem gets thin and falls over, Clearly dampining off i suspect. My current action or thoughts...
I boil my hydroton for 20 mins, then drain water and put into plastic bags for storage.... I suspect that the hydroton is not fully cleaned or is picking up some kind of disease while in storage.... or just the boiling isn't enough..... I have some boiling again right now....
I am thinking of boiling them twice, one 20 min boil, Change the water then boil again...... Then let them sit in a h202 mix for a bit. Before trying again...
What are your guys thoughts and or opinions on my situation and the current action i am taking.
in the past using the same above method i have had a ZERO failure rate!!!!!! Hence the frustration
I start my seedlings off the same as i have for years, paper towel then into Root Riot Cubes, but into seedling dome under head mat. Once tap root shoots threw, they go into hydroton in my dwc bucket, which i top feed once a day until the roots shoot out from the net pot.
Well lately the tap root pops, i put them into the dwc bucket in hydroton and they stall. Stem gets thin and falls over, Clearly dampining off i suspect. My current action or thoughts...
I boil my hydroton for 20 mins, then drain water and put into plastic bags for storage.... I suspect that the hydroton is not fully cleaned or is picking up some kind of disease while in storage.... or just the boiling isn't enough..... I have some boiling again right now....
I am thinking of boiling them twice, one 20 min boil, Change the water then boil again...... Then let them sit in a h202 mix for a bit. Before trying again...
What are your guys thoughts and or opinions on my situation and the current action i am taking.
in the past using the same above method i have had a ZERO failure rate!!!!!! Hence the frustration
hey Lyca'- That's odd for sure, procedure-wise I don't see anything wrong,... However, I'm not a DWC guy, so I'll whistle up a homie for a consult,... could be the top feeding is the culprit-? I know, you've had no prob's before with this, so let's see what the guru says,... I assume you feed/water during lights on with plenty of time for things to dry off some? RH isn't high, or weak airflow-? .... I wish you had pics, to confirm damping off, if that's what's happening; a few different fungi can cause it too,.... do the stem bases discolor before thinning and collapsing? Consider other sources of infection besides the pellets-- the vessel you mix the water/feed in, other surfaces in proximity, maybe even the seeds themselves,... I'm not sure about how to sterilize the surface of the seeds, but I hear good things about Actinovate, a bacterial powder (Streptomyces) that's sprayed onto seedlings to help prevent damping off,... adding this to you soaking solution and spraying the pellets and surrounding area might help prevent it! ... I'll see if Grey Bear or DWCocha is around,...
