Avoid Damping Off Disease

[URBAN FARMING]

According to the University of Minnesota, "Damping off is a fungal disease caused most commonly by the fungi Rhizoctonia spp., Pythium spp., and Fusarium spp....Since the tissue of young seedlings is soft and easy to infect, these pathogens can attack a wide variety of flowers and vegetables when they are seedlings. ...Quite often a large section or an entire tray of seedlings is killed by damping off, resulting in few or no surviving seedlings to grow into mature plants...There is a critical period of growth where special care needs to be taken to protect sensitive seedlings. This period begins before the seeds are ever planted. One of the most import strategies of controlling damping off is preventing it in the first place. Since the damping off fungi typically survive on plant debris, soil, or in contaminated water, all pots, trays, potting mixes and other planting equipment must be sterilized prior to planting. New trays, pots, and potting mix are typically sterile. If you are reusing last year's pots and trays, they should be soaked in a 10% bleach solution for about 30 minutes. It is best to use new unopened potting mix to start seeds."
READ MORE...http://blog.lib.umn.edu/efans/ygnews/2012/03/avoid-damping-off-of-seedlings.html