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Heard a guy at the local nursery in Fresno say he never sterilizes his seed-starting mix
He was bragging about his germination rates, but I just read a UC extension article warning about damping-off fungus in untreated media. I lost a whole flat of heirloom tomatoes last spring to that exact issue. Do you guys always sterilize your mix, or is that overkill?
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dylanwilliams6mo ago
Honestly, that's a quick way to lose seedlings.
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dylanwilliams6mo ago
Actually, I've had great luck with it for years. You just need to keep the soil damp, not soaked, and give them plenty of light right away. The warmth really helps them pop up fast. I've started hundreds of tomatoes and peppers that way without any rot. The key is using a good seed starting mix that drains well.
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robinc665mo ago
My 2023 batch of tomatoes got hit with damping off because I got lazy and let the mix stay a bit too wet for a couple days. @dylanwilliams is right though, the warmth really does speed things up when you nail that balance. I've been using a heat mat set to 75 and checking the weight of my trays by feel to tell if they need water. It's easy to kill them if you're not paying attention, but once you get the hang of it, the growth difference is night and day.
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