Yes thanks for helping me to focus. Does anybody think that cinnamon will help cure this problem?
After a very busy Sunday here, it is clear to me that my adversary is named Pythium (damping off), a nefarious fungus which has been around a very long time. Although some more experienced warriors fighting it do in fact prefer to use diluted bleach solutions to kill it, H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) is championed by many others and may in fact be my own first weapon of choice with tomorrowās FedEx delivery of it. After performing the autopsy pictured above I razed the whole project to start over from scratch. Odd as it may sound, it was fortunate that I had this battle (two months long) early on in the project instead of wasting more time and resources developing a pitiful flowering situation without identifying the problem and eliminating the virulent contagion. Things might well have been further compromised by my first attempt at a true DWC setup, as I would have had many doubts about just what I would have been fighting. Thanks go out to those of you who steered me toward fighting damping off. Now that I finally know what Iām fighting, things here may soon begin to improve. How could I have missed it?
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An update seems in order here. Damping Off can be a formidable foe, and has slowed my project almost to a halt. All sprouts DIE as pictured above, now 49 of them, and I will no longer start more than one at a time until somebody survives. Perhaps this thread should be moved to āDiseasesā as the most likely causes of this seed genocide may be Pythium, Fusarium, or Phytophthora. Isolation of each sprout to an āIntensive Careā situation has had no effect. Soil is not involved, so advice geared toward that is not pertinent. Both Rockwool and Rapid Rooter mediums seem affected equally, and now I sterilize them myself before use. Bleaching virtually everything in the house (1 part to 10) has certainly made IT cleaner. Strong peroxide solutions from the 35% mother lode have nearly whitened the skin off of my hands when the rubber gloves give out. Use of chemical fungicides from pre-germination soaking foreward has not yet been effective although I am learning about the wild fluctuations in EC and PH that products like Liqui-Cop, Organocide Plant Doctor, Physan20 (for plastics), can cause. One exception seems to be Clear-Rez from EZClone, which was recommended by my hydro shop foreman. Of all the strains which bit the dust, I might remark that one of the stoutest and last ones to succumb to the infection was ILGM/s OG Kush, which managed to make 3-way leaves, but then no more. Much of the advice I have found is geared toward more mature plant cases and soil growing. A few horror stories have surfaced from growers who own microscopes. I just boiled a Rockwool cube at 5.5 ph getting it ready to try the last of Dutch Passionās Cinderella Jack Autos, which I might add were the tiniest cannabis seeds I ever saw, and also among the most expensive. Germination rates on those were poor however, which has not been the case with seeds purchased from ILGM, so I really have no complaint at all about that for Robert. This week a new Reverse Osmosis system will be installed here to improve my water quality with a āWhole Houseā comprehensive filtration system in case thatās where the little critters (zoomycets) live and swim. Better water seems to be a good idea in case any of these seeds do take root. More resources (chillers, etc.) might be necessary eventually should any of them ever get to be more than an inch tall. Please chime in with your suggestions.
I am successful using coco loco in a Solo cup with drain holes. Just put the seed inch and a half deep. They show up in 5 days.