H202 and seedlings......

[stewarjm192]

Looking for the consensus on the use and mix rates of H202 with growing from seed. I have grown from seed every year, but last year had a ton of issues with damping off, and white mildew in my cold stratification setups(wet paper towel surrounding seeds in a ziplock bag in the fridge). I know I can mitigate the cold stratification issues by allowing some more airflow, maybe opening the bags once a week and letting the seeds get fresh air, but id like to mix up some preventative peroxide mix and wondered what everyone's process was! thanks in advance!

 

[leatherback]

I never use peroxide.

Plant seeds at the right time of year [follow naturaly seasons]under the right conditions [outside as much as possible, and with good sun and air circulation] and you should have no damping off. Using inorganic substrate can help.

 

[stewarjm192]

I never use peroxide.

Plant seeds at the right time of year [follow naturaly seasons]under the right conditions [outside as much as possible, and with good sun and air circulation] and you should have no damping off. Using inorganic substrate can help.

I generally start seedlings inside under grow lights, as my climates tendency toward late frost can be harmful. It also gives them a head start and gives me something to do in the winter lol

 

[W3rk]

I generally start seedlings inside under grow lights, as my climates tendency toward late frost can be harmful. It also gives them a head start and gives me something to do in the winter lol

I've been fighting this fight for years. I do use hydrogen peroxide initially to try to eliminate pathogens. As Jelle said inorganic media can be a big help. Airflow is also a big help and moisture control is the main issue. Keeping the top of your soil/media dry goes a long way in fighting damping off. If you can bottom water this is a huge help and something I've adopted more recently: plant seeds in cell trays and set them in a larger tray that you can pour water into.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

You can buy OTC 3% peroxide and dilute it to 0.5% by using 5mL tap water and 1mL peroxide.
But it breaks down pretty fast so I believe a diluted copper sulphate solution or something like trichoderma viride can help you more.
Cleaning the seeds by using a 1:1000 bleach (3 min) solution followed by 70% Ethanol (5 min) can help a lot too.

But as others said, the problem is most likely the method. Try sphagnum which is naturally antifungal to some extent, or perlite which contains no nutrients for fungi to grow on.
Fewer seeds and a large open air space (like PP5 plastic containers, usually candy is sold in these and they're dishwasher proof) with some cotton in the ventilation holes can help you too.