Damping Off

Bedding plant production has become a specialized, energy-efficient, and highly-profitable business. The short period of time between seeding and selling the crop leaves no room for mistakes. Plant diseases cannot be allowed to reduce the quantity of plants for sale or to reduce plant quality by stunting plants or spotting the flowers and foliage. Prevention of diseases of young plants ensures the high quality of the salable item, but also makes it likely that the plant will perform well in the customer's garden. Bedding plant damage is often due to one or more of four major causes: damping-off, gray mold (Botrytis), phytotoxicity from pesticides used on seedlings, and over-fertilization. This fact sheet presents methods for avoiding plant losses due to each of these factors.

For more information, please see this Penn State Fact Sheet

Penn State Horticulture Department

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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