That's what I was thinking. Tsuga roots are very fine and soft textured and it was a big worm. It must've entered from the ground into a drainage hole last fall.

He knew he was in trouble when his fat bod hit the frozen ground. I noticed some birds over there later in the day. Yum! :-)

Turns out, all the seedlings I moved into their own pots succumbed to damping off, save one.

As soon as I noticed this happening, I spayed h2o2 and water mix as a last resort. The trees kept dying. The one that didn't die, had the seed coat and inner skin, stuck so bad that all progress in growth stopped. Over a week passed and I figured if I didn't do something, it would fail. So using dental picks, tweezers and my magnifiers, I managed to remove the seed coat without damaging the sprout. It responded almost right away and started straightening up and needles began to open the next day.

The only other Tsuga seedling I ended up with is from the seeds I stratified in the fridge and put in coir starting mix. One sprouted. No sign of damping off with this one but it too sat for a week with the seed coat stuck and wouldn't stand up. It wouldn't stand up from the ground but the stem loop kept getting larger so I knew it was alive. I soaked it good for a day or so with water and managed to coax that one off also.

That tissue just under the coat is supposed to just slip off the needles but for some reason growth stalls out and the seedling will die if left to itself.

Before: Looked like this for a week with the loop in the stem getting taller.

After:

It stood up over night and the needles started to spread within 24 hrs. of removing the seed coat.

So I managed to get at least 2 Tsuga c. seedlings out of this, better than none, if I don't find a way to kill them. :^)

I brought in some pots with seeds in them, from my cold frame last Monday

==>> any ideas if you hadnt brought them in the house ... when you did???

ken

They never would have warmed enough to germinate if left outside in the cold frame. Probably not until end of April or May.

and what if that happened.. but they all lived??? .. there might be something said for working with natures natural cycles.. rather than trying to beat her.. indoors ....

maybe above.. you explained what the hurry was ....

ken

This is the time of year I start all my tree seeds. Gawd, I thought everyone did. lol

Not a lot of outside things to do in the frozen Tundra ya know :-) .

Yesterday was so nice I put everything out on the deck. Light winds and the temperatures were low 60's F and sunny. It rained a little in the morning. I left them out about 4 hours to acclimate them to the real world. About the 5th time out there for these, so they can take more sun now.

My Celtis occidentalis is over 5" tall already. I'll probably put it right in the ground by end of May and use a tree tube.

I think if I was to do anything different with Tsuga seed, would be to use a soil less seed starting mix. It appears from all indications, that T. canadensis is certainly prone to damping off disease and the 'worm mud' was not the best choice to use on seed with that tendency.

The one, under stratified seed that was started in the coir showed no sign of damping off.

I wish I had something positive to add to your thread! Mostly, I'm here to commiserate. My T. canadensis have only survived at a 30% rate after germination. In my case, I am not so quick to blame damping off because one survived in each small pot of 3, and I use soil-less seedling mix... I am wondering if they got too much light and heat too quickly. It seems that some full-sun conifers really do better in shade for the first six months to a year. Further, while I had not realized it, it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit under my grow lights, and that seems to have a deleterious effect on some plants... Just some food for thought. I myself am going to do more research.

You've added nicely by sharing your experience with these seeds argh42. Thank you!

This is my first time working with Tsuga c. but damping off is one thing included in almost every article I've read about this tree seed. Mine just sort of got limp in small areas along the stem and sort of shriveled up.

I'm just assuming I would've had better results with sterilized soil-less potting mix but that doesn't necessarily mean that would've been the result. :-)

The ones I used coir mix on only had a 60 day stratification period which I'm guessing was the reason for only one germinating there.

I've heard putting a small fan on the new sprouts 'might' have helped.

I'm using my 5600-K LED shop light on the survivors. It runs cool so I can put the light a lot closer to the plants and seemingly the plants respond better to this light than they do the CFL's but why exactly idk.