Some people dust with cinnamon powder to avoid damping off.
I like watering with 0.1% hydrogen peroxide
1.5 tsp per cup
1 ounce per quart
1/2 cup per gallon
(Starting with 3% "drugstore peroxide" and diluting 1:32.)
I also keep coarse pine bark shreds on the surface. Water drains right through them, they dry out, and keep the surface dry.
Most people advise bottom-watering. This is how I bottom water:
http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...
Low humidity helps, unless your seedlings need humidity.
A small fan is good, even intermittently.
No digestible organic matter in the mix will discourage fungus.
To protect such valuable seedlings, maybe use a real, chemical fungicide.
I just had a thought - maybe a dumb thought.
Say one of your seedlings is killed by damping off.
Say you notice that right away.
Damping off only kills the stem right AT the soil level.
Would it be possible to cut a few mm off the bottom of the rotted stem, drop the seedling into a cup of water, and make the dead seedling into a live cutting, then hope it roots?
