Damping off ... attrition

So several more seedlings died today all due to damping off, the hallmark of which is a pinched appearance of the stem where it meets the root.   This apparently is the result of a combination of not enough light + too much water, then fungus.

Although I used a sterile planting mix for germination, there probably was some stalling as I only have one grow light and this might not have been enough for both trays of seedlings.  I might have had too much water but, I did not really get much damping off until I started hardening them this week.  What I did see was the stalled growth with some of them - I am betting it means this made them more susceptible to the damping off when I brought them outside.  Then the exposure triggered the damping off.

So I am down to ~60 seedlings from ~80, and I'll probably lose a few more.  But many of them are more robust - thicker stems, more secondary leaves which are bigger etc. and I bet they will thrive.

I transplanted them into Scotts "potting soil", not "potting mix". although I still don't think this is optimal. Still sort of bark-chip laden but workable.  Probably, not ideal for what I am doing.  I need to get a more proper 25 bag of better soil for this purpose next year.

I bought 4 mortage lifter plants by mail order and 2 Cherokee Purples at Home Depot just in case.

Survival log today: ~20 dead from damping off. OK means I think they will make it.
ML:  6 OK (2 , + 4 from mail order) ;  4 poor condition.
CG: 3 OK, 2 poor.
CP:  6 OK (4, + 2 from store); 5 poor or small.
OS: 2 are marginal and 2 are poor.
FL: 6 OK.
RT: 1 good, 2 poor.
BC: 2 OK.
SS; 6 all small.
KB: 2 poor/small.
GZ: 3 OK but not big.
HC: 6, all small but this may be normal for these.  Tiny seeds.
IR: 2 OK; 3 poor/small
IRxCP: 4 OK.  

Total in OK shape:   ~39.

I also had about 8-10 basil seedlings and about 3 of those have died from damping off just like the tomatoes.  Hm.

Three tomato seedlings that suffered from damping off