To wild acres: First, it has been interesting to review the sudden reappearance of the discussions re using 'cornmeal as a plant fungicide'. Thanks for your Liriope report and your desire "to really know how this (cornmeal) works"? To answer this question is to refer back to the original university studies with peanuts for a possible answer. They reported that cornmeal encourages the growth of Trichoderma fungus which feed on mycelium and sclerotia of Sclerotina minor, Sclerotina rolfsii and all Rhizactina species. Since that report we have received enough information to add Pyricularia grisea (gray leaf spot) to the list and now, thanks to your report, possibly Phytophthora palmivora (Liriope crown rot) to be trialed and tested. The bottom line to all this is: If cornmeal does control this or that fungus, we have to test for and identify the responding fungus using scientific methods. To date academia is sputtering around this subject mostly in a negative manner. Those of us who have been testing know that cornmeal does control certain types of fungus. This would be an interesting and badly needed doctoral project. My final thoughts...Got a plant fungus? Try tossing some cornmeal on and around the problem, misting it lightly with water. It may control the fungus, repeated monthly, or it may not. If it does try to figure out the name of the controlled fungus and if it fits into any of the varieties listed above. It is always interesting to read the comments of others on this subject as they use the 'trial method' experimenting in their own backyards.

Around us we are best off sticking with common, basic veggies: red tomatoes varieties that can take alot of handling without turning to mush, not unusual colored, soft heirlooms (much as I might love them) slicing cucumbers, green peppers, red radishes, yellow or bicolor sweet corn Foods that have a long harvest window are good. You can leave them a week...or three, if the pantry doesn't have a big need at the time ie, carrots, onions, beets (roots and greens), potatoes (also can harvest any of these when you have enough time and help to clean them up) Small red fleshed watermelons that fit in small apartment refrigerators are popular. Veggies that don't take forever to harvest....we will do few if any beans or peas unless we have ALOT more volunteer harvesters, also not too many cherry tomatoes which can be overwhelming to harvest Find out what client mix is usual at the pantry. We had one pantry that was unable to give away the many hot peppers we had. A volunteer lived near another pantry that was thrilled to get them and was able to use 20 pounds or more in a week. Herbs were not taken much at our pantry. I imagine this would depend on the area and clients, also. I was actually asked not to bring anymore. Try not to be offended if they turn something down. You and I just will not always know what their clients can use. Talk with the pantry staff when you bring produce in, find someone who will honestly (and kindly) tell you if your donation is great for them or isn't really of use. I found some thanked me profusely even for produce that they were overloaded with at the time. There was a good chance my donation would not be used while it was still fresh. Once I started questioning more, I was able to split the harvest between two places and supply each with things more suited to their needs.(Took me awhile to get over the rather rude way one pantry volunteer turned away my beautiful chiles!) Bring good looking produce. Send the culls home with the gardeners. If you are trying to encourage people to eat healthy, you have to make it attractive. Don't give the pantry the rejects. Hope your project goes well. Many people will appreciate having fresh produce available to them.

Gamebird, Damping off is a real bummer. Any and all plants can be susceptible to damping off. Damping off is caused by several different fungi and it is likely that some vegetables are more susceptible to some fungi than others which is why some of your plants are affected and others seemingly are not. Damping off can be caused by the fungi Botrytis spp., Phytophthora spp., Pythium spp., Rhizoctonia solani and sclerotinia spp. as well as a few less commonly seen fungi. These fungi are found universally in soils and can damage virtually any plant you are propogating. Once your plants have been infected by one or more of the fungi that cause damping off, there is little you can do to save them. Different fungi affect the plants in different ways. Pythium types, for example, start way down at the tips of the roots and work their way up the plant. Once you see the above-soil symptoms of damping off (the characteristic 'wire stem' that is weak, spindly and collapsing), the entire root system is affected. If you scatter sow a lot of seeds in one flat, damping off first may be observed as a circular area of weakening, dying plants in one location in the flat. Often, once it starts, the circular area gradually enlarges as more plants are affected. You can have pre-emergent damping off where the seeds are infected and die before they sprout, but more often you have the post-emergent type where they sprout, grow and then die. Sometimes you can see white or brown fungal growth on the soil surface. Sometimes you can see little hair-like growths. There is no cure for damping off although I have seen an occasional plant survive it. Prevention is the best cure. Here's how to prevent it: Before you plant in flats, pots, cups or whatever you use, clean them and sterilize them if they've ever held soil before. You can clean them with 70% rubbing alcohol or with a water/bleach combo (1 part bleach to 4 or 5 parts waer). Use only sterile soil-less seed-starting mix, which usually consists of peat and vermiculite or something similar. (Some organic gardeners prefer to use compost and believe the biological activity in the compost prevents damping off.) Place your sterile seed flats filled with sterile soil-less mix only on sterile areas (shelves, tables, greenhouse benches, etc.) or, if you're using an area that cannot be sterilized, place several layers of newspaper between the flat and the surface. If damping off is a huge problem, you can purchase treated seed (sometimes) that's been pre-treated with a fungicide. Treated seed is not available for all vegetable varieties because some seeds/seedlings cannot tolerate the fungicides. If you have been working outside in the yard, wash your hands and tools before you touch your seedling flats so you do not transfer the fungi to your sterile flats. If any flats become affected by damping off, remove them from the area where the other flats/plants are kept to avoid spreading the disease. Damping off is most common in flats that are kept excessively wet. Damping off is more common if flats suffer from a lack of air movement. When you sow seeds inside, try to keep them as healthy as possible by: Ensuring they have proper heat and light so they can sprout and grow quickly before the fungi have a chance to infect them. Ensuring they are not excessively wet. Water the soil before you plant. Then, plant your seeds, mist lightly and do not water again until the flat is dry--just stick a finger down into the soil to check for drying Ensuring they have good air flow. I keep a ceiling fan on all day long in the room where the plant shelf sits. I also turn on an oscillating fan for a few hours a day. If your seeds are in peat pellets, pots or paper/plastic containers, make sure you do not leave any standing water in the flats after watering. Drain off any water that drains from the containers into the bottoms of the flats. People fight damping off before it starts it many ways. In addition to the measures mentioned above, you can sprinkle any one of the following in a very thin layer on the soil surface to combat damping off: corn meal cinnamon sand You can water your plants from day one with chamomile tea, clove tea, liquid seaweed, molasses tea, garlic tea, Garrett Juice or fish emulsion. Some people add a little 3% hydrogen peroxide to the water each time they water their seedlings (you'd want the peroxide to be about 5% of your watering solution). You probably could reuse the potting soil if you spread it on a cookie sheet type tray and sterilze it in the oven, but be advised it will stink up the house. The plants that already have damping off are unlikely to survive since it is a fungal infection that is already present in the plants. Even when you haven't seen any signs of damping off, it often seems to "appear" when small seedlings are pricked out of the flats and potted up. Likely, the disease was there all along and it was coincidental that it seemed to appear just after the plants were handled. However, it also is possible that the act of potting up spread the damping off that already existed in the soil. I don't do anything extraordinary to prevent damping off--just avoid overwatering and try to ensure good air movement. You just never know when damping off will strike. Some years I have a little of it, some years I have a lot and some years I have none. (So far this year, none, knock on wood.....and I am sure I just jinxed the seedlings by saying that.) In wet and rainy years, I try to harden off plants on the porch or patio on sterile tables and I try to avoid setting flats directly on the ground since a rain shower could spread damping off fungi from the soil outside to the flats sitting on the soil. I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with damping off. It can be very discouraging. Normally, once your plants are 3-5 weeks old, they are old enough and strong enough to fight the fungi that causes damping off. Dawn

Damping off is a fungal disease which attacks the seedlings at the soil line, withering the stem and causing the seedling to fall over and die. The best prevention is cleanliness! Use a sterile growing medium,preferably one containing milled sphagnum moss,as it naturally inhibits damping-off. Soilless mixes such as milled sphagnum / vermiculite are best. Planting containers should be new or thoroughly cleaned if reused ,wash with hot soapy water and rinse with a solution of 1 part chlorine bleach to 10 parts water. Avoid overcrowding of seedlings and overwatering ,a small fan in the seed-starting area to circulate the air is useful. Any stress which weakens seedlings , poor light, high temperatures, or improper watering makes them more susceptible . If only a few seedlings are affected, you may be able to remove them, taking care to remove the soil around them, a fungicide such as captan may be used,but this has limited effectiveness once plants are infected.