If damping off does creep into your plant nursery, thoroughly spray theseedlings and soil with a strong brew of chamomile tea. When it's cool, strain into a spray bottle. Another organic antifungal spray is garlic. Whir several garlic cloves and a few drops of liquid soap in a cup of water. Let sit overnight, straininto a spray bottle, and apply to seedlings.
Problems occasionally occur indoors with aphids, spider mites, whiteflies,and fungus gnats.
Treat aphids, spider mites, and whiteflies withinsecticidal soap. Whiteflies may also be controlled with yellow stickytraps, available in garden centers and from catalogs. Fungus gnats are anuisance but rarely affect the healt h of seedlings, although larvae sometimes chew on seedling roots. Control them with Bt or yellow sticky traps. C ontained in the cotyledons, which are the first set of leaves that appear,are all the nutrients a plant needs to germinate and grow for a short time.