Missing cotyledons

[svalli]

All of my 3 Sprite seedlings have something strange. One of them grew as spindly long loop for many weeks until finally today I saw that the other end has cotyledons and I pulled that end out from the peat pellet. One of them had no cotydelons, but now it is growing really tiny leafs from the tip of the stem. Third one has long stem and the seed coat is still stuck on it and there is no sign of emerging leaves.

All of the seeds are from same packet of Sprite, which was ordered from TGS last December. Has anyone seen similar problems with this variety.

I was hoping that I could grow Sprite in a container, but now I do not know, if any of these will grow fast enough to produce fruit.

[feldon30]

I would start more seeds of Sprite immediately.

[Ruth_10]

Did they get placed under lights immediately after they poked up from the peat pellet? I can see a peat pellet surface drying out fast and the cotyledons getting stuck below the surface. When you re-seed, I would watch the peat pellet and make sure the growing end isn't stuck in the peat.

If you see more seed coats staying on, try moistening them--most people use a dab of saliva. Seems to work well. Occasionally the cotyledons are still in a very immature state under a small, hard seed coat. Those are not worth trying to rescue, IMO.

[svalli]

Sprite seemed to take longer to germinate than the other varieties on the same tray, so I moved the whole tray Under lights before the Sprite seedlings emerged. I water the peat pellets from the top and try to keep them moist all the time.

All other varieties have healthy seedlings, which have not had problems with the seed coat or the cotydelons being stuck. It is too late to start new seeds for this season, since our growing season is short. I have to mark the packet and try next season again and start the first seeds earlier. I started a bit late this year.