I had my first ever seedling germinate on April 1. It is a Pristine X DayBreaker cross. Now, 9 days later, the seedling doesn’t seem to be growing. It is exactly the same as it was the first day I saw the germination. It has two cotyledons and I see no sign of new leaf growth at all yet. Is this normal or should it be growing more by now, 9 days later.
John
John,
Sometimes they’ll take a few days to get going. Take a look at the seedling. See whether it has what seems to be a point between the 2 cotyledons. If it does, your seedling is probably OK. If it has what looks like a mass of cartilage between the cotyledons, you may have a defective seedling. But give it at least a week. Meantime, you might want to compare it with this one. See link below.
Peter
Link: home.earthlink.net/~rosesbydesign/RoseBreeding/Babyrose.htm
Mine definitely has the little point indicating new leaves. I got out the magnifying glass and looked at it very closely. I will try to be more patient with it, but it is very hard to do with your first one I guess.
John
I have one right now which has sat in a state of suspended animation for 2 weeks. The cotyledons haven’t even opened yet, though it seems otherwise healthy, and fairly normal.
I find that the change from my stratification bags to growing mix at this time of year seems to cause them to pause for a bit of introspection, though this one is a tad exceptional.
Just hang tight…
2 weeks is not at all an excessive time for a seedling to sit paused at the cotyledon stage. Occasionally some seedlings are defective and never form real leaves, but I’d say that those are rare: perhaps one in a thousand.
Paul
I have had a few seedlings over the years which never grew in 2 weeks after germination. In the third week those died of “Damp off”.
Of course there may be a different reason.
George
I s there something I can do now to avoid damp off?? I have been watering with a 20%mixture of peroxide/water.
John
I wonder if the high peroxide mixture is the reason for no growth.
Henry - What percentage of peroxide/water do you use?
See page 26 of the following pdf document:
http://flowers.tamu.edu/symposium/ISHS%20Symposium%20Program.pdf
Link: flowers.tamu.edu/symposium/ISHS%20Symposium%20Program.pdf
Unfortunately, one of my seedlings with four leaves suddenly shed three of them. I checked the substrate for pests and couldn’t find anything unusual. Also I can rule out over-fertilization, as I am not fertilizing at this point in time. Probably damage caused simply by dryness, because the controlled taproot looked dry, but even that is difficult for me to explain, as the other seedlings around showed no signs of drought stress. It may also be a genetic disorder.
The first real leaf is still there and two new ones have sprouted after my verification, but they are really tiny. Since then, the sprouting seem to stop. Is it possible that the new growth wasn’t more than residual sap? I’m hesitant to dig up the seedling again at the moment, because if there is still hope, it would cause further irritation. Over all, I would be very reluctant to lose this seedling and will therefore continue to exercise patience.
Perhaps you have had more favorable experiences in a similar situation and can give me some advice? Many thanks!