No way to ask this in a single entendre...

[Wulf]

One of my sprouts has... gone limp.

It didn't shift in the soil to lay down, it's just limp. There's almost no rigidity in it. I'm currently keeping it off the dirt with two toothpicks.

It looks green and healthy enough, but what can cause them to just lay down?

Do I need to give a call to Smilin' Bob's Enzyte Fertilizer Co?

Without the toothpicks it just flops right down, in any direction.

And while I'm going to the effort of creating a topic, I'll tack on this. Has anybody seen a 3-leaved sprout? Some sort of defect, the leaves are pretty narrow. I don't expect it to grow into anything viable, but I may as well give it its chance.

Supposed to be a fluorescent purple pepper plant. The other seeds are growing normally.

Sorry for the blurry pictures, couldn't tell when viewing on the phone camera.

And just to cram in yet another unrelated point into this thread, I transplanted my largest serrano sprout yesterday from a cup into a 2L pop bottle. (temporarily ghettoing things up until I can get real containers) It grew 25% taller between yesterday evening and this afternoon when I got home from work. Would that be access to fresh soil + nutrients, or just the larger container somehow? The roots were getting bigger, but it was by no means running out of root room in the cup yet.

 

[JDFan]

Might try filling the cup up with soil up to almost where the Cots are located -- usually when repotting if you bury them deeper it will cause them to sprout more roots in the newly buried area - so if the plant is falling over burying it up to the cots might work out as the new growth may support itself better and the limp portion will be mostly under the soil and sprout roots.

 

[Dr. Cres]

Its called a polyploid. Basically instead of having 2 sets of chromosomes (diploid) your plant has three. Its a rare mutant. If you can get it to breed that way you'd have something. Chances are it will revert back into a diploid. As far as the leggy sprout this usually happens hwn the plant is reaching for the light source. If its inside lower the lights and it should it time be able to support itself.

 

[Wulf]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll probably end up doing that.

Any thoughts on what can cause it? I'd assume a lack of nutrients / water would show obvious signs of distress first, and nothing can get at it to physically push it over. Or do some plants just fail in various ways, through no particular fault?

Its called a polyploid. Basically instead of having 2 sets of chromosomes (diploid) your plant has three. Its a rare mutant.

Huh, neat. Is it a condition affecting a specific chromosome with predictable results, or completely random depending on which extra is present? Are they viable plants, or will it likely fail at some point?

As far as the leggy sprout this usually happens hwn the plant is reaching for the light source. If its inside lower the lights and it should it time be able to support itself.

It's inside and the lights are usually off, but they're right beside a window. I've been rotating the cups 180 degrees each evening to balance out the lean of my plants. Is that a damaging thing to do, causing them to keep switching directions? This one hadn't started to lean yet and was growing relatively straight, until I came home one day and noticed it in the dirt.

 

[emon069]

This year I had 4 of my manzanos sprout with 3 leaves all seem to be doing great. They were sprouted outdoors in the regular garden,maybe seeds were all from same pod or something but I didn't have any like that before this year. Maybe they will retain their mutation.

 

[Junkyard]

2 suggestions for your limp seedling. 1) get the light source closer to the plant, 1 inch away. 2) make up some chamomile tea, cool it down and dilute it in half with distlled water and feed your plant as it may be suffering a bit of root rot.

That is what I do if this happens to my plants, it works well enough it is now a standard for me.

 

[Cyan]

I've had the limp thing happen before, to my plants. Time healed the issue, all I did was let it go along and the stem eventually straightened out and became normal. I didnt change any habits or light distance or anything else since other sprouts had no issues.

I would suggest in future growing more seedlings (unless you already do so) so you are less invested in each individual one. I grow 8x as many seedlings as I'll need (small garden).

 

[Wulf]

After a day or so of being propped up with toothpicks the sprout has regained its rigidity.

I planted 10 seeds of 7 varieties, and probably have about 40 that grew. This is my first time growing anything (outside of an uncleaned fridge, anyway) so I'm a bit invested, if only so that I have more to kill with negligence/overcaring once they actually get outside.

 

[Wulf]

The 3-leaved sprout appears to have died.

One day it's fine, the next it's not. I blame Darwin.

 

[Cyan]

Hell, I had a few of my sprouts come up with no cotyledon. Just a green stem, somewhat bizzare.