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seeds Albino Seedlings ( chlorophyll deficient cotyledons)

RichardK

RichardK

I germinated an ass-load of seeds this year, and about 8 out of all of them (various varieties) are albinos, has anyone ever had these mutants grow to a decent plant or did they die out eventually?

My instinct tells me to yank them out, but I don't want to do that if there is a chance they can grow in some form or another as it would be a pretty cool experiment to see how they do for a full season (assuming they get that far).

What do you guys think I should do?

A: You are waisting resources! Yank em!
B: Quit worrying, let em be!

Also, if anyone knows, is there a word or technical term for such mutants, other than albino? And what causes it? Just a random fluke of nature?

Thanks :) :cool:
 
If you have the room i say let them live, if not turf them!

Have you any pics of these weirdos?
 
Hard to say without pics, but I'd say keep 'm. I've had that before that the cotyledons where somewhat yellowish. Second leaf pair turned out just fine. I've had price seedlings turn into miserable plants before and ugly ducklings into real hardy survivors that were nearly impossible to kill by mistreatment. You never know... Unless they look like their dying, I wouldn't thrash 'm.
 
If they are truly albino then they will not make it on their own. Without chlorophyll they will not be able to make any energy and die.
 
I've had similar results to my_key with very pale leaves and near white stems. Once I got them under the light they did fine and 'colored up'.
 
It's from more than one variety, I have some from Orange Habaneros, Jamican Habs, Carribean Reds, West Indies Habs and a cross I made between the Carribean Red and the West Indies.

I'll gets some pics in a few.
 
What is your Temperatures, how much light and water are you giving your plants? I'm thinking that this may be an environmental reaction to something, because if it was a 'freak of nature' I don't think you would be seeing it with so many seedlings. Just my 2 cents....
 
Pepperfreak said:
What is your Temperatures, how much light and water are you giving your plants? I'm thinking that this may be an environmental reaction to something, because if it was a 'freak of nature' I don't think you would be seeing it with so many seedlings. Just my 2 cents....
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I thought as well. I mean what are the odds...
 
Temps are fine, like 75-80F and using CFL lights as usual.

Here are the pics.

Sdc10732.jpg

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Sdc10736.jpg
 
My first thought judging from the first picture was that they were crowding each other and the white one was just getting phased out, probably due to a lack of nourishment. However, your other photos showed other white ones that are separated from the others, so probably not a crowding issue.

What is the cellophane for? Seedlings this size do not need the extra humidity that is caused by covering them.

I am somewhat stumped since you have good looking seedlings mixed in with the bad, sharing the same soil. I would recommend plucking them and tossing them, just in case it is some sort of transmittable organism in origin.
 
Pepperfreak said:
What is the cellophane for? Seedlings this size do not need the extra humidity that is caused by covering them.
Click to expand...

Keeps the soil from drying out while they get bigger, once they are large enough I take it off. Never hurt my seedlings before, seems to work fine. The water on them is drippage from taking the covers off.

That and I have some thrips running around on my Bih Jolokia from last year, and I aint cutting it down :) I have seen thrips eat a seedling alive, but they dont do squat to the larger plants.
 
I always remove my cover as soon as they sprout. Also, it helps to grow strong seedling to allow the soil to dry out some what after they sprout, these white seedlings may just be the first signs of dampening off... Looking at the closeups, they almost look like they are light starved, how close is your lights?
 
Close enough to warrent covering them with cellophane :) I'm busy most of the day and can only check them morning and nights, and I aint taking any chances with them drying out, wilting and dying. That and the thrips will devour them before they get any decent leaves.

Edit:

I have some in a light boxs each with two 26Watt CFLs blazing about three and a half inches from them. Others are under Floros (twin bulb, 6500K) and all are doing great except for the odd mutant here and there.

Also all the soil was microwaved beforehand, to the point where they were steaming like a pile of dung for an hour. So whatever it is, it's genetic and not enviroment related... Of all the seeds that I germinated, some of the seed was from last year and the years before that (I keep seed from each year and grow some from every year, each year, for each variety) so it might be old seed or some weird unstable cross?
 
If they survive, they'll grow to perfectly normal plants. the thing is, they don't always survive. no need to "yank" unless it is to prevent potential headache.
 
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