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Did I kill this plant

D

dragon49

I accidentally broke the top of a new sprout. The little ball that opens up and becomes the first 2 baby leaves. The small green stem remains in the soil. I water it and keep it under lights. The stem has not grown or produced any leaves. It has not died either. This was more than 3 weeks ago. Is there any chance of this ever producing leaves and growning normally, or did I kill it and should I reclaim the pot and the soil?

Thanks
 
I think the stem is in coma. May not survive much.
I do not have hopes for a beheaded chicken strutting for a long time.

NJA
 
I have done just the same on a Habanero plant. It have been that way for soon two weeks, the stem is still green and healthy but not any leaves at all, time will tell and it sure is interesting to see what will happen! Maybe I could get a picture soon! :D
 
I did that to a tomato sprout (Kellogg's Breakfast) a few weeks ago while trying to swat a moth (sheared the seed cap and top of the stem clean). I left the naked stem alone to see what would happen. After several days a bulbous formation began to develop at the stem's tip and a few days later some tiny leaves began to emerge. It still lives and looks as if it may develop into a fruitful plant. although it is far behind in growth compared to its siblings .
 
You would be surprised what they could do. I culled a second plant from a starter cell a while back on the Yellow Scorpion CARDI. I guess I didn't cut close enough to the soil surface and about 2 weeks later it was producing leaves again. I thought about letting it continue to grow, but needed to clear the tray, so I just let it go. Too small to transplant and only thing left in a 98cell tray.

I do have a barrackpore 7 pot that came up with 1 cotyledon and hunched over worse than Quasimodo, and a CAP 1478 that came up without any cotyledons at all. I left both alone and kept them moist, and now both are starting their 3rd sets of leaves and are hardening off with the rest. They are extras, smaller than the others, but I plan on going ahead and growing them out to see if they are as fruitful as the normal ones.

jacob
 
Some folks purposely "cap" their plants. Although this is generally done with young plants, not seedlings, the purpose is to produce a plant that grows small and "bushlike" as opposed to naturally tall.
 
I had a lemon drop seedling break in half last year after it was in its final outside spot and was still small. I was worried but it took off and grew 5 stalks from the ground and ended up with like 380 peppers from it. It was amazing.
 
I've decapitated a few seedlings over the years that came up with hats. Only once did the green stem produce new leaves and the plant ended up being a runt. Every other time the green stem sat there for an eternity before I would finally cull it.
 
Diabolus said:
I've decapitated a few seedlings over the years that came up with hats. Only once did the green stem produce new leaves and the plant ended up being a runt. Every other time the green stem sat there for an eternity before I would finally cull it.
Click to expand...

That was my thinking on the yellow Cardi, one reason why I tossed it. Now the CAP 1478 on the other hand is growing quite well despite being born with no cotyledons. I think that the union at the stem must have been undamaged though, because it is not a runt or a slow grower at all. By looking at it now, you would not know that it was born headless.
 
A saying: Great minds think alike ............... but what is said when pepper growers lopp the heads of their fresh sprouts all within days of one another ......... we are cosmically connected?

Fatalii ............ I germinated 4 seeds in a bag, 2 sprouted, 2 did nothing, trying to sprout 2 more. Bishop's Cap, bagged 4, 2 sprouted, 1 sprout took the other rotten in the soil. Here's the headless Fatalii:

HPIM1759.jpg
 
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