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health When do you give up?

A

Aksneed

Let’s say you start 24 seeds and they all germinate at different times but they all do.

Then before you pot up, 5 are not doing great, small tiny leaves and not growing but still green.

Pot them up?
What about when you do and still the same results?

At what point do you just write them off?

Thanks
 
once they are taking up space that better plants or new starts could use.

i usually have too deep a heart and try to give the runts as much chance as possible to come correct, but after putting runts outside into my raised beds, and at the end of the season seeing no pods ever come of it, i realize i should have culled them to give more room for the roots of the thriving plants.

so this year i am going to make that tough call to surrender them to the compost bin. i would rather have 50 better plants than 70 plants with 20 of whom retarding the growth/production of the 50 good ones.

most importantly, if it's still too cold to transplant outdoors and your grow table/area is getting crowded, you have to let them go.

much easier to make that decision, though, if you have other specimens of the same variety going strongly.
 
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Aksneed said:
At what point do you just write them off?
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Depends, do you have backup plants of the same variety? Do you have any spare seeds to sow a new batch? If the answer is no and no keep them going for a while as you don't have much to lose at this point.
 
From my experience of having started thousands of seeds over the years, if they start slow and scrawny, they’ll never be strong and vigorous plants. I shouldn’t say never actually cuz I’ve had a few occasions where the under-performers kicked it into high gear and did well but it’s not the norm. Think of what would happen in nature.. The fastest germinating, vigorous growers will quickly shadow out the weaker sprouts causing them to stretch, fall over and die. I would recommend culling the underachievers and only keeping the strongest. Especially if you intend on saving seeds from them.
 
Im assuming 24 of different varieties ?

Last season I ended up sowing 30 Chocolate Habanero from 3 different sources after the first 10 only produced a single "feeble" I sowed 10 then another 10 ! 10 failed completely !! The third 10 produced a couple more feeble seedlings.

I soldiered on with a couple all season.......utter waste of time and space !!! 😡

Trust your gut :thumbsup: I will in future as it was right !
 
Aksneed said:
Let’s say you start 24 seeds and they all germinate at different times but they all do.

Then before you pot up, 5 are not doing great, small tiny leaves and not growing but still green.

Pot them up?
What about when you do and still the same results?

At what point do you just write them off?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I germinate most of the time an entire pack of seeds, so 10-18 at a time. I take the first 6/7/8 (depending on the genetics and my plans) that crack their shells and then move those to starter pods in a chamber with a heat mat. Ill then move the most healthy 4-6 of those judging by root zone growth to solo cups with Ocean Forest soil. Once they get bigger I then cull off and keep 2-4 adults from the genetic line I want.
 
growyourown said:
once they are taking up space that better plants or new starts could use.

i usually have too deep a heart and try to give the runts as much chance as possible to come correct, but after putting runts outside into my raised beds, and at the end of the season seeing no pods ever come of it, i realize i should have culled them to give more room for the roots of the thriving plants.

so this year i am going to make that tough call to surrender them to the compost bin. i would rather have 50 better plants than 70 plants with 20 of whom retarding the growth/production of the 50 good ones.

most importantly, if it's still too cold to transplant outdoors and your grow table/area is getting crowded, you have to let them go.

much easier to make that decision, though, if you have other specimens of the same variety going strongly.
Click to expand...
I always feel bad too chucking them. Sometimes, they are just as vibrant and healthy as the keepers, they just don't get picked. I tell them thank you before I throw them. Silly, I know.
 
I'm with you Alchemy, hate to chuck a possible viable plant away, I even hate thinning out my baby lettuce plants.
Stick the weaklings in the compost that way they get to live vicariously :lol:
 
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