Who lives, who dies?

[Comptine]

Do you guys have a method for choosing which seedling to kill? 
 
The reason I ask is because soon I will have to kill off 3 out 7 little guys (same variety) due to space constraints. They are only just showing signs of second set of true leaves, and it pains me to have to kill a single one. 
 
Do you guys close your eyes and kill the one your finger lands on? Do you have advanced formulas developed that calculated which plant will bear more fruit faster? Do you make the plants sit a test? I'm curious to hear. 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     I keep the healthiest looking one. If they're too young to see a difference, I wait.

 

[hogleg]

As a seed saver I say, you always want to promote earlyness and size. Use the same formula when culling.

 

[robbyjoe01]

I tend not to coddle. Only the strong survive - the weak fall.

 

[Pariah]

I have to agree with the above responses. Whoever shows the most potential, be it health, size, etc.

 

[rghm1u20]

If all are health plants, you better find them a new home.

 

[Comptine]

If all are health plants, you better find them a new home.

 
I have more plants than friends lol. 

 

[Pariah]

 
I have more plants than friends lol. 

 
+1. I think that rings true for most of us here. Then those of who do have friends, we torture them with our plants.

 

[robbyjoe01]

If anything stick them out in the back forty and just let em grow wild and free.

 

[moruga welder]

If anything stick them out in the back forty and just let em grow wild and free.

gotta agree with robbyjoe  !    

 

[mrgrowguy]

For me, I don't necessarily go by height (though height is usually a good factor to consider), I prefer to chose whether to cull or not by vegetative growth. If one plant is 2 inches shorter than another, but it has one or more full sets of leaves more than the taller plant, I will keep the shorter one. Just the way I do it, of course.
 
Also, if one shows yellow leaves and another doesn't I will cull the yellow one since it is more sensitive to nutrients/environment. Not to say that the more sensitive ones couldn't be better (most cannabis plants for example prove to be better when the plant is finicky, it puts more effort into the flower than the growth).
 
So, I guess I contradicted myself enough... I would say with peppers, I like to chose based on leaf/stem growth. The more and bigger, the better, in general.

 

[hottoddy]

If anything stick them out in the back forty and just let em grow wild and free.

 
I thought "sticking it in the back forty" meant something else! 

 

[geeme]

 
I have more plants than friends lol. 

At peak I grew 48 chile plants - and I'm the only one I know who will eat most of them, so you can imagine the excess I had. But did I give it a break the following year? No. I did cut back, but I still had more than 30 plants. Then 24, then 28….. The big reason I ended up with 48 that year was because I couldn't kill any. So I went out and bought more pots, dirt, etc. They were happy, I was happy. I am still happy!

 

[moruga welder]

 
I thought "sticking it in the back forty" meant something else! 

 

  

 

[geeme]

For me, I don't necessarily go by height (though height is usually a good factor to consider), I prefer to chose whether to cull or not by vegetative growth. If one plant is 2 inches shorter than another, but it has one or more full sets of leaves more than the taller plant, I will keep the shorter one. 

 
This is solid. Tall can mean "leggy" - lots of main stem but few leaves. Typically seedlings like this end up with fewer growth nodes (forks, secondary stems, whatever you want to call them.) Since pods are only put out at the growth nodes, more nodes than stem is better for production. 

 

[Comptine]

That's a lot of solid advice guys, thank you. It still breaks my heart to have to kill some of them. 

 

[newril]

 
+1. I think that rings true for most of us here. Then those of who do have friends, we torture them with our plants.

 
indeed

 

[Ozzy2001]

I usually go with thickest stem assuming leaves are the same. 1/4" difference in height is nothing when it comes to seedlings. I usually bury them deep when I transplant anyway.

 

[Spicy Mushroom]

I made the mistake of planting 3-4 seeds per cell in my germination tray because I was concerned about germination rates and really wanted one of each variety I bought. Had high germination rates so I'm now stuck with 1-4 seedlings per cell. The average probably being 3.... Ugh. 
 

 
 
This is solid. Tall can mean "leggy" - lots of main stem but few leaves. Typically seedlings like this end up with fewer growth nodes

Yet another problem is that apparently the window I have the seedlings near doesn't get as much light as I anticipated. I now have rather tall/leggy seedlings.
 
Given my situation what would be the best plan of attack? Thin them to 1 per cell and add a shoplight to my setup? Bring in an oscillating fan? If I transplant them after they get their true leaves [should be very soon] can I bury most of the leggy stems and circumvent further issues?  

 
 
difference in height is nothing when it comes to seedlings. I usually bury them deep when I transplant anyway.

 
So if I am reading that correctly then I am right to assume burying the leggy stems at transplant is a workable solution?

 

[Comptine]

 
So if I am reading that correctly then I am right to assume burying the leggy stems at transplant is a workable solution?

 
 
I did that with my transplants, but it also seems to apply for most type of plants. lol, I also ended up keeping all the seedlings.