Yellow cotyledons

gvozdika · March 16, 2015

I have this seedling with yellow cotyledons. It sprouted last night, in the morning I put it outside where it stayed all day in the sun. The cotyledons are still bright yellow with a little bit of greenish in the middle of one of them.

What could it be?
The seed is Rosella Purple from wintersown.org.

Starlight · March 22, 2015

Sounds like you had a seed that was almost an albino, but didn't quite make it. It happens sometimes in crosses and means the leaves are missing chlorophyll. Let it grow. Sometimes they will go ahead and turn green and do fine. If not you'll know in a few weeks when the seedling dies as the plant can't photosynthesize sugars. It is not often that you find albinism in plants, but it does happen.

Don't put it out in the sun. That will only burn it up. Put it under some lights or someplace to get filtered sun.

I hope it makes it for you.

RayR · March 22, 2015

Not every seedling will come up healthy and vigorous. I wouldn't waste a lot of time on that one.

AlittleSalt · March 22, 2015

I wish I had seen this days ago. It could mean that the mix it is growing in is too wet.

gvozdika · March 23, 2015

Thank you everybody. The seedling is almost a week old now. It got some green on the cotyledons. About 1mm of the true leaf is showing and it seems green! It is a very funny looking seedling: patchy bright yellow and green cotyledons, purple stem. I'll keep it, just to see how it turns. It's been outside since it emerged, I have bad luck with plants inside.

edit: AlittleSalt, the soil wasn't that wet when it germinated but it was a little bit too wet when I sowed the seed, it took 8 days to germinate.

gvozdika · May 9, 2015

Here is an update. It survived. Had some bird damage, no yellow true leaves.

Starlight · May 10, 2015

Maybe you'll end up lucky and have a variegated seedling. I grew variegated tomatoes one year. The foliage was so pretty, but they had to be somewhat shaded in my heat and burning sun.

March 16, 2015	#1
gvozdika Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Oregon Posts: 53	Yellow cotyledons I have this seedling with yellow cotyledons. It sprouted last night, in the morning I put it outside where it stayed all day in the sun. The cotyledons are still bright yellow with a little bit of greenish in the middle of one of them. What could it be? The seed is Rosella Purple from wintersown.org.

March 22, 2015	#2
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Sounds like you had a seed that was almost an albino, but didn't quite make it. It happens sometimes in crosses and means the leaves are missing chlorophyll. Let it grow. Sometimes they will go ahead and turn green and do fine. If not you'll know in a few weeks when the seedling dies as the plant can't photosynthesize sugars. It is not often that you find albinism in plants, but it does happen. Don't put it out in the sun. That will only burn it up. Put it under some lights or someplace to get filtered sun. I hope it makes it for you. Last edited by Starlight; March 22, 2015 at 09:24 PM. Reason: more thoughts

March 23, 2015	#5
gvozdika Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Oregon Posts: 53	Thank you everybody. The seedling is almost a week old now. It got some green on the cotyledons. About 1mm of the true leaf is showing and it seems green! It is a very funny looking seedling: patchy bright yellow and green cotyledons, purple stem. I'll keep it, just to see how it turns. It's been outside since it emerged, I have bad luck with plants inside. edit: AlittleSalt, the soil wasn't that wet when it germinated but it was a little bit too wet when I sowed the seed, it took 8 days to germinate. Last edited by gvozdika; March 23, 2015 at 02:45 AM.

March 22, 2015	#3
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	Not every seedling will come up healthy and vigorous. I wouldn't waste a lot of time on that one.

March 22, 2015	#4
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	I wish I had seen this days ago. It could mean that the mix it is growing in is too wet.

May 10, 2015	#7
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Maybe you'll end up lucky and have a variegated seedling. I grew variegated tomatoes one year. The foliage was so pretty, but they had to be somewhat shaded in my heat and burning sun.