Stem Color

I have a few seedlings which are maybe a week and a half to two weeks old. Their stems are dark, kinda purpulish reddish.

I have another one which just sprouted a day and a half ago and grew really quickly. It's stem is actually green and it looks really nice.

Am I overwatering the older ones? Does stem color mean anything?

Also, to make note of, the oldest one is actually growing the slowest. It's cotelydons (?? whatever the two leaves that grow first are called) were damaged when the shell of the seed got stuck to them and wouldn't come off. I had to pick it off and now the edges of both leaves are yellow. I'm guessing it's going to die because it is growing so slowly in comparison to the others.

The color of the stems can be influenced by cooler temps, but I doubt that is the case with plants as young as yours. Purple stems are a genetic trait as well, so that would be my guess.

With new seedlings, the plant is concentrating on putting down a tap root, so the type and amount of medium for the root to grow down into is important. When the seedling starts to grow, the tap root is longer than the plant is tall, IF it has room to grow downward.

Once the seed hull is cast off, the seed leaves should cause the first true leaves to grow quickly. If not, the plant will probably not make it.

HTH

They seem to be doing all right. I'll try to post some pictures sometime.

Purple stems on mature plants (14 days or older) are 99% of the time NOT caused by genetic traits.. but rather nutrient deficiencies...

iloveyou

Seedlings are often difficult to asses for nutrients deficiencies for new growers.... stems should be brownish to green. If stems are white, this is probably a sign that your seedling is stretching..


iloveyou

hey folks first let me say im new here and to the hobby, but loving every min im currently running a home made dwc i have 4 vertigos my oldest is two weeks old kind of short but looks good to me.all my stems are purple any advice would be greatly appreciated. P.S. PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO LOAD PIC HERE.