You know when a litter of pigs is born there is sometimes one that is smaller than the rest? He (or she) has a problem because if there is more pigs than tits available then they have to fight to get milk and the little one is at disadvantage - right? And the less milk it gets the slower it grows compared to its bigger brothers and sisters, and the slower it grows the weaker it gets, and the weaker it gets the less strength it has to fight for milk and ... etc etc. This little pig is referred to as 'the runt' and sadly it usually ends up dying. Sad, but that's nature.
What's my point? Well I got 5 seedlings going at the moment. When they broke through the soil one of them didn't shake off it's seed case. The seed case was stuck to the top of the cotys preventing them opening. I tried removing it but it wouldn't come off and I was afraid of damaging the seedling so waited. After 2 days it was stil there and this time I managed to get it off. That was 3 weeks ago and 4 of the 5 plants are doing good - growing pretty fast, looking happy..but...'the runt' (as I call it) is way behind. Even though it only lost 2 days on the others, it's now looking like it's 2 weeks behind.
It looks very healthy - green, upright, strong..but boy it's small and has only 2 main leaves, with the next 2 just starting to grow. It's growth is sooooo slow - almost unoticable from day to day, sometimes I even think it's not growing at all.
Any suggestions? I'll be repotting the others soon and don't know what to do with the runt - leave it longer b4 repotting? Is it too early to give it a little fert to boost it?
What's my point? Well I got 5 seedlings going at the moment. When they broke through the soil one of them didn't shake off it's seed case. The seed case was stuck to the top of the cotys preventing them opening. I tried removing it but it wouldn't come off and I was afraid of damaging the seedling so waited. After 2 days it was stil there and this time I managed to get it off. That was 3 weeks ago and 4 of the 5 plants are doing good - growing pretty fast, looking happy..but...'the runt' (as I call it) is way behind. Even though it only lost 2 days on the others, it's now looking like it's 2 weeks behind.
It looks very healthy - green, upright, strong..but boy it's small and has only 2 main leaves, with the next 2 just starting to grow. It's growth is sooooo slow - almost unoticable from day to day, sometimes I even think it's not growing at all.
Any suggestions? I'll be repotting the others soon and don't know what to do with the runt - leave it longer b4 repotting? Is it too early to give it a little fert to boost it?
