Every once in awhile, you’ll get two seedlings germinating right next to one another. This can cause newer growers some anxiety. Let’s talk about why it’s no big deal!
Generally speaking, competition like this is not a desirable thing. There are a few “clustering” type plants that like it, such as mint and lobelia. For the most part, though, the goal is “one plant per space” to maximize soil and nutritional availability for each plant.
There’s a couple ways to deal with this problem. The easiest, and perhaps “least humane,” is to simply snip off any competing seedlings. The goal is to preserve what looks like the strongest seedling. This is your opinion, perhaps it’s the largest, most green, most advanced or prettiest.
This presents many from seed growers what seems like a moral conflict. We always like to remind ourselves that our intention is to simply eat that plant, or perhaps worse, eat their “offspring.” (Apologies if I just turned you into a nothingvore!)
But, if you want to preserve that seedling, you can also separate them. It’s important to do this separation relatively early, before the roots become deeply intertwined. The goal is minimal damage to the roots as this can stunt seedling growth. Once the seedling is somewhat mature, severe root damage is inevitable.
Seedlings are surprisingly both delicate and robust at the same time. You can just grab them by the base and slowly rip them apart. If you tear a few roots, it’ll be OK, just try to minimize the carnage as much as you can.
We practice both methods. Sometimes we snip, sometimes we’ll “save” seedlings. Sometimes we need to achieve a certain plant count, but sometimes we just like that seedling and want to grow it out. The point is to eliminate competition early, it’s what is right for the seedling and plant.
