Will the runts make good?

Boutique Tomatoes · April 7, 2012

Just curious on others experiences here. Normally I cull ruthlessly when I pot up, if there are 4 of a variety and 1 is half the size of the other three it goes into the bucket with the spent seed starting mix.

However, this year one of the somewhat rare varieties I'm growing was mostly immature seeds and had poor germination. I do finally have 2 healthy looking seedlings, but I have 3 'runts' that are 1/4 of the size of the normal ones.

Since I'll baby the two 'good ones' I have by keeping them in seperate trays so I can't lose both of them to a slip and planting them in seperate locations to protect against environmental disasters I think I'm unlikely to lose both. Still, for some reason I'm reluctant to compost these particular runts.

Have you kept your runts before and have they grown out of it and produced?

April 7, 2012	#1
Boutique Tomatoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northeast Wisconsin, Zone 5a Posts: 1,109	Will the runts make good? Just curious on others experiences here. Normally I cull ruthlessly when I pot up, if there are 4 of a variety and 1 is half the size of the other three it goes into the bucket with the spent seed starting mix. However, this year one of the somewhat rare varieties I'm growing was mostly immature seeds and had poor germination. I do finally have 2 healthy looking seedlings, but I have 3 'runts' that are 1/4 of the size of the normal ones. Since I'll baby the two 'good ones' I have by keeping them in seperate trays so I can't lose both of them to a slip and planting them in seperate locations to protect against environmental disasters I think I'm unlikely to lose both. Still, for some reason I'm reluctant to compost these particular runts. Have you kept your runts before and have they grown out of it and produced?