Is it possible to get two plants from one seed?

[Ninjasquirrel]

I was very careful this year and put one single seed in each pot. I did reuse potting soil though. I've got one pot that has two seedlings right next to each other and another with two that are far apart. That one I think might just be a volunteer from what might have been in the soil from last year but the other one I'm not so sure.

Although DH was helping me plant and it's entirely possible he used more than one seed thinking "just in case". Idk I feel like I'm going nuts. I really didn't want to have to repot anything. The whole point was one seed, one pot, directly in the ground from there.

 

[Sally PB]

What kind of plants?

I usually plant 2 and sometimes 3 tomato plants in the same hole.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

What kind of plants?

I usually plant 2 and sometimes 3 tomato plants in the same hole.

Tomatoes. Not sure which variety cause I didn't mark them. My peppers aren't doing multiples...but then again I planted all the peppers myself. If dh snuck extras in there I'm gonna be so mad. I ended up with 18 tomato plants last year

 

[Sally PB]

If there are 2 in a pot and you only want 1, select the one that looks bigger/healthier. Cut the other plant off at soil level. Then you don't have to try to separate them.

 

[Saveria]

You have to kind of ferment and dry tomato seeds to make them viable for planting, so it would be easy for two seeds to get stuck together.

You can probably just keep both plants if it is a cherry tomato, and/or a determinate vine (one that has less crazy growth pattern). I have done that in the past. Do you know what seed varieties you have that this one could be?

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

You have to kind of ferment and dry tomato seeds to make them viable for planting, so it would be easy for two seeds to get stuck together.

You can probably just keep both plants if it is a cherry tomato, and/or a determinate vine (one that has less crazy growth pattern). I have done that in the past. Do you know what seed varieties you have that this one could be?

Ah ok. That would explain it. I planted just Roma's and beef steaks. But not knowing which is which I'm less inclined to lose one. I really should have marked the containers. Live and learn I guess

 

[Saveria]

Yeah, usually romas are determinate, which means they will grow only to set a certain amount of fruit, instead of the indeterminate which think they can go on growing and flowering forever (they must think they are still back in Mexico). There are a couple varieties of romas that are indeterminate, though.

Beefsteak are ind., which means they may overgrow the romas and crowd them out. You will get some tomatoes either way, but you will get more if you separate or thin.

 

[Saveria]

Maybe it is dry enough that you don't get late blight in Indiana? That is probably the only other concern about letting two grow up together, there will be less air getting to their leaves to let them dry out completely to prevent late blight. If they are in a greenhouse it should be fine.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Maybe it is dry enough that you don't get late blight in Indiana? That is probably the only other concern about letting two grow up together, there will be less air getting to their leaves to let them dry out completely to prevent late blight. If they are in a greenhouse it should be fine.

I make newspaper pots in the spring for starting seeds. It still too cold here to plant out in the garden. I unfortunately don't have a greenhouse. Either way I usually don't have any issues with repotting. I let them get a little bigger so they don't shock and die and then repot. I was just trying to avoid that by planting only one seed in each pot.

I've never (knock on wood) have had blight on my tomatoes. We plant them far enough apart so they don't overcrowd. I always have way more than I could ever want. I wanted to switch to only Roma's...makes canning so much easier because it's all at once. Plus the Roma's are so much more plentiful. I usually get a few good size beefsteaks but the pests get to them before I can enjoy them and the become an ooey gooey mess. I don't use any chemicals other than BT on my broccoli because of the dang months.

I'm still figuring out this gardening game. I used to just buy replanted but COVID made the supply extremely lacking so I switched to growing from seed. I love watching them sprout every year but I'm terrible at gardening maintenance by the end of the growing season my garden is always a weedy mess

 

[Saveria]

I know it. We used to have my brother in law and his wife living in a little cabin on our land. Every weekend two of us would go up and weed the whole place. There was enough people that no one felt like they had to do it too often, and the work went quick because there are two people. I miss those days. Now I am waiting for my kids to get old enough that they can do the job, but won't insist they have to drive off with their friends instead.

Good for you for doing it at all. Gardening can be so rewarding and make you feel like you are connected to everything, but more than anything it is a crash course in how frustrated you can get.

I'll bet your climate is a little drier that late blight needs. Up in VT we can have a lot of chilly, rainy days in late Summer (believe it or not, August is usually sweltering for most), and then the blight just follows since there is so many compromised plants for it to jump through on. I am glad you don't see it, we usually want to give up on tomatoes each time it shows up.