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Growing Tomatoes
naturegirl_2007

Two plants from one seed?

16 years ago

Every year it seems that two plants grow where I'm sure I planted only one seed. It only happens with one or two cells out of a flat. This year I was very careful. I found some "thick" seeds were actually two stuck together and I flicked them apart with my fingernail. But once again there were still some doubles. Am I missing some "stuck" seeds or is it possible that two plants would grow from one seed? I've had this mostly with tomatoes, but sometimes it happens with peppers, also.

It seems so intuitive that only one would grow from one seed that I have hesitated to ask this in the past. If nothing else some of you may get a laugh thinking I even considered it being possible. But I do really want to know :)

Featured Answer
  • 16 years ago

    I believe that picture lends support to my "twin" theory. Looking very closely at the close up, it appears that there are two stems which are fused together (and probably fused when they were still beneath the soil). I venture a guess that there were two seeds (fused together) whether or not they formed that way or not, and the way they germinated, their stems came into contact with each other during the germination process and just got stuck together. I've seen similar things with trees. Two branches will be growing next to each other, and they just fuse together.

    Nice picture! Very cool....

    Comments (22)

    • 16 years ago

      Think I read somewhere once that because of the formation of the endosperm that occurs with the fertilization of mater seeds that twins are powerful rare. However, I ain't no scintist, nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn last night so don't quote me on that. My gut tells me that you probably have the same problem that I do year after year: "Klingons". No matter how thin I spread 'em on the plates at seed saving time, a couple always wind up bunched up together. Now unless the second one jumps up and fires a disruptor atcha, there's no way to tell for sure, but probably Klingons.

    • 16 years ago

      I'm a quotin' ya'

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    • 16 years ago

      Often you will see 2 seeds so stuck together that you'd swear, even if you look close, that it was only one. So when multiple pop up I tend to figure that is what happened.

      Dave

    • 16 years ago

      Why don't you look really closely at the surface of the medium in the starter cell and see if you can find the discarded seed hulls. Maybe use a magnifying glass. If you find two hulls, you had two seeds. Betcha will. But I wouldn't waste any time looking myself, because 2 sprouts and 4 cotelydons = 2 seeds, IMO.

    • 16 years ago

      a seedling that has 3 cotelydons? I have an opalka seedling with 3.

    • 16 years ago

      Yeah, two seeds so close together you think it's only one when you sow. That's my guess too.

    • 16 years ago

      Let's have fun with it. My wife is a twin (fraternal) and she is always partial to the twin idea! I tell her that they are twins, and then she spends the next week looking at them to figure out which one is her and which is her sister! It works great for me, because it makes her more interested in MY obsession.

      Honestly, why COULDN'T it be twins?! Basically, if the seeds are so stuck together that they are indistinguishable to the naked eye, than why couldn't it be a single seed that during fertilization actually created two endosperms, so that there is only a single wall separating the two "seeds" and they can then produce TWO plants!

      Well, I do physics, not biology!

    • 16 years ago

      I have a brandywine that came up and looked strange, like it had two main growing stems.....4 cotelydons. Thought I had taken pics of it in its earlier stages but can't find one....in fact, it seemed a little stunted before I potted up, and I almost ditched it, but decided to go on and see what it does. This is what it looked like today. You can still see the four cotelydons on it.

    • 16 years ago

      That ain't natrul...

    • 16 years ago

      Cool.

    • 16 years ago

      I it just me or des that last close up picture actually show 2 separate stems? Or is it 2 stems that are actually attached to one another somehow?

    • 16 years ago

      The stem is very thick....they are not separate. It is like they are Siamese twins or something....they are fussed together up to the point of the cotyledons of the stem on the left (in last pic).

    • 16 years ago

      I've seeen some like opiel's pic, especially in the potato-leaved types, and 3 seedleaves aren't that uncommon, but i don't know if i ever got two separate plants from one seed, like everyone else, i'd just assume i'd planted them that way.

    • 9 years ago

      I just found this forum to see about the same thing. I was cutting oranges for the kids and since I had 2 avocados starting to grow, I decided to take a seed from the orange. Just one. I removed it from the whitish husk, and started germinating the seed. It started to germinate (paper towel method) and just seeing if it was germinating or if it was just rotting the seed I tore a bit of the covering off so I just decided to put it into a pot of dirt right then. Now I have what looks like 2 stems emerging. It may be just like Opie12's Brandywine. I will have to wait and see, but this one, I know for sure was only 1 seed.

    • 9 years ago

      I think the two seedlings just fused/welded together. That means there were 2 seeds I might be wrong.

      Sey

    • 9 years ago
      last modified: 9 years ago

      Of course beet seeds are really clusters of seeds. Any other veggie work like that?

    • 9 years ago
      last modified: 9 years ago

      If you want to be certain that the tomato seeds are not stuck together, wet them before sowing. They come apart easily.

      (I think the twins are probably seeds stuck together.)

      Though, that is interesting, Anthony.

    • 6 years ago

      I'm glad I found this site! I planted a couple of mandarin orange seeds (rare enough) in one pot and BOTH have sent up TWO stems. I know there were only two seeds, not hard to tell with how big the seeds are. This has to be rare, but two sets of twins in one pot??? I'll try to get a photo...

    • 6 years ago

      I've almost seen it all, I think.


      The most rare, that I've seen, is two plants from a single seed. The single seed coat was stuck on the two stems that emerged from the seed coat. I had to remove the seed coat, so I had a very good look to see that it wasn't two seeds stuck together. I even checked to see that there was two sets of roots.


      The second most rare is the quadcot (4 cotelydons). I've only seen this a few times. Only one plant ever made it to transplant, but this double header plant put out more fruit than a normal plant. One leader became dominant, and by the middle of the harvest season the weaker half of the plant began to die, not affecting the stronger half of the plant.


      The third is not what I consider rare, a tricot (3 cotelydons). One in a few hundred seedlings, so I average seeing one or two a year, even when I'm not really looking for them.




    • 6 years ago
      last modified: 6 years ago

      Christine, that is a polyembryonic seed (it is when multiple plants grow out of one seed). It is very common in citrus cultivars. If you keep the most vigorous one out of your two sprouted trees, with time that tree will give you the exact fruit that you took the seed out of, it will be copy of its mother tree. Polyembryony is also very common in avocado and mango seeds. Here is a mandarin seed I planted few years ago. Five little plants sprouted out of one seed:

    • 3 years ago

      Many seeds are spilt insde. one example every one knows is the peanut. the two halves seperate quite easilydaily. the two sides of the peanut seed are mostly the endosperm which is stored nutrients to support early groth of the plant and root. Thede seeds are calked dicots. other seeds juse have one endosperm called monocots. dicots sometimes seperate into two shoots usually just below the attachment of tne split souce of nutrients (each half of the split endosperm). what cones out of the ground are two parellel shoots connected below at the root level. i seee this a lot when planting oak trees.

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