Hypothetically, Nicholas. I have had this had this happen and quite some time ago and the seedling did not survive. Never produced leaves. I believe it was that there was no terminal grow tip. Not sure of the science behind it.

Rick

dunno, i have one or two like that, PLUS one that looks like the root is coming out the top of the plant. time will tell … it will probably eat all the other plants some night … feed me!

Thanks Rick, maybe I'll find a very sharp knife and remove the brown tip to see if that helps. May as well experiment on it and hope that slightly below the callused surface there is still enough of a growth area to to put out new leaves.

Dave, how did yours turn out that were beheaded? As for the top rooted one did you pull it out and turn it over? Despite sowing mine horizontally I had one get confused like that too, so I turned it around. It's a runt now but still doing ok.

Cotyledons are the first leaves produced by plants. Cotyledons are not considered "true leaves" and are sometimes referred to as "seed leaves", because they are actually part of the seed or embryo of the plant. The seed leaves serve to access the stored nutrients in the seed, feeding it until the true leaves develop and begin photosynthesizing. so without these they will just die slowly

I am a 100% sure that it will sprout new leaves. One of my seedlings top got injured and broke off.The seedling sprouted new leaves in about 15 days time.Just let it be...it will grow new leaves if the stem is still green

Nick this happens frequently and like Rick said it will not survive without the terminal bud. It may fatten up but can't produce foliage.

This one got damaged when I removed the seed husk as a baby. It is now 7 months old and has only ever had the same 2 leaves. It is so tiny but still healthy. I just can't bring myself to throw it away.

Christine I'm surprised it hasn't put out anything like true leaves Even with the cotyledons damaged it seems like the terminal bud is certainly still there.

Jericson pastor. Spot on.

Nick if it makes you feel any better I decapitated one of my Pachypodium seedlings this morning trying to take the seed casing off.

Tracy

Nick, I have had the same thing. The seedling finally leafed out. It's still smaller than its sisters, but coming along.

I always just let the plant naturally push the husk off through growing.

i would let my dog do it, but since I have opposable thumbs I do it

I mentioned in another thread that my roommate decapitated one of my sprouts that was about a week old. I expected it to wither and die, but it's still green. I've kept it around just to see what would happen. It's under the grow light, so I assume it's able to photosynthesize at least enough to keep itself alive. We'll see what happens. If it had it to do over again, I would have taken a blade and made the cut as clean as possible right after it originally got whacked.