As the cucumber vine develops, its delicate-looking but tenacious tendrils will grip and climb anything in their path. The oval seed leaves of emerging cucumber and squash plants look very much alike, but the cucumber’s true leaves will be triangular and lobed with a fuzzy surface and serrated (toothy) edges. Vicente Selvas (Own Work) via Wikimedia Commons. CarrotsĬarrot seedlings in the earliest stages may be mistaken for grass because their seed leaves, unlike some other vegetable cotyledons, are tall and thin. A young carrot’s true leaves, shown below, have a distinctive, fern-like shape.
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Learn how to grow broccoli and cauliflower. Broccoli (and Cauliflower)īroccoli and cauliflower seedlings produce two kidney-shaped seed leaves before their true leaves, which are more rounded and may have vaguely serrated edges.
Photo by Tepeyac (Own Work) via Wikimedia Commons. Because several seedlings can grow from one beet “seed,” you may need to thin them by snipping some off at ground level. Young beets put forth smooth, oblong green leaves on red or pinkish/purple stems. With proper watering, beet seedlings will emerge in five days to two weeks after planting. Its true leaves will be smooth-edged and arranged three to a stem, with two opposite each other and one above.
The bean seedling’s first seed leaves often appear to be heart-shaped. Here’s a quick visual guide to some of the easiest vegetables to grow from seed. Vegetable Seedling Identification: Pictures and Descriptions The cotyledons, having served their purpose, will eventually die off. While your seedlings sport their early cotyledons, it can indeed be difficult to distinguish them from each other and from weeds!Īfter the true leaves emerge, which can take several weeks, you’ll be able to spot more differences between seedlings as they take on the special shape and form of their kind. They mainly serve as “snack packs”-energy bars for the infant plant to consume so that it can put forth its own true leaves. The first two leaves that many vegetable seedling put forth are called cotyledons ( seed leaves), which do not pattern themselves after the leaves of the mature plant. If you do see a weed in your vegetable plot, the most effective way to weed is to use a hoe in the morning in dry weather so that weeds will cut cleanly from the soil. When weeds really kick into action (usually by early summer), it can be challenging to identify a vegetable seedling from a weed seedling! This is a visual aide to help.