Toona Ciliata Germination Seedling

Hi all,

I was trying to germinate Toona Ciliata tree seeds.

Out of 100 seeds only one germinated that too it was in cotyledon stage for about a 5 days only the cotyledons were growing big, no true leaves emerged. Now, after 7 days I see small true leaves emerging slowly. Actually its a vey rare germitaion normally it is very difficult to germinate this plant in my place due to the age of the seeds.

1. What I noticed was that - every night the cotyledons would "close", stick together and compress themselves and open up again in the morning after sunrise. Now since the true leaves emerged should I cut off one cotyledon so that these two does not close and compress over the true leaves?

2. Also one more question. The base of the seedling starts to turn brown. But the seedling seems healthy. Is that a concern?  I have attached the picture. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

My goodness that sounds like a useful tree (Ken Fern's info here for those like me who are not familiar with it.)

The seedling looks pretty healthy to me. If it is naturally opening and closing, I wouldn't cut off the cotelydons as you may damage the plant tissue and lead to disease. I assume the true leaves can take (or even need) this movement, or maybe it protects them from overnight nibblers....
I'm not sure about the stem colour. It is possible this is the first signs of a stem rot, but it may be just the stem maturing. Not much you can do at this stage other than try and avoid overwatering I think. Maybe water from underneath for a few days if you think it needs it.

Well done for getting a seedling! It looks like the seeds do need careful (cool) storage to remain viable for any great length of time. I do hope that this one makes it!

Congratulation it seems are in order.

Many thanks for all the advice.

Yes I will reduce the watering and wouldn't try to cut the cotyledon. Cutting it could lead to the demise of the seedling.

Hovever I suppose that normal seedlings of its kind used to pop up with cotyledon and the true leaves emerging quickly along with it. But this one -  since it is a hard to germinate type "seedling" I suppose there is struggle for the new leaves coming out unlike the normal seedlings.

What I observe is that the cotyledons stick together in a "tight" way in the nights which could be a possible reason for blocking the true leaves from coming out which could be causing the delay of true leaves growing.

Howver I am not an expert in this that is why I sought advice. I searched through internet but couldn't find a similar issue. This seems to be against nature but considering the "rare type" nature of germination and the viability of seed it could be a cause.

I came out with a solution. I didn't remove the cotyledon but introduced a plastic spacer inbetween them. Now when the leaves close they don't close completely giving room for aeration and space for the true leaves to freely emerge still keeping the cotyledons intact.