Will these twisted pawpaw seedlings be alright?

The tip of the sprout got kind of stuck in the potting mix when it germinated last year. It eventually found its way out of the dirt, but by then, the stem was already twisted and I didn't want to try to straighten it out too much out of concern of breaking it. That happened to 3-4 seedlings. With some of them, the new growth on second leaf (this year) was from the base, with others, from the tip.

I think what you could do is to fill in the pots an inch or two deeper, and allow the curvy sections to produce roots.  Eventually, with roots forming above the curves, the curving will become irrelevent.

They'll be fine. Pawpaw seedlings are surprisingly tough once they get going, and a bent stem from early germination usually just becomes character. The ones that pushed new growth from the base are basically making their own backup plan, which is what pawpaws do naturally anyway through suckering. I wouldn't straighten anything at this point, just let them grow and they'll sort themselves out over the next season or two.

Michael Qulek wrote:I think what you could do is to fill in the pots an inch or two deeper, and allow the curvy sections to produce roots.  Eventually, with roots forming above the curves, the curving will become irrelevent.

So pawpaws are okay with the stems being covered in soils? I know some plants don't like that and it causes their stems to rot (happened once when I played peppers a little deeper than the cotyledons).

Nicolas Derome wrote:
So pawpaws are okay with the stems being covered in soils? I know some plants don't like that and it causes their stems to rot (happened once when I played peppers a little deeper than the cotyledons).

Since you have several deformed seedlings, try covering one deeper, and leave another as-is.  You can then determine for yourself if it's a problem.  In my personal experience though deeper stimulates roots.