The seed casing will continue to cap the stem until the leaves/needles push it apart and knock it off this is quite normal for seeds that grow wshallow or on top soil so leave them be theyll shed them when theyre ready. Only seeds of more of a kernal style will remain in the soil

Thank you very much for your reply thehodge!

I can't wait to see leaves. I'm waiting for this to happen so that I will then start shifting them to a proper pot.

I think I'm beginning to see some needles start to come out of the seed.

Agreed, just a seed casing. It will fall off.

I would say do not hurry to transplant it. Let it grow till you see some roots dangling out of the bottom hole of the pot. When you start seeing true leaves, start on a very light fertilizer schedule. Have fun. I have never grown a pine from seed and I bet it will be fun to watch.

So finally some of the plants have dropped their seed, and showing their first needles.

The only problem is that the needles are slightly yellow at the tip, and curved. This is probably a sign of bad health. Am I watering them too little?

Be sure to keep the soil moist. Not wet. Seedlings dont require alot of water so they dont soak up whats in the pot very fast. Over watering is way too easy.and you cant go based off of the topsoil alone.

Hi, I'd like your help again!

Most of my seeds have now been discarded and the little plants are almost 4 inches above the surface. The soil depth itself is just 3 inches (it was a really shallow and small container I planted all of them in- literally 2 inch radius, 3 inch deep).

Now I'm looking to transfer them to a bigger pot, one for each. My problem is threefold - a) I'm not sure if this is a good thing to do because the plants are so young and perhaps their root structure won't be too well developed?
b) I'm not sure if I can even let them continue in this cramped space anymore! c) If I do decide to transfer them to pots, there are still certain seedlings that have to discard their seed or are just too small. Is it a good idea to still remove all of them and replant now?

Thanks!

I have never grown pines from seeds but I think they grow pretty slowly. So I am wondering how come some of them are 4 inches tall already. Are you giving them enough light? I have a feeling they are growing tall and lanky because of lack of light.

How many seedlings are there in the 2 inch radius. That is pretty tight. If you repot you will loose some. If you don't you will loose some. I would just get a bigger pot with good well draining soil mix and put the entire mass of seedling in that bigger pot. I would let it grow for another month or two before dividing.

Anyone else with other ideas?

tropicofcancer, thanks for your reply, I had 8 of them growing in a really tiny region.

What I realized today as I repotted them is that even though they have grown slender and tall (4 inches or so), the actual roots are only 2 inches at best (they are after all only 2 and a half weeks old) Anyway, I've repotted them all in a separate pot of their own, I drenched the soil with water, the pot has lots of holes at the bottom, so it should drain out really quickly. I read that this is a good thing to do when repotting these plants. I don't have fertilizers so I haven't put any.

I really hope that they adjust to their new environment. Anything I can do to improve the chances of them surviving?

Thanks again!

Trust mother nature.

And do not stare at them. Just kidding. It is tempting to do something but frequently disturbing them is not good.

Do not fertilize them yet since you just repoted. Let them recover. When I do something like this, I like to put them in tray with a high dome cover and under lights. Just keep them damp and not wet. The dome holds on to humidity. Once they are showing more signs of growth I gradually wean them away from the humidity dome. At this time you can give them a very dilute version of a fertilizer. Eventually, you want them to get used to outside too. Again you can do it sort of gradually. Pines do need to be outside as soon as it is feasible. Freezing at this stage can be harmful. Once they are established they should remain outside.

If you want to know more about fertilizers, head off to the container forum and look for a post by 'tapla'. In fact read all his excellent articles and digest them. This will keep you away from staring at those pines.

Hi tropicofcancer, I think the transferring went really smoothly.

I had 8 of them growing before. I think only one is not looking healthy, I think it's going to die, but the rest will survive.

They've taken well to their individual pots, and some have continued their rapid growth. They got great sunlight yesterday and the day before and that really helped. Spring can't come any sooner here in Boston!