First time house plant grower needs advice

[DemiSec9]

Hello there - I've been unwell for a while now and to cheer me up and focus me I decided to try to grow some house plants. I bought some Bluebellvine seeds and put them into a propagator for a few weeks and three sprouted. They just had two leaves each but seemed to be doing okay but the stalks grew very long and wavery so I repotted them yesterday and they seem to have drooped badly. I really don't want them to die but am clueless as to what to do.

I’m not sure about this specific plant, but seedlings are usually leggy when they don’t get enough light or water, could that have been the case?

also transplanting any seedling risks them having a period of ‘shock’ as as you only replanted yesterday maybe that’s also the case? They are quite big pots for little seedlings - it’s better to pot on several times rather than jump to a big pot?

In addition to that, generally I think the advice is to pot on when the roots are just about filling the pot. And also usually leave seedlings be until there's at least a couple of true leaves - the first pair are the 'seed leaves'.

I agree with the above, probably they could have done with a bit more light at the start. Also, I think you've potted them on a bit early - the leaves that you see are just the seed leaves called cotyledons, not the true leaves which vary from plant to plant. Usually it's best to wait till the first true leaves have emerged before potting them on. But it's done now, so I think the best thing to do is wait, and once the stems have recovered, gradually move them to somewhere brighter. Be careful not to water too much.

Oops, Errol got there first...

Gosh - thank you. So I should leave them for now where they are? It's fairly light and they're quite well watered but not over-watered.

How can you tell the difference between seed leaves and actual leaves?

I could move them back to the propagator but that would mean uprooting them again ...

For now, I'd leave them where they are. The stalks grew long because they're looking for more light, but there's probably more risk in shocking them by moving them to somewhere brighter than there is just leaving them for now.
You can tell that these are the seed leaves because they're the first leaves, which are basically the two halves of the seed, and there aren't any other leaves. Right now, the plant is using the energy stored in those leaves from when it was a seed to grow. Once the root system has established, it will produce some true leaves which will have a different shape, depending on the type of plant. I wouldn't move these back to the propagator now because of the risk of damage to the tiny root hairs, so just keep your fingers crossed. The point about watering is that now they're a tiny seedling in a bigger pot, they're more vulnerable to overwatering because the plant itself isn't big enough to make much difference to how quickly the soil dries out, but if you can be careful with this, they stand a good chance of recovering.

How can you tell the difference between seed leaves and actual leaves?

It's pretty easy to tell. Seedlings have either one cotyledon ('monocots', things like grasses and daffs) or two ('dicots') which come out before the true leaves. These are formed within the seed. They're usually a very basic uncomplicated shape not resembling the true leaves.
The true leaves are formed after these.

I see where I went wrong now. I thought those were the actual leaves and everything I looked up online said to move the from the propagator when the leaves formed. I really don't know anything! So when the seed leaves form they're not really ready to move anywhere? You should wait until the true leaves form?

I hope they survive.

Here's a tomato seedling, for instance. The seed leaves are the long oval ones, the true leaves are lobed.

Thank you! My lanky dudes are hanging in so far but struggling a bit