Cotyledons in Leaves' Clothing

So here is little Basil now sprouting his "true" leaves (the little ones in the middle of each plant - just in case you weren't sure). Now the funny part is this - the other "leaves" aren't really leaves at all. They are something called cotyledons. I never heard this word before and I'm still not exactly sure how to pronounce it. I was somewhat surprised to find out my little plants have been deceiving me with look-a-like leaves. Really! I'll have to be sure and keep my eagle eye on them now.

Check out tomato here on the right. Lots of true leaves emerging here too. Things are really starting to ramp up in this mini garden. I had to add a second grow light and a timer for the lights so the little babes get 14 to 16 hours of light every day. I just didn't feel like getting up at 6:00 a.m. every morning for the purpose of switching on the lights! Now for you morning people this might not be a big deal, but let's see you stay up until midnight to turn them off!

Now that the true leaves are growing, I'm supposed to start fertalizing, so today I gave them their first shot of food with liquid fertalizer. In other words, I spiked their punch. I'm almost certain that two hours after I fertalized those tomato leaves, they grew to twice the size they were before. Maybe I'm growing the Incredible Hulk Tomato!

~

Leaves and cotyledons in the same pot

Are they pretending to be something they're not?

Not really, it's just the way that they grow

Why this is I don't really know

Whatever the reason, they're still very cute

As long as they don't become big bamboo shoots!