How to tell if I have multiple seedlings/when to remove secondary seedlings?

Question

So I asked a question here about planting in a raised container a few weeks ago, and now I have some small seedlings!

I planted a couple seeds per hole, and it seems that in some cases, multiple plants have emerged from the same hole in the soil.

My questions are:

• How can I tell whether I just have multiple sprouts from one seed or if I have multiple plants growing in the same spot?
• If I do have multiple plants, when should I cut off the secondary (smaller) plant?

Here are a few pics of what I have so far:

Source

Answer 1

Seedlings don't branch initially - the first set of leaves are the cotyledons, and the second set are the true leaves. If you have two stems and two sets of cotyledons, that will be two separate seedlings. By the time they've got a few sets of leaves and might want to start branching, they will long have been removed from their seedbed and potted up or planted out. If you've sown straight into where you want them to grow, then remove seedlings while they're tiny, carefully and gently, so the ones which are left have sufficient space to develop properly.

Answer 2

I'd wait till they've got one or two true leaves, then you can identify and carefully remove any deformed or otherwise less healthy-looking ones. I've just done this with my squash plants, they were 6-8" tall and just getting their second true leaves (they were spaced about 2" apart though).