My wife called me while I was on a business trip asking if our seed starts were dying. She said that two of the leaves were turning yellow and dying. It looked like this.

I told her not to worry and you shouldn’t either. Those are called cotyledons or seed leaves. Those two leaves that are dying in the picture were the first leaves to emerge from the seedling. They are special leaves needed to grow the plant during the germination process. If you want to know the science behind it then read the wikipedia article on it. Just know that they usually die when “true leaves” take over the photosynthesis process. 

Just let them die and know that is why many gardening books refer to the concept of “true leaves” to differentiate between these and the actual leaves that will stay with the plant.

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