Culling seedlings?

I've sprouted 7 seedlings, but I only have room for 4 plants in my setup. How soon will I be able to determine which are the best of the bunch? What identifiable traits am I looking for?

2 months

The best ones are determined after harvest.

Im in a small tent, and dont consume too much.
I start with a bunch and cull everything that doesnt stink in early flower. Leaf trich's in veg get bonus points.

Need 4? Sprout 4. Or sprout 1 and clone it. You'll never know the genetic potential of those plants unless you full cycle them and could potentially toss the better ones. Looking at a seedling won't give you an idea of what the buds will be like. I keep every plant while pheno hunting and label xyz 'a' and xyz 'b' and so on then cull the ones that didn't make the cut after flower.

Stem rub, node spacing/ plant structure and which ones show sex first are all things that cAn help figure out which ones to ditch.

Okay I understand. But what about bad traits in seedlings that can be discerned at a young age? Do these exist?

TheZombywoof said:

Okay I understand. But what about bad traits in seedlings that can be discerned at a young age? Do these exist?

Click to expand...

no
unless you are pheno hunting (hybrid indica vs sativa) beyond leaf shape there's little to no discernable differing features in seedlings

Sometimes I cull a runt because it won't reach the canopy. If It does manage to make it to the light, but is struggling to keep up, I'll prune off all of the branches so that it will produce a single cola.