seeds A photo guide to how I removed stuck seed caps.

I decided to do a quick “How I Remove a Stuck Seed Cap” post. I have read about several methods and the following is what I came up with. I don’t know if my method is good, bad, right or wrong. Depending on how stuck it is you may just want to mist it and see if it grows off by itself. I had a bunch of extra seedlings so I decided to take a more direct approach and opt for surgery. Hopefully there will be a lot of feed back and this posting can get refined into a much better guide. I have removed a bunch of stuck caps over the last 3 days. Out of about 35…. 6 ended in partial or complete decapitation. The other 29 went well and seem to be doing fine. I did get impatient towards the end and forced a few. If you go slowly you should have very few mishaps. I kept a log of which seedlings got rescued (I put a R-, R, or R+ next to the plug depending on how well the removal went) and will update if any of the ones that I thought came off perfect end up dying. So anyway, on to the show. Here are the tools that I used. Somebody suggested a nail clipper which I intended to use but could not find so I raided my wife’s manicure kit and found:



In retrospect these detail clippers seem to be a lot more precise than what I could have done with nail clippers. For one thing you can see a lot better with these and being able to see how much of the seed cap you’re actually cutting is extremely important. A good pair of tweezers is also important and their shape is key to my method. Make sure you use one with a wide tip. Here is why:



Surface Tension! As you can see above, you can hold a large drop of water between the ends. With practice you can slide this drop over a stuck seed cap and hold it suspended in the drop for 1 or 2 minutes or longer if you have a steady hand. With practice you can also get the drop to cling to the seed cap. If the drop is too big it will just run down the stem but if it is the right size it will just cling to the dry cap and get absorbed into it as long a gravity does not get a hold of it. I was able to get big drops to cling for 20 minutes or more with practice. The above is for seed caps that are vertical, if you’re lucky and happen to have a horizontal seed cap putting a large drop of water is easy. Here are the two before and after examples:




Now of course you could just mist your seedlings a couple of times and skip the above step but I found it relaxing to sit with the seedlings and do it by hand. (Be careful though or you may start talking to your seedlings like AJ LOL) After 10 minutes or so the seed cap will usually get pretty translucent and allow you to clearly see the green cotyledons inside. At this point you have to decide how stuck is the cap? If just the top tips of the cotyledons are stuck in the cap (figure A below) you can now try to gently but firmly pull the cap off. The first couple of times I got really frustrated because I was not holding the cap tight enough and it seemed like the seedling was going to snap. Then, I noticed that a few of the times I was really squeezing the seed cap with the cutters to snip of an edge and the cap would just slide off. I remember someone saying when you squeeze it you release some of the tension in the cap. Now I know what they meant. I also like to pull the cap and hold it taunt. Then let the plant slide out on its own. If it does not slide out you might need some trimming or more water. If you stuck cap looks like Figure B below you may have to do some trimming or leave it and hope it grows out of it.



So if you decide to take it to the next level you need a steady hand and good nerves. After doing so many, I found the seedling to be a lot tougher than I thought they would be. In my case, the root systems were strong enough to actually pull the plug out of the tray before the seedling broke. My plugs were pretty dry when I did this so don’t expect the same result if the plugs are very moist. I could see the root pulling out of the plug if it was moist. So the object of trimming for me was to release some of the tension the seed hat has on the cotyledons. I also found that once the seed hull was breached capillary action would draw water into the inside of the seed cap further softening the cap and lubricating the cotyledons for easier removal. Here is a drawing of what your are trying to achieve when you make your cuts. You're trying to just trim the ridge around the casing leaving the green in the center area unharmed.



After trimming, suspend another drop of water around it and let it sit for a few minutes then try giving it another pull to see if it comes off. I have a lot more to add but need to get back to work. Will try and finish this up tonight.

I’m sure there is a faster or easier way (Which I would love to hear about… Squeezing the dry seed till it cracks like AJ suggested in another thread works well I understand) but I feel like I learned so much about my seedlings doing it this way first. Next time around I may try the cracking the dry seed method. However, for a rare seedling or one I just have a few of, I think I would stick to my above method.

Those cutters you found in your wifes manicure set look like a cutting tool that get's used in dentistry (I used to be a dental nurse).

I find that if the seed cap is wet and you gently squeeze with your fingers or nails that sometimes they come off nicely. Unfortunately a few time I have decapitated a seedling though

amazing i hope i dont have to do that this season thanks for sharing mike

If the seed cap is stuck on like diagram B then you have to be really careful. If it is left too long the stem just under the seed cap will rot and any touch will decapitate. If you find a seedling with a B situation and it has grown tall then you have to clip it off right away or the cotyledons will rot inside the cap. I have managed to get a B cap off after leaving it for a while to see if it would help itself. The leaves were dark and never opened so it died.

If you leave it too long with an A situation and most of the cotyledons break off, as long as there is still the node left new leaves will grow from it. Not sure if it is properly called the node, I mean where the cotyledons connect to the stem. Even with almost no cotyledons the seed will be still able to grow new leaves from the energy it has stored in the seed. But if the node is decaptiated with the cotyledons then it's game over. The stem will continue to grow itself up tall for a long time until it finally runs out of steam and dies.

Many innocent chilli seedlings died to give me this information.

edit: Beaglestorm +1 with being patient! It is very easy to get frustrated and pull the cap too hard. If it doesn't come off then you have to soak some more or clip some more, but never pull harder.

good thread mike. i hope i don't have to many of the seedlings do that. it's a pain. i soaked all seeds for 24 hours in a water and booster solution to try and avoid this. douglahs and brainstrains just breaking ground. i should know tommorrow if any are stuck.

I left some douglhas too long and they died, tonight, after reading this post, i tried using toe nail clippers on scorpians and 2 won and 1 lost.
great post though, thanks beagleguy

Somebody posted a picture with many seedlings with stuck caps and I said they should try and carefully remove them.
The next reply from willard I believe shot me down and said that it was not necessary at all and they will come off all on their own.

All I know is that almost all seeds I've had come up with caps stuck have died or have had their growth extremely stunted.
This is not just limited to Chilli's either had similar issues with toms and lettuce.

Is there a general rule of when to help them off?
I've been giving them a helping hand since the first time I noticed it was an issue.

Nice Demo Beaglestorm. I usually get by with spraying the seed with water EVERY time i think about it or walk by the seedlings. I have lost a couple but it seems like the strong seedlings eventually pop them off by themselves. This does sometimes damage the cotyledon leaves leaving them distorted. So far I haven't noticed any "stunting".

Thanks for the tip!!!

I find when that happens mostly w/seeds started indoors I spray them and leave them for about 10 mins. come back and slowly lift them off, I imagine it happens when the seed sprouts and there isn't enough moister in the air near them and we all know houses are horrible at moister esp. when we start seeds in the cold months. But any way just start to lift the bottom of the cap facing the roots and lift up, you may need to keep a finger on the soil next to the seedling to prevent lifting the plant all the way out the soil. It usually works for me as I'm a better judge feeling the cap lift with my nail or toothpick. Just in my opinion. hope that helps.

Well since I have a few hundred seeds going.....



Here are three seedlings with the caps still on. Look at the one closest to the camera trying to push it off.





Notice the one in each pic that is distorted???



This one still has the cap on and is distorted but it is keeping up with most the others!!! Waste not, Want not!!!

I had one out of 26 or so stuck and tried this basic same method that Megamoo had posted on Lazinfat and used the same tools. I think my mistake was not soaking long enough and ended up with a 3/4 decapitation of the cotyledons. We'll see if it makes it. Obviously patients is the key as well as a steady hand. As I mentioned on the other thread, society is lucky I'm not a brain surgeon.

Thanks Mike, good info. That's what this place is all about.

megamoo said:

If the seed cap is stuck on like diagram B then you have to be really careful. If it is left too long the stem just under the seed cap will rot and any touch will decapitate. If you find a seedling with a B situation and it has grown tall then you have to clip it off right away or the cotyledons will rot inside the cap. I have managed to get a B cap off after leaving it for a while to see if it would help itself. The leaves were dark and never opened so it died.

If you leave it too long with an A situation and most of the cotyledons break off, as long as there is still the node left new leaves will grow from it. Not sure if it is properly called the node, I mean where the cotyledons connect to the stem. Even with almost no cotyledons the seed will be still able to grow new leaves from the energy it has stored in the seed. But if the node is decaptiated with the cotyledons then it's game over. The stem will continue to grow itself up tall for a long time until it finally runs out of steam and dies.

Many innocent chilli seedlings died to give me this information.

edit: Beaglestorm +1 with being patient! It is very easy to get frustrated and pull the cap too hard. If it doesn't come off then you have to soak some more or clip some more, but never pull harder.

Click to expand...

I agree with Moo, You have to make a decision pretty quickly otherwise they mostly end up rotting under the cap. I just moisten em and put my glasses on and get the tweezers out and hassle the crap out of it. I reckon I get 95% success helping compared to 10% by not helping.

I do realize this post is five years old, but it was one of the top hits when searching Google for "seed stuck on seedling".
 
I want to thank Beaglestorm for the great idea of using surface tension for precise liquid application. I took it a step further and used a plastic drinking straw instead of tweezers to great effect. Just dip the straw in the liquid and cap the top with your finger to hold the drops in the straw. I used 3% hydrogen peroxide solution in place of water because I wanted to see if it could be done quicker (water applications over time to soften it would probably be safer).
 
I tried it on seedlings that are at least a week old. I'd been bottom-watering them, so the casings were no longer moist on the outside and probably drying up on the inside. As others have mentioned, you want them to be moist so they slide off easily, so try to actearly if you think this intervention necessary. I used the straw slip a drop of HP over each seed, left it for a few minutes and re-applied until I thought it was enough. Out of five instances I got four off unscathed and took the tips off the last one, but I'm confident it'll be okay. I used sharp tweezers to grasp the casings and gently pulled on them. They should slide off pretty easily. If they don't, continue applications. For the one that I damaged I used a second set to hold the stem. I should've left it alone when it didn't come off just from pulling on the seed. I used a Q-Tip to dab off the HP that got on the leaves after each application and again when I got the seed off.. I don't know what damage 3% HP would do, but I figured I might as well dry it off carefully. You could probably cut it with 50% lukewarm water if you're worried about the concentration.
 
Anyway, thanks for the tip. Hopefully the bump will help some other newbies out.

I usually dont mess with helmets heads.I just let them grow and they fall with the coty.Your method sounds great if you must remove the helmet head though.Should help out a lot of growers.

My Caroline Reaper seedlings are doing this on about 50% of the seedlings, whereas on my other peppers it's about 3%. I read some where that someone thought that stuck hulls on the cotyledon leaves were caused by not planting the seeds deep enough and/or not keeping the soil wet enough. Ifthe hull is just stuck on the tips of the cotyledons, you can usually, carefully, wiggle the hull with a toothpick, tweezers, your finger, etc. and it will come off. If it breaks the tips off of the cotyledons, it will usually recover with no problems. But if the hull is over the entire cotyledons, it's much harder to get off. First, I tried putting a drop of water on the hull 4 - 5 times a day, and someone else said trying spit (because of the enzymes), and let the hull come off itself, but neither seemed to work.

I decided I had to try something different, and it worked. If you can catch the sprouts when they first come out of the soil, and as soon as you can see that the hull is stuck over the cotyledons, just take a little potting soil, cover the seedling back up with about 1/4 inch of soil, and moisten it well. Within 6 to 24 hours, the seedling will come back through the top of the soil with the hull removed. It might not be necessary, but then I take a toothpick and pull back some of the extra soil that I had put over the seedling, So far this has worked 100% of the time, with no problems.