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Helmets on or off

When nature decides to leave the helmets on mine, it's intent is almost always to kill anyway! Three out of four times I end up with a stuck helmet it never comes off and the poor little thing eventually dies. Usually I give them a little time before attempting to remove the helmet myself but if it doesn't budge by itself after a few days, I take the risk of removal. The other thing is, the ones that do manage to ditch the helmet by themselves can end up far too leggy if the helmet has been stuck for a prolonged period of time. (I left one on recently that ended up growing 10cm (4") before it finally carked it!)

I dunno, these days I sow extra seeds anyway to allow for some fatalities.
 
gasificada said:
When nature decides to leave the helmets on mine, it's intent is almost always to kill anyway! Three out of four times I end up with a stuck helmet it never comes off and the poor little thing eventually dies. Usually I give them a little time before attempting to remove the helmet myself but if it doesn't budge by itself after a few days, I take the risk of removal. The other thing is, the ones that do manage to ditch the helmet by themselves can end up far too leggy if the helmet has been stuck for a prolonged period of time. (I left one on recently that ended up growing 10cm (4") before it finally carked it!)

I dunno, these days I sow extra seeds anyway to allow for some fatalities.
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I've had the opposite results. Never had one die that I left alone w the helmet, but managed to kill a few by trying to get it off.
 
I have found that if I plant the seed a little deeper and dont keep the soil too wet, I have much better results with the seed shell coming off.. If not I do like most of you and put a drop of water on it each day until it loosens. I have also bent the seedling over and reburied the head until it grows back out of it.
Kevin
 
bigt said:
I've had the opposite results. Never had one die that I left alone w the helmet, but managed to kill a few by trying to get it off.
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Haha, yep, don't get me wrong, I have managed to behead quite a few in my time! I'm just prepared to take the risk though due to my bad luck with helmets never coming off by themselves.

I'm guessing that as wayright suggests, growing conditions (such as growing medium, seed depth, moisture levels, etc) play a big role in it all.
 
I think that was my problem I planted the seeds too shallow. They are obviously designed to have the soil hold the seed down whilst the growth spurt pulls its leaves free. I'll plant a little deeper next time.
 
megamoo said:
I think that was my problem I planted the seeds too shallow. They are obviously designed to have the soil hold the seed down whilst the growth spurt pulls its leaves free. I'll plant a little deeper next time.
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I rescued a number of seedlings from their seed caps by wetting them a couple of times and then applying a little pressure side to side with the tip of a toothpick. Thus far this season I've removed the seed cap successfully from 1 Aji Omnicolour, 2 Tabasco, 1 Maraba Yellow and 1 7Pot.

Time will tell if the 1 Chocolate Bhut and 1 Caribbean Red seedlings I freed from their seed caps today will survive. The two appear a little more worse for wear than the previous seedlings due waiting to see if they would break open the seed on their own. Judging by the damage to the tips of the Chocolate Bhut it seems best not to wait more than 2 days.

The coarseness of the Brunnings Tomato Magic mix compared to the Amgrow Seed Raising mix I used earlier may also be a factor along with the depth the seed was sowed. The seeds may have migrated further down into the mix.
 
harry said:
Time will tell if the 1 Chocolate Bhut and 1 Caribbean Red seedlings I freed from their seed caps today will survive. The two appear a little more worse for wear than the previous seedlings due waiting to see if they would break open the seed on their own. Judging by the damage to the tips of the Chocolate Bhut it seems best not to wait more than 2 days.
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I damaged a Tabasco quite badly removing it's helmet this season and surprisingly it's grown on to be one of my healthiest looking plants. It took ages to sprout it's first set of true leaves but once it did, it's been going off! On another plant, I tore the cotyledons all but right off and it has been growing just fine too. It appears to me that provided it isn't a full beheading, there's still a chance.
 
I'm not even giving up hope on the complete beheading. It's been four days and the little Hab stump is still upright and green, and it has even grown a bit taller! I expected it to wither and die straight away. Maybe the node which develops the first true leaves is still there enough and it will sprout. Or it might keep itself going for as long as possible without getting fuel from photosynthesis and then wither and die.

I'm going to have to start working at the Hab who is still buried deep into his helmet or he will get tall and leggy.
 
I did an intense 10 minute surgical extraction on the Helmeted Hab using nail clippers and tweezers and success !! It was free to grow for a few hours then my 22 month old son breached the security measures of the closed door and the faulty lock on the cupboard and tipped over just one pot. Out of about 30 to choose from he tipped over the recovering Hab :tear:

I went to Bunnings and I should have gotten a better lock but I bought some Habanero seedlings :rolleyes:
Chilli seeds take so long to grow!!!

The method of wetting the seeds to soften up the seed cases then clipping and tweezering them off is the way to do it if nature can't do the business.
 
megamoo said:
I did an intense 10 minute surgical extraction on the Helmeted Hab using nail clippers and tweezers and success !! It was free to grow for a few hours then my 22 month old son breached the security measures of the closed door and the faulty lock on the cupboard and tipped over just one pot. Out of about 30 to choose from he tipped over the recovering Hab :tear:

I went to Bunnings and I should have gotten a better lock but I bought some Habanero seedlings :rolleyes:
Chilli seeds take so long to grow!!!

The method of wetting the seeds to soften up the seed cases then clipping and tweezering them off is the way to do it if nature can't do the business.
Click to expand...

haha, he just needs to develop some eye hand motor control, then you've got a helper instead of a plant killer.
 
Sow deeper will help, yes. If you try to pull you will risk pulling off the leaves too. I have had some success when using a knife and squeezing the sides of the seed coat while it is wet and flexible.
 
The Hab I beheaded by pulling the helmet off roughly is still green has grown its stump another centimetre !! I'm waiting to see if some leaves will grow but I think it's missing the node the leaves would grow from.

The one that was freed then tragically flipped over is surprisingly still alive and slowly recovering. It will probably struggle on but will be behind the other ones. Still can't bring myself to chuck it out, I want to see if I can turn it into a chilli monster.
It's amazing that something so tiny like a little piece of green string could grow up into a bush and make fruit that will blow your head off!!! :mouthonfire:
 
megamoo said:
The one that was freed then tragically flipped over is surprisingly still alive and slowly recovering. It will probably struggle on but will be behind the other ones. Still can't bring myself to chuck it out, I want to see if I can turn it into a chilli monster.
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Best wishes on the hab that flipped over - you could still get a chilli monsta out of it yet!
 
megamoo said:
The Hab I beheaded by pulling the helmet off roughly is still green has grown its stump another centimetre !! I'm waiting to see if some leaves will grow but I think it's missing the node the leaves would grow from.

The one that was freed then tragically flipped over is surprisingly still alive and slowly recovering. It will probably struggle on but will be behind the other ones. Still can't bring myself to chuck it out, I want to see if I can turn it into a chilli monster.
It's amazing that something so tiny like a little piece of green string could grow up into a bush and make fruit that will blow your head off!!! :mouthonfire:
Click to expand...

I almost beheaded Datil seedling as of today. I examined the contents of the seed afterwards and found the cotyledons were growing around in circles. It's now clear that since it was visible as a hook 6 days ago it needed to be freed from its seed cap at around that time. Time will tell if it has the energy to grow a leave out of the first node that probably remained intact.

The Chocolate Bhut I freed earlier appears to be in good condition. The damage to the cotyledons wasn't fatal.
 
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