seeds Roots stuck in seed coat

[austin87]

I recently started several seeds and planted them out. I noticed that one (Jamaican Hot Chocolate) was growing much more slowly than the others. It developed it's first set of true leaves but stayed smaller than a dime and was not growing
 
Since I germinated in rock wool cubes and then planted the cubes in dirt, I was able to move the dirt away from the rock wool cube and gently pull out the seedling.
 
The roots were still bound up inside the seed coat! I gently pulled off the soft seed coat, stuck the roots back down in the rock wool cube, covered the cube with dirt, and watered it in. Hopefully the now unconstrained roots will be able to take hold and the plant will start growing normally.
 
Has anyone ever had this happen? Should this plant be considered a dud, or if it starts growing normally will it be fine?

 

[BlackFatalii]

Huh. I have had seedlings with helmet head before, but never helmet foot! The fact that it was able to survive and even develop true leaves with its roots still bound up inside the seed coat really illustrates how resilient pepper seedlings can be. I would not automatically consider it a dud. Now that you have remedied the problem, I would think there is a good chance that it will resume growing normally. As long as the roots were not brown and rotten looking of course. I have seen helmet heads rot inside the seed coat if not rescued in time. But your seedling clearly wants to live, so why not let it, and see how it does? 

 

[austin87]

Huh. I have had seedlings with helmet head before, but never helmet foot! The fact that it was able to survive and even develop true leaves with its roots still bound up inside the seed coat really illustrates how resilient pepper seedlings can be. I would not automatically consider it a dud. Now that you have remedied the problem, I would think there is a good chance that it will resume growing normally. As long as the roots were not brown and rotten looking of course. I have seen helmet heads rot inside the seed coat if not rescued in time. But your seedling clearly wants to live, so why not let it, and see how it does? 

 
Maybe it's the first known case of pepper trench foot!
 
I didn't manage to see if the roots were brown, I had my headlamp on but it was dark this morning... will update this post if it dies or starts to grow.
 
Obviously picking out seedlings in a large operation is not really feasible, but I have 15 plants going so not that big of a deal to do some digging.