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seeds Seed caps?

C

Chell

So I planted a few little seeds on the first, and they've started coming up. First a Naga Morich sprouted, and when I noticed his little seed cap was still on I gently slipped it off, thinking nothing of it of course. Seed caps sometimes get stuck on, especially with basil. But then Hamish's (shush up, some of us name pets, others peppers) little seed mate had the same problem, and now my Trindad small Hot Cherry also has her seed cap on too. Is this normal? Is it okay to gently slip the seed cap off? Hamish seems to be doing fine, but now I'm worried.






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I had to do a good many last year and probably will this year. I remember people saying it happens because the seeds were not planted deep enough.
 
Ah, I could easily see that then, I didn't plant my seeds that deeply at all. I planted all my bhuts too deep last year and they died (although being in the middle of a flooded kitchen thanks to upstairs neighbors may have also played a part in killing the seeds). I guess I'll just keep a careful eye on all the seedlings and remove caps when they pop up. Thank god for a tiny crop.
 
Soaking before planting is supposed to help too as well as what you plant in. BigCedar gave a tip in his Grow Log that I have been using and that is to use some nail clippers to carefully clip the edges of the seed cap and then it slides right off.
 
Oh, I haven't had any issues with the seed caps when I've slid them off, they come off very readily, but I've been keeping them fairly humid, so that may have helped a lot. I would be too afraid of cutting off leaves with nail clippers.
 
Justaguy said:
I had to do a good many last year and probably will this year. I remember people saying it happens because the seeds were not planted deep enough.
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Right. Having the seeds under a little 'dirt' keeps moisture on the cap so it can come off by itself. I've just started a new technique for my starts. I germinate with the paper-towel method. Once the tails pop I put the seed in a small pot with peat (just put it on top). Then, I sprinkle some fine peat which I screened on top of the seed - about 1/16" or so. Working well so far.
 
Leave them alone, they will come off by themselves

crop3400.jpg
 
Soaking the seeds for 8 hours or so in regular ol tap water will help moisten the shell before it's in dirt.. for instance I had this problem alot without soaking.. I soaked 270 seeds, 240 are up and out of those 240, only 3 had a helmet problem. Just like stated above nail clippers work too :D

Brandon
 
willard3 said:
Leave them alone, they will come off by themselves

crop3400.jpg
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HAHA. I'll take your experienced opinion over my obsessiveness in wanting to remove the caps. I found one of my seedlings yesterday looking like the leaves really wanted to come out of the cap....but can't. It seems stuck on there pretty good. I began to try and pry it off, gently, with a toothpick. I scratched one leave a tad, so now i'm worried I might screw it up. It would be sad to kill off my seedling that took so long to germinate in the first place.

So, I'll just impatiently wait it out. :)

Oh, quick question. Up to this point the seedling has been in my plastic dome and it looks a little leggy already on top of a stuck seed cap. I moved it out and under a light, figuring that the light might help the seedling kick off the cap and not be so leggy. Is this a good idea?

Thanks!
 
The light may dry the cap out which isn't a good thing. Try to keep the cap moist so it remains flexible and the cotyledon's can push it off.

Good luck.
 
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