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seeds Towel Germinate

Hey mates,

I have some question for some of you who germinate them seeds in a towel.

After the seeds inside the towel start to germinate:

1. When do I put them in the soil?
2. How do I put them in the soil? (Put the seed + the seedling covered? or the seed inside the soil and the seedling outside?)

Thanks alot!
 
I hope you mean a paper towel. I used a dish towel to Germ some seeds once and the root grew in to it. :FacePalm:
What a mess that was. I guess if you are quick to get them out it wont matter. Those were Pumpkin and had big roots that grew fast so it was a little more serious
 
Careful. The end with the seed still on it is actually the top of the seedling, it needs to stay out of the soil.

Try to let the seedling pull its cotyledons (leaf looking things) out of the seed shell before planting. Then you will want to cut or tear the paper towel around where the lighter color root portion of the seedling has embedded itself in the paper towel, and plant that chunk of paper towel and root down into the soil, leaving the cotyledons exposed.
 
Well, I'm going to qualify that about the part with the seed still on it. If the root has just stuck it's foot out a little bit, stick the whole thing in the soil and very gently cover. I used a chopstick to drill a fine hole in the soil. Why cover it completely? Pushing against the soil will help remove the now-defunct seed casing from the cotyledons. If the casing doesn't come off on its own, you will have to remove it yourself, or the plant will die. Removing the casing can be tricky, and you can kill the plant in the process. IMO - it's better to follow mama nature's lead and let the baby do it's thing in the soil.

If, however, the plant has come further out of the seed casing, so that the stem shows above the root (it will typically have at least a green-ish color to it, instead of more white like the root), you will want to remove the casing before planting it, and this time you will also want to keep the stem/cotyledon part above the surface. A very delicate procedure, and the chopstick approach is still good, but it's do-able.

For the future, I highly recommend that you switch to paper coffee filters. Their weave is denser than that of a paper towel, so the roots are much less likely to do into and get stuck in it.
 
Just listen to Flamecycle and wait till the [background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]cotyledons are out of the seed shell. The advantage of the towel method is that the seed shell stays wet and soft and it's easier for the plant to pull itself out of it.[/background]
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]By putting it into soil right after the root tip shows, you increase the chances of the seed shell drying out.[/background]
 
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