So I'm germinating seeds using the salsa cup w/ lid and paper towel method. When is the best time to transfer to soil? How deep? moist? I just transplanted about thirty sprouts that had about 1/4" to 1/2" long white roots. I just barely covered them with soil. I figured they'd be popping through the soil by now. but it's been about 5 days. Nothing.
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seeds When to plant germinated seeds?
- Thread starter bill707
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I germinated 15-20 Chocolate Scotch Bonnet seeds (from a pod) in a cup. A few days after they got roots I put four in a cup of soil (a few milimeters below the surface), covered it with plastic film and put it back where the seeds were. A few days later I took four seedlings that had dropped their helmets and were just standing on the wet paper with their two small leafs, and put then in cups with soil.
Among the first four, only one ever popped out, all the other four are alive and growing.
Among the first four, only one ever popped out, all the other four are alive and growing.
Thanks Mumrik
How did you lift them? tweezers? leaves? stems?how deep did you bury the stems? I assume you left the leaves exposed?
How did you lift them? tweezers? leaves? stems?how deep did you bury the stems? I assume you left the leaves exposed?
Carefully gripping the stem with a tweezer and if it pulled off a bit of paper, I didn't do anything about that. I just put them down deep enough that the roots were covered and the leaves free. I don't think depth matters too much as long as those things are in order.
I'm no expert - this is my first year doing this, but it seems much better than what I'd been doing with my other seeds (putting them in soil as soon as I saw a root). All four are doing well and starting to get their first set of real leaves.
I'm no expert - this is my first year doing this, but it seems much better than what I'd been doing with my other seeds (putting them in soil as soon as I saw a root). All four are doing well and starting to get their first set of real leaves.
I'm going to venture and say you are way late. the root has dug into the cotton and may be difficult to seperate.
the seed hulls will usually come off themselves. You can try to help, but often you'll end up tearing the leaves which is not the end of the world. I tore a handfull of mine.
the seed hulls will usually come off themselves. You can try to help, but often you'll end up tearing the leaves which is not the end of the world. I tore a handfull of mine.
i swap them as soon as i see a white little root, its been working so far
If they won't separate, is there any reason why you can't just cut the cotton with scissors, and then plant the seedlings with the cotton still attached?
Here's a suggestion....call me crazy, but I plant MY seeds directly in soil. Guess what? I've never had to worry about when to transfer them to soil. If it works for mother nature, then why shouldn't I do it? I get rediculously good germination rates, and have yet to have a plant germinate in over 8 days.
I agree, planting directly in soil or other medium is far simpler than trying to do it in paper towels. As far as planting when the roots have dug into the paper towel, it's doable. Do just as you said, remove as much of the paper towel around the roots as you can without disturbing the roots. Plant the whole thing and it'll work itself out. I've always had issues with helmets, so usually I'll try to plant enough seeds so I can get enough to pop that shed their helmet on their own. Some of yours will probably do that as their cotyledons grow. If you have to pull them off, try to make sure the seed casing stays very wet, and remove it carefully. I always end up messing something up and damaging a cotyledon but the plant will recover.
noob here! i think i just buried my seedlings upside down lol not all of them tho. the edge of the root is up and the helmet down.. i thought that wasnt a root lol, i thought leaves will pop out from there! will they die? im at work right now. so when i get home I will reverse them back!
Better do it quick before the roots dry out...
You can if you can see where the root is going. if not, you run the risk of cutting your root.
YOUR CRAZY!!
I really dislike going through the work of prepping seed pots and then nothign happens. I haven't had much luck that method, but have had great luck germinating first and then putting them in soil. To each their own for whatever works best.
Here's the little MONSTERS. What's your experience with the helmets using this method? Do they usually come off themselves? How much of the stem is ok to put beneath the surface?
At that stage mine had all droppet their helmets, which is weird because a few of the ones I've planted as soon as they had a root had helmet problems. You can wait and see or you can try to help it off very carefully.
The four I mentioned got planted at that stage (but didn't have helmets) and they're doing just fine. I just pulled them out with tweezers - one or two held on to a bit of paper that came off, so that was planted with it. The seedlings was strong enough to tear the paper without taking any damage themselves.
As for depth, I just made sure the root (white part) was covered.
Sorry about the late response
i believe u can plant a piece of the paper towel so you dont have to rip the root frmoit and risk breaking the root.. i did it with some ofmine and i lose some seeds but i am pretty sure its cuz i broek the root in half on them which messed up my scotch bonnett and my red savina is like stupid with no leave s just a green shot thats somewhat curly... but iwould do it again since they are biodegradeable.. id jut be more careful next time.