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England, essex

why the heck does my seed still stay on when it germs?
it happens every year,
this time i have some big toms that i cant replace or re-sow :-(
5 out of 6 are still on

2/23/2013 6:46:48 AM

Joliet, IL

Do you remove the sprouted seeds from a humidity dome immediately after sprouting? Try leaving sprouts inside a humidity dome until completely shedding seed coat. I have had this happen as well in the past. The inside house humidity levels are very low in my house. It seems as coat dries and shrinks after coming from a saturated state and sticks to the cots. Removing manually with small seeds is near impossible, but with misting the seed coat, then use a razor tip slitting coats edges against a nail file, then more misting coat and then two sets of tweezers worked. Cots were not pretty but it worked. At a certain point they die if the cant shed after getting tall and leggy in a search for light.

Sometimes one or two just dont have the vigor and they get culled. But when you see the same results repeated, try leaving them in the humidity dome or go get one to until sprouts have completely shed shells.

2/23/2013 10:39:57 AM

Omaha, Ne.

They are sooo delicate. Ive killed a few trying pull off the seed coat. That really sucks. Like shazzy said get the humidity high to soften the seed coat.(if it drys it can't grow out) If the seed is not planted deep enough, the seed grows strait up seed coat a all. Where it was suppose to use the friction of the soil to pull it self out.

2/23/2013 1:25:08 PM

England, essex

they are still moist in the propogator, looks like i will have to operate tomoro :-(
i dont mind so much when there just for the table,
this is the only time i have had 4lb seeds,,,,

2/23/2013 6:01:35 PM

United Kingdom

From experiments I have carried out over the years with stuck seed helmets, here is the best and safest way to get rid of them without any damage to the seedlings as such. as said above-leave them in the humidity dome for about a week first and see if any throw off the husk naturally, if not-make up a normal liquid feed from (miracle grow) standard blue colour feed and with a glass/plastic eye dropper place a few drops of the liquid feed at the base of each problem plant and then just leave them, in around a further week the extra nitrogen and other nutrients in the feed starts to work and the green seed leaves inside the husk starts to grow and push off the husk completely-its as simple as that, keeping the husk moist with a drop of spit also helps which is what most people do, but I prefer to mix up a drop of dish wash liquid and paint it onto the husk on a daily basis or when needed.

tomato seed that throws lots of stuck seed husks on them is usually because of old seed that does not have enough vigor to push it off, or badly kept seed in storage-even new seasons seed.

Another factor is the compost- if it is too light and fluffy the seed husks stay on,whilst it may be brilliant for germinating, one cure is to cover the top of the seed sowing compost with a thin 1/4 inch layer of course grit sand, this then helps to drag off the seed husk as the seedlings emerge.

2/24/2013 1:18:03 AM

United Kingdom

I forgot to add the most important part of the method, after the little seedlings have pushed off the husk and the first set of true leaves have developed several days later-transplant them straight away back into seed starter mix again for further development, as the fertilizer feed given to them will cause them to feed on it and grow tall and spindly, which is exactly what you do not want, so transferring them back into seed mix with very low nutrients will check this process for a further few weeks until ready for the potting mix transplant.

2/24/2013 1:26:47 AM

England, essex

cheers michael,
i got a couple to come away today,
its only when you really want em that things show up hey, lol

2/24/2013 8:50:58 AM

Joliet, IL

Great advice Michael. Nice to hear a couple broke free for you awesome1. Very good topic initiated to help with so many getting ready soon to start.
Best of luck Mates...cheers.

2/25/2013 4:11:08 PM