At first I thought I would just let them throw off the seed coats naturally, but then I started noticing that the germinating roots were dying with their leaves stuck inside the seed coat. So then I tried breaking one of the seed coats open to free the leaves. After doing so, I thought I had killed the seedling, but then it turned out that it spread its leaves and has lived. So I began trying it with all of the germinating seeds that rose from the soil with their heads still stuck in the seed coats. It's generally working, with most of the seedlings surviving after I've done this. And as for the seedlings I didn't do this to--they died.
It wasn't like this last year. Last year all the seedlings were able to get out of their coats on their own. Not sure if I didn't water enough? If I didn't plant the seeds deep enough? (This year I wasn't so detail oriented in planting them exactly one inch deep.) If the seed coats are just thicker this year? Has anyone else out there run into this problem?
I planted 40 seeds this year. I've had 17 leave out. And there have been maybe 5 that have dies of seed coat complications. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks. |
