Opinions needed please

[Weedian]

2/3 of my seeds have sprouted but the shell is still attached. One is half way off, the other less. they where both planted to aprox .5 inch direct in soil after a pre soak

Should I...

A. Gently sprinkle a bit of soil over them to give them some resistance to 'tug' the seed off (hehe, tug off)

B. Moisten the shell and hope that softens it a bit

C. Try and carefully remove the shell manually

D. Give them til tomorrow, let them be and hope they wriggle out on their own

All advice and opinions most welcome please. Ive always had a good germination rate direct in medium but this season hasn't started well. I got a dodgy batch of seeds first off - 1 broken, 1 no germination, 1 took a week to sprout a gnarled mutant dwarf thing

3 more seeds in 2 have just germed in 36 hr but with shell still attached. GRRR

[Loki]

They will be fine, if after 5 days or so, you may need to offer some assistance. Give them a couple more days.

[Weedian]

Nice one thanks Loki

I was getting mixed messages from googling it (some fairly depressing) and after the last dodgy batch I guess I'm freaking out a bit. a couple of sites were saying stuff like 'its coz the seeds to dry/not enough humidity, it'll struggle to come off'

Its never happened to me before, any idea how to avoid it or is it just one of those things?

[happyjack]

iv'e never thought of it as a problem when it happens to my seedlings

[Loki]

Nice one thanks Loki

I was getting mixed messages from googling it (some fairly depressing) and after the last dodgy batch I guess I'm freaking out a bit. a couple of sites were saying stuff like 'its coz the seeds to dry/not enough humidity, it'll struggle to come off'

Its never happened to me before, any idea how to avoid it or is it just one of those things?

I've had it happen with 98% RH, so it's nothing to do with that. Give them a couple of days & report on their progress. You may need to help them, but generally they will breakout of the shells.

[Weedian]

Well I guess this is why GPs don't like you googling symptoms lol, unnecessary worry. Will pop back and update soon
Thanks again chaps

[bigbadbillybob]

if you spray the seed shell a few times a day, it is usually enough to soften it and for it to come off by itself.
You really dont want to be poking about at it yourself, if at all possible

[FunkyB]

Happens all the time with a many variety of species when I'm gardening. It's not a problem, common as hell. Don't worry, as Loki directed and it will be sound.

[TomKing]

Exactly as everyone else as said.

Best way to stop it happening is to bury your seeds a little deeper, it's when they push out that they usually lose the shell.

[Weedian]

False alarm, panic over

shell came off overnight but the the membrane hung about keeping the leaves closed for another day now they're all good, still got a bit of the membrane on one of the leaves are open and ready to go

On my googling expedition I read somewhere that clean saliva helps the removal of said membrane if its being stubborn in a situation like mine

I rinsed my mouth out with water, got a bit of saliva on a cotton bud and gently dabbed a bit on 1 of the two plants as an experiment and that one was open a good 12hrs before the non-saliva one

maybe coincidence, maybe I'm a grotty fucker, but quite interesting

Thanks for all the input everyone