After years of starting chiles seeds and countless stuck seed caps there is one thing I have learned to be certain, leave that soldier to his own accord and he will take care of matters on his own. There is a much better rate of survival of that little seedling just letting it grow out of that fearful constraint of a stuck seed cap than if you decide to become the "Hawkeye" of seedling surgery. Chances are that if you take it upon yourself to tweeze and squeeze, tug and toil, you are going to put that little guy to an unmerciful death. No matter how tempting it may be to get that seed cap off, leave it alone. Just give it a little nursing assist and spritz with water or swab with spit to moisten. In just a little bit of time those cotyledon leaves will overcome and kick that cap to the dirt and spread his wings. Trust me in this truth.
I'm going to argue this one. If you take a tiny pair of cuticle scissors and snip one "leaf" right at the seed coat, it won't hurt the plant. I agree that you shouldn't try to pull the seed coat off. If you don't snip it off, you run the risk of a deformed plant trying to grow around and thru the arms. Those first "leaves" are actually cotyledons and serve no purpose except to protect the emerging plant. Once the plant is erect, the cotyledons can be snipped off. I snip one side which allows the cotyledon arms to open and the plant to grow freely.
ReplyDelete--Dev in OK, zone 7a