Germinated Seed: Up or Down?

I swear Emilya told me the opposite. I wait til I see a tap root. Then that end is down. I believed that diagram at the start of this post was wrong. But, and it’s a big butt here, I did have one root that kept reappearing above the top of soil. I keep pushing it deeper til it behaved. Another but coming at you, I have been growing apple seedlings the last month or so. It very well could have been an apple. My brain cells are calling the fat lady to warm up her vocal chords.
 
Seeing how easily I was confused on this thread, I have probably done it wrong a time or three myself. I do think I remember saying pointy side down, several times and that probably explains my present j-root. I knew that the roots should be up, but when I plant ungerminated seeds I have probably been doing it backwards, sending that pointy side downwards.

Thank you for starting this thread @diabolito, we all need reminders now and then it seems.
 
diabolito said:
For fun, there must be some root-down people out there willing to make the case. I know I have always thought to put it root down as that seems to point it in the way you want it to grow.
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I'm one of those who put the root downward. Over the past several seasons of planting dozens of seeds with the tap root downward, there obviously were times when a plant failed to grow, but rarely. Also some plants, even of the same strain, take several days longer to develop into a stem, maybe due to my way of planting the seed.
Interesting subject and I'm looking forward to other opinions and ways of planting.
 
Wow, great responses.

In reading, after some understandable confusion and discussion about which is the pointy end (I must admit I can't tell without the root coming out - as my photo of my current seed below), it seems the experience and knowledge majority goes to root up. This also seems to align with the physics mentioned by emilya and FelipeBlu with a dropping seed and common sense.

I like the acknowledgement of a compromise position of putting the seed on it's side if you're on the fence about this.

I'm humbled by the quality of the posts and poeple on this forum. Happy to be here,

1632265289902.jpeg
 
Beautiful seed!

If it’s difficult to tell which end is pointier, the end with the oval should go down. This orientation provides the least amount of stress and energy for the seedling - ostensibly leading to a more vigorous start and a better outcome. Any other position will be less ideal.
 
Well, I'm not advocating for it, as I did it in ignorance, but pretty much all of my seeds have gone in the dirt sideways, cuz ... that's just how they lay when you don't prop em up otherwise. I haven't seen any failures, tho I probably don't plant them deep enough as I have quite a few times needed to remove the helmet. Now that I understand how it is supposed to work, I see that the way the root hooks around allows the plant the leverage to be able to pull its head out of that helmet on its' own, so hopefully I can remember this from now on :D
 
And maybe soil is more forgiving? I know rockwool tends to ‘grab’ the seeds and keep them from rolling if they need to, causing more root work. But, I still struggle to identify the pointy part of a non-germinated seed - but if there was seed porn that seed would be on it. Mine never look that pretty, diabolito!
 
Emilya Green said:
Enjoy your j-roots guys. Let us know after you have had 3 or 4 that you have changed your mind, and now see the value of driving that seed husk through a turn in the soil before coming up to the top. Pointy end down, roots up... every time... and since I learned that I rarely have a problem.
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no, up. you cannot know if you have had problems without doing controlled trials. If a seed is planted wrongly, i.e. root/pointy end of seed down, yet it still grows and flowers as a seemingly healthy plant, you have no idea how that plant might have turned out or how quickly it would have emerged had it been planted correctly with the root UP (so that the root makes only one turn-downward-thus helping the cotyledon shed readily and reducing time/energy for root cells. A so called "j-root" impedes flow of fluids/nutrients over the life of a plant just like if you put a bent/curved pipe into plumbing it impedes flow of fluid
 
TommyTomato said:
no, up. you cannot know if you have had problems without doing controlled trials. If a seed is planted wrongly, i.e. root/pointy end of seed down, yet it still grows and flowers as a seemingly healthy plant, you have no idea how that plant might have turned out or how quickly it would have emerged had it been planted correctly with the root UP (so that the root makes only one turn-downward-thus helping the cotyledon shed readily and reducing time/energy for root cells. A so called "j-root" impedes flow of fluids/nutrients over the life of a plant just like if you put a bent/curved pipe into plumbing it impedes flow of fluid
Click to expand...
You start out by saying No, up., but somehow you've missed that you are saying exactly what @Emilya Green also said.
 
What about sprouting the seed and placing the taproot in the small hole and the seed is already resting on the surface? No possible U-turn to make and the fastest method that I've tried and is actually instructed and recommended by Serious Seeds?

Muddying the waters even more.
 

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