How soon?

[spannermonkey]

how soon can i plant a seed?
as soon as it cracks or should i leave it in the paper towel a little longer?

thanx

 

[Boss]

I let mine get about 1/2" or a bit more up to an inch.

 

[spannermonkey]

Thanks mate

 

[Boss]

You have better luck with strong plants with a shorter root? I have found I get fatter stalks and heartier seedlings if they have a strong taproot.

 

[Racefan]

I'm with Joe here for a couple reasons. The seed only has so much stored energy in it and if it uses it up growing a super long tap root that energy is gone. It now has no energy to dig itself out of the soil. IMO this is one reason a lot of growers have bismal results with germination. The second reason why a shorter tap root is better is that these tap roots are extremely fragile and it's almost a guarranteed death if it gets broken. The longer the tap root the greater the chance of something going wrong.

 

[Boss]

I thought cees let his go 1 1/2".. time to go back and read. After they get to length, I bury them to the top of the seed and it doesn't have to dig out. There must be a million ways to do this though.

 

[Racefan]

Your right boss. a million ways and more.lol Everyone should do what works for them and realize that what I posted was just my opinion and methods.
I used to bury only to the top of the seed but got tired of having to free seedling after seedling from a stuck on husk. After rereading a few books I realized that the digging out of the soil is what helps pulls the seed husk of the seedling. For a while I was having a dismal 75% chance of success with a lot of dampening off. After I started burying a hair deeper an earlier I had better results. About 98% or better now.
If what your doing is working for you then by all means keep doing it. Don't change just to change. Change for experiment or better results but not just because someone else does it differently.

 

[Boss]

I have been lucky with seeds. Almost everything germinates, but if they don't spring up quick, after i plant them, I kill em :-0 The longer tap means more root which means more uptake and faster starting growth, at least that's my theory