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Joliet, IL

well, i don't know how many others have done this or
even want to admit it, but here it goes.
it has been 4 days after starting 6 seeds for an early
state fair plant and there were no signs of life for all
six. during my test germinations over the winter
and past growing season seed starting, i usually see
at least one of the seeds pushing up dirt after 4 days
and in most cases all of them have pushed up dirt and
some have already popped up in the 4 days.
so this caused doubts to stir, and the doubts lead me
to carefully digging out a couple seeds to check the
progress. the first 2 showed no signs of life, but the
shells were starting to split. i should have stopped there,
but i kept on digging up the others, most of which were
my own seeds which i have plenty of to spare. 3 of them
had small radicals less than a quarter inch sticking out
and were carefully replanted. all of these first 5 seeds
checked were intended as back ups. the last seed i dug up
was the plant i really want to be my prime early plant.
when i gently pulled it out of the seed starter mix,
i found it's radical to be a little over an inch in length.
i inspected it closely to see if i did any damage to it
pulling it up. from what my naked eyes see, there was no
damage. but i am worried about the possibility of
microscopic hair damage. i carefully placed it back into
the seed starter mix by making a little hole and holding
the top while backfilling with more mix so as not to
put any downward pressure on the root while replanting.

my question is has anyone else ever jumped the gun and
dug into the seed starter mix to see the progress of the
seeds and what were the results of those that have done so
and replanted sprouted seeds with the initial root being
over one inch in length?

in the mean time i have more seeds started which i will not
mess with at all. i will never go stupidly digging out my
seeds again due to my anxious impatience.

4/5/2005 8:50:44 PM

Benton Ky

I done it on 2 of mine last year. Ended up with a 440 that split on day 38 and 360 est. The 360 had a main vine turn yellow about 6' out and the pkin was grown on a secondary.I could not tell that it hurt the plants in any way unless it caused the main vine problem, but I don't see how it could have

4/5/2005 9:05:34 PM

Canada

Cant be any different then when you remove them from there pots to put them into the ground out in the patch some roots no matter what will get some kind of stress as long as the root never snapped in half they should be allright
last year i did the same thing and nver had any problems

Dave

4/5/2005 9:05:42 PM

Massillon, Ohio

i dig up most of mine (even though i know they have sprouted - i germinate in baggies) because i am nosey and impatient. LOL. i try and stop but cant usually haha

4/5/2005 9:21:27 PM

Joliet, IL

well leave it to this site to make me feel better already.
LOL. i felt pretty stupid about an hour ago. now i just
feel my regular dumb old self minus the stupid.
i will tell you what christy, i won't be messing around
like this with my 846 jutras seed. i took your advice as
well as martin's and moved the 846 into my line up
to go along with my 842 and 735. i am hoping to cross it
with the 604 jutras my friend is growing or just self it.
gotta love the color. thanks for the advice dave, christy,
and tomato g.
shazzy

4/5/2005 9:38:37 PM

Central Oklahoma ( [email protected])

I peaked at every seed that I started, when I was practicing germinating seeds. My wife said that I was impatient!! News to me... So I also started my seeds in a ziplock bags, but guess what, I still was digging around after I put them in pots because they were not growig fast enough. So, your not alone.
Jon

4/5/2005 10:49:38 PM

San Diego

yup, I've done the same thing, plants always seems fine. Jimmy

4/6/2005 12:20:09 AM

C N Y

"i felt pretty stupid about an hour ago. now i just
feel my regular dumb old self minus the stupid."
absolutely hilarious wording, there, lol!
been there done similar things----"snap"...
"(**^)%%$#!!!)"
ERRRIC!!!!! (me yelling at myself)...
glad it's working out....eric

4/6/2005 3:10:49 AM

Pocatello ([email protected])

I always go exploring whenever something goes wrong. That's
the only way you'll find out what happened, and learn for
next time.

Not to hi-jack the thread, but I'd like to know more about
germinating seeds outside of the soil. Maybe I'll start
another thread...

4/6/2005 10:21:04 AM

C N Y

little cream container from McDonald's
for your coffee...rinse it out, put some seed-starting mix in it, stick a seed in it at 70F* room temperature. 4 days later, seed is up. gotta keep it moist, though;
not much mix there to hold the moisture. just another 'pal2 experiment that actually worked! seedling is now three times the size of the little cream container....eric

4/6/2005 7:45:44 PM