when I try I am either afraid of damaging them by breaking off a piece or squishing them... I never have peeled on correctly I guess.
I would like to get better results with the sprouting percentage of my seeds & feel that peeling them might be the answer.
How do you peel a brug seed...???
I just love peeling seeds. I just got a bunch from Brugie today. So I am sitting here peelig them. I find dry ones are easiest. You just take them and dig your thumb fingernail into the flatter side of the cork and pull it away. I now can see the inner seed. Can you?
I bet these are very fresh because the inner seed is very light. I notice they get much darker fairly quickly after they get harvested.
And then just snap off the sides all around the inner seed. Once you do a couple, the inner seed is obvious. You may have to dig in your nail into the back to dislodge it from the back of the casing. One side of the seed will be concave. Go slow in the beginning till you can feel how not to snap the inner seed in 2. It is really easy and a mindless activity. That is why I love doing it. LOL
As usual, everyone has their favorite way of doing things, namely brugs...I have found that I have a higher germination rate with un-peeled seeds. I soak them, then give them a bath for 5-10 minutes in 10% chlorox, then pop them in the rock-wool with the pointed end down.
I never thought to put the pointed end down, I thought it went up like bulbs. Thanks for the info Gretchen - it's too late to try this time but next time I will do that too. Like Kell, I love peeling the seeds and I learned how to do it because I was afraid I had killed my seeds by putting them in the frig, so instead of wasting all that time, if the frig did kill them, I started peeling WET seeds to check, I didn't peel all the seeds. Peeling, for me is really fun, and I guess comes naturally, but I didn't peel the entire seed on lots of them, but enough that many have already sprouted, Jan 3, and they were planted Dec 26. It took like three weeks, maybe more, when I started seeds last growing season, so I'm really excited!!!
Sherry -- I have no idea if that's right or wrong, but it works for me... They'll sprout regardless of the position, but it seems to me that the first little sprout of a root comes throught the pointed end, so it just helps balance them, I think...
I peeled my seeds between Christmas & New Year's, & started soaking half of them yesterday. I was planning to soak all of them at the same time, but ran out of room! I've completely lost my mind this year, have 16 packages of seeds to start & still drooling over some of Mary's in her store! That's only the brug seeds, haven't even counted the other kinds of seeds yet!