Dead seeds on stalks?

Hi. Me again.

Thanks for all of the great advice I got here with nicking and starting my morning glory seeds - almost all of the seeds that I started ended up producing sprouts of one sort or another.

Unfortunately, some of those sprouts ended up being little more than roots and short little shoots, with the seed sitting at the top of it, the cotyledons trapped inside. Some of these eventually broke out on their own, while others needed a bit of coaxing. Some didn't come out at all, even with help. Of the ones that opened up, some had shrivelly brown cotyledons that appeared to have maybe started to rot while inside the seed. Most of them have at least some green on them (and some brown), and are sitting under lights, trying to grow some real leaves, but some just seem to have died and/or rotted in the seed, and don't look too hopeful for any sort of recovery. I'm quite sure that I "just did something wrong", but I'm not sure what, since I had this same result both with seeds where I followed the instructions on nicking and soaking, and with those where I followed a cobbled-together set of instructions gleaned from various Internet sources.

Did I nick them wrong?
Soak them wrong?

I still ended up with more morning glory sprouts than I needed (overplanted, expecting at least some failures), but I'd like to at least have an idea of what I did wrong, so I know what not to do next time around.

Thanks!

i have learned if after a couple of days to actually help the seed coats off them. that way they dont rot inside.

its a very delicate process and i admit sometimes my leaves are cut and the first set look funny but they do get their true ones.

you didnt do anything wrong. it happens. even in other seeds you have to be careful and remove the seed coats.

no you dint soak them wrong or anything. another one i have to remove seed coats from after soaking is the clitorias. they dont seem to come out easy either.

dont over soak just to get the seed coats off. thats even worse. just a tip here.

also just use tweezers and gently pull. usually after a couple days they just slip off. sometimes they dont broken leaves but most of the time they just need help.

they will rot in the seed coats. and thats why i started helping them off. now sometimes i have to wait a little longer bacuse they are still attached but if after a few days more i will gently try to snip the seed coat weith clippers or pointy scissors to help it open on its own while still attached.

it happens. trust me i have lost some the same way. marie

Sometimes the nicking can cause the embryo to take up moisture before the seedcoat has softened enough to be easily shed...just another reason that I like placing the seeds in real patially milled sphagnum moss >because it will keep the seedcoat moistened until it softens while still allowing alot of aeration...I use a jewelers saw(or other device like an X-acto extra fine saw) to make additional small scores in the seedshell to make sure the shell is sloughed off easily >especially on the larger seeds with very thick shells

...but to each their own...

Misting the seedshell to keep it moistened or better yet >.place a small piece of tissue paper on the shell keep it wet by misting...the shell will usually slough off soon >within a few days or less...

Ron

P.S. -
http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3132693

Planting exactly 1/4 inch deep helps. Press the soil lightly. The seed coat is supposed to shed as it pushes out of the soil. Sometimes a few of them will be stuck. I use tweezers to gently partially free them just making a little opeoning sideways where it is stuck inside the seedcoat and then wait a day to see if it makes progress on its own. I might help a bit more the second day and wait again and usualy it has worked its way out and looks just as pretty as all the others. You don`t want to try and free it all at once to the point of ripping the cotyledons and it is like doing surgery and yeah you can kill some of them by accident but maybe that is why morning glories make so many seeds.

I find the amount of humidity at the time you are sprouting seeds has a lot to do with how easily the seed coating slips off. In Oregon we have lots of humidity in spring so it's not a problem for us. Sprouting the seeds in one of those plastic domes might help as well as misting the seedlings. If all else fails they may need a little help with getting the seed coating off.