Hello,
This is my first attempt at growing a pawpaw from seed. Should I help the seedling out of the old seed husk, or just let it alone. I know these things are slow, but this one seems to be stuck.
I did with some of mine, but very carefully. They will eventually get out on their oven if you can stand it. From what I can tell, the cotyledons stay in the seed coat and they detach at some point.
Good question.
I would say no.
They will shake that off in time.
The real solution is to plant them a little deeper .
About 2 in.
They usually pull that off by their self.
If you pull it off ,", you risk breaking the growing point off."
On that particular one , you could put a handful of potting soil on top ,gently, but firmly packed. It should pull it self free.
Or do nothing at all , it will be fine.
I know it looks bad. But I have not seen any long term issues .
Many seedlings come up like that, "No " dead ones later with seeds stuck. So they shake it off.
Excellent. This is the only one I have, so I will wait and see and not risk damaging it. I only had 2 seeds to start with, and only one germinated so far.
exactly - the cotyledons detach totally from the stem of the seedling and stay behind in the spent seed case.
agree with Hillbilly on all points.
it’s risky but i’ve done it several times either with a gentle tug or even with a magnifying glass and a razor.
The union of the cotyledons and the stem, which eventually breaks, is usually pretty weak and brittle, at least at some point. So you could very gently wiggle the seed and the cotyledons may well snap at the union point as they are supposed to.
But I know how scary it is to mess with your only baby