tomatos from seed

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Posted by greenthumbNOTme TN (My Page) on

Mon, Mar 11, 13 at 8:48

I am trying tomatoes from seed for the first timed this year. I've got the heat pad, humidity dome, fluorescent lights, etc. I received three different varieties from Rutgers University. My question is: if a seedling comes up as a "helmet head' and won't easily come off and won't form the first set of leaves, is this seedling considered useless or will the first true leaves eventually form. I sure have gotten a lot of good information from this site and will use it regularly. Thanks for any advice.

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RE: tomatos from seed

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Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 11, 13 at 13:18

I don't call them helmet heads but no,not all is lost.

Over the years I've tried many ways to get them to open and the best it to take a gob of saliva and coat the blind head, let it sit for an hour or so, then try to carelfully pry it off. If it doesn't come off easily repeat with the saliva.

The enzymes in saliva are quite good at breaking down that tissue.

And please prop up that plastic dome at one end so there's air circulation. I can't tell you how many folks have cooked their seeds/seedlings, by keeping on those domes, especially if you've got the seed starting tray on a heat mat.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

RE: tomatos from seed

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Posted by digdirt 6 -7 AR (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 11, 13 at 17:06

Agree with Carolyn that there is no reason at all to call them useless. Easy to remove if it happens and if you plant a bit deeper it seldom happens anyway.

Check out the Growing from Seed forum here and the FAQ on How to grow tomatoes from seed.

Dave

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