Seed Orientation

DavidAC

I planted two varieties of Courgette seeds 8 days ago and they had not appeared above the soil. I excavated them and found the root of each to have broken through the top of the seed. Does it matter which way up they are planted? The seeds are the shape of the Diocot seed below and I planted them upside down to the orientation of the picture. I have turned them up the other way now in the faint hope that they will recover.

foxgloves

I've always planted my courgettes & pumpkins seeds on their sides becasue I read somewhere that that's the best way to prevent them rotting. I can't see why it would matter too much. I think plants do want to grow & in my experience, the shoot generally forces it's way up to find the light and the roots to anchor themselves in the soil. In the wild, seeds would just drop from their seed pods onto the soil, no-one there to make sure they're all pointing one way up or another, and they still grow into plants. If they are a bit on the slow side, it might be because although we've had some nice warm days, the nights are still pretty chilly.

splodger_seedswapper

i agree with post by foxgloves - i always place cucurbit seeds on the thin edge when sowing

Sambucus_Nigra

Ditto. You sure it's the root that's come through the top?

Seeds knows which way to grow using gravity. Just leave them be.

JMurph

Thanks for asking DavidAC I was planting courgette seeds on the weekend and sat considering which end to stick "up" for ages before planting a few each way!

Davesnave

You are all missing the obvious answer, which is that they must have been Australian imports.

"British seed for British gardeners!" I say.*

*Gordon Brown, did say something similar last year. Didn't work for him either.

DavidAC

Nice joke, they were of course British. I think the root sprouts from the bottom of the seed with the orientation shown in the picture. My observation is that if planted upside down the root will curl round the seed and try to orientate the seed the right way up. It might still germinate but giving the seed more work to do will take longer. Of course nature just drops the seeds on the ground, but then it drops lots of seeds probably because there is only a small chance of each germinating. I have planted two on the side and one the right way up. I will see which germinates first, if any.

ERICS_MUM

Going back to my Biology O level in 1972 .

Roots are called geo-tropic which means their chemical make-up makes them grow into the earth.

Shoots are called photo-tropic, meaning their chemical composition makes them grow towards light. So your seeds will know and find "which way is up".

It's more important to plant larger things such and bulbs and tubers the right way up, as the larger roots and shoots will take longer to grow round to the right direction IYSWIM.