Seeds started on kitchen roll, which way is up??

Lotus-eater

officeguru wrote: »

Seed part goes in the soil... The shoot is the plant starting to grow..

Cheers

No it's not, the "shoot" part you can see, is the root starting to grow, this needs to go downwards in the compost when you plant them.

Lotus-eater

twiglet98 wrote: »

Yes, the beans are old, they were given out in the BBC DigIn campaign a couple of years ago I think.

I read somewhere that sweetcorn is hard to get started and using damp kitchen roll means you can see straight away which seeds have germinated, so it avoids wasting time waiting for them to grow when maybe they aren't going to grow anyway!

I read too much but know too little - as you can tell

I pre germinate sweetcorn and beans on kitchen roll, as both are liable to rot in damp compost or soil before germinating.
And as you say, saves time in knowing which ones will grow.

Bean seeds will last for years and years btw.

twiglet98

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Bean seeds will last for years and years btw.

Thanks, I didn't know that and will stop fretting about how many old seeds I thought would end up in the bin!

I might try the kitchen roll thing with ALL my big seeds, it's quite fun.

Linda32

twiglet98 wrote: »

Thanks, I didn't know that and will stop fretting about how many old seeds I thought would end up in the bin!

I might try the kitchen roll thing with ALL my big seeds, it's quite fun.

It is isn't it never fails to amaze me when they grow.I keep looking and checking until they show

Normally its only parsnip seeds which need to be bought fresh each year.

Sambucus_Nigra

gazza975526570 wrote: »

oh sorry - to answer your original question - add the growth at the top but seeds will always grow up, heading towards the sun they crave.

The growth is the root - so it needs to be put downwards into the compost when replanted.

twiglet98

Sadly I was at work until stupid o'clock yesterday and have only looked at them again this evening, after arranging the cell trays for the loo rolls to stand in. The kitchen paper is now totally dry and the sweetcorn seeds are shrivelled.

However, there are now two bits of growth from each seed (the beans and the shrivellled sweetcorn) so now I can see the long one is the root and the new, tiny green part is the shoot - this wasn't obvious on Sunday when I first posted.

I'll try again with the rest of the seeds and not let it dry out this time

Lotus-eater

Plant them now, they are probably still fine!