Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1
Helmet heads happen most of the time because the seed wasn't planted deep enough and the soil medium isn't natural.
If the seed is planted deep enough the soil will keep the hull moist and drag the seed hull off as it comes up through the ground.
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Or else it just won't make it to the surface and you'll never know about the helmet?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1
It isn't genetic.
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I suspect you're mostly right, but I wonder if there might be some part of the cause that is the same factor that makes it possible to plant four tomato seeds in a container, where conditions are the same for all of them, and have one of them show up two months after its colleagues. Genetic difference in resistance to moisture, perhaps? One could see a possible survival advantage to plants that manufactured a minority of their seeds with tougher than average coats, so that if the initial "sprout" conditions produced plants at what turned out to be an unfavorable time, that plant would have some "backup" children who'd try again later in the season.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1
Culling a helmet head is the equivalent of culling your child because they are cold because you didn't give them a coat to wear.
Worth
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Perhaps it's the equivalent of culling your child by letting it collapse from heatstroke because you didn't help it get its coat off, when it had buttoned itself into its coat on a 110 day with no shade?
I guess I agree with both sides in this discussion, kind of. If I have plenty of seed of a variety that is producing helmet heads, I'm more likely to just plant enough seed and let the strongest make it -- but if I have time I may give them some moisture on the helmets.
If it's a variety for which the seed is rare, at least to me, them I make every effort to help. What I've had help the most, if just a drop of water on the head at frequent intervals doesn't do it, is to put a tiny little plastic wrap top on the moistened helmet -- just to make the moisture last longer. I don't fasten it at all, just sort of drape the *tiny* bit of plastic wrap over the helmet each time I moisten it.
I've used tweezers, too, but I'm unhappy with the results about as often as happy. I do like the scissor style tweezers for more precise control. Sometimes, after moistening the helmet head several times I've used that style of tweezers to just gently squeeze the moistened helmet head a little, without trying to remove it, just trying to crack or weaken the hard helmet structure and give the plant a better chance to escape.
Seeds that have traveled are more likely to have helmet head problems for me. Always reminds me of what someone, here or elsewhere, said to the effect that they were willing to spend time encouraging germination, de-helmeting, etc. seeds that had traveled because if those traveling seeds made it to seed production, *those* seeds were likely to grow like jungle weeds. (i.e. environmental stress, not genetic weakness, was most often the cause of apparent weakness in some first generation traveling seeds.)