Germination Freak

[Mr. Clandestine]

I've got eight vegging plants, presumably of an AK-47/48 variety. I took cuttings from each plant and am in the process of sexing each of them. Two have shown themselves as being definite males, and have been removed. I started six more seeds from the same batch to replace the soon-to-be culled males. I scuff the seeds up slightly with an emery board and use the paper towel germination method. Three of the seeds I'm keeping in a drawer in my nightstand (which I normally do), and the other three are being kept about 15-20 degrees warmer in another location, as an experiment. The three that were in the drawer sprouted after a day, but only one of the "warmer" seeds have shot out a taproot. This was as of two days ago.

I checked on the remaining seeds this morning, and to my amazement, the other two finally cracked the shell. One is perfectly normal, but the other is definitely a mutant. Instead of sending out a taproot first, the two cotyledons emerged from the shell first. The root was still inside the shell, and appeared to have been cut in half. Instead of the root coming to a slender tip, it protrudes a few centimeters from the cotyledons and just ends. It wasn't inside the seed shell, either.

I'm not worried about saving the sprout, it has been disposed of already. I'm just curious if this has happened to anyone else in the past? I want to know if maybe the slightly higher temperatures caused this, or if it is just a freak. I've never seen that happen before. The coty's also weren't green, but a pale yellow color. Thanks.

[Rusty Trichome]

Was your 'warmer location' near a nuke dump?
Just kidding. Perhaps you scuffed the end of the seed with the cotyledon a bit more than the end with the tap root? I've seen tap roots come out, and the cotyledons never show before.
Did you suspect the shell would be a 'tough nut to crack', or do ya scuff 'em all?

[stinkyattic]

Perhaps you scuffed the end of the seed with the cotyledon a bit more than the end with the tap root? I suspect this as well.
When you look at the seed, one end is blunt and has a scar where it was attached to the plant. The other is pointy. One edge is rounder than the other as well, and the place to scuff is the sharper edge close to the pointy end of the bean.

[Rusty Trichome]

Figures...I was really leaning tword the nuke dump option.
Still learnin, tho.:thumbsup:

[Mr. Clandestine]

Thanks Rusty & Stinky, that makes plenty of sense. (And I'm glad to know I can keep disregarding that nuclear waste dump in my backyard! :jointsmile:)

Also, I use a matchbox with a piece of emery board inside to scuff my beans...so there was no science behind that logic. Just something I had seen done before. But from here on out I'll make sure that if I'm going to keep doing it, I do it in the right place.

Thanks again for clearing that up.