i've removed the caps and inner seed cover always with success but you should be extra careful and dont blame me if you kill em. i never killed one. i use clean hair tweezers and i place the sprout right in front of my eye level not having to hold it with my warm fingers for long and i could remove it delicately this way. like i said it never failed and the stressed seeds get me stressed too when they take too long to show their nice green leaves gd luck