A few of the seeds I have germed and planted have not pushed their shell off and the end result was part of the plant coming off and it ultimately dying. This has happened three times… My question is do you all remove the shell if you can or should you let it fall off? Im talking after it has pushed up above soil.
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Some come off on there own and others do not. I also use distilled water in a eye dropper and put a couple of drops every day and that seems to help or at the very least, gives me peace of mind. Haven’t lost one yet!
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The water probably helps, thanks for the tip!
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I had several do that on the last round. I misted them with labs and water. The next day the shell was 50-70% open. I helped them anyhow, but it was much easier. They were barely cracked the day before. They probably would have finished on their own, but I got impatient. It made it much easier.
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And sometimes steady hands 
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Yes, I remember Meesh speaking about watering the shell with mist so it softens, also scarifying with sandpaper and soaking it before helps, don’t be afraid to help her with a tweezer, if she dies at least you tried to avoid it … 
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Its annoying when it happens…
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There’s a real trick to it. I use needle nose pliers to crush the seed at the joint where each seed shell half is stuck together/connected. Once I sever that tissue joint keeping the seed casing together, I can pull one side off at a time. That’s how I do it if it stays on for more than two days.
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Thats a good trick to know, that and wetting them…thanks for weighing in. I have not really run into this problem except for the last few weeks. Wierd.
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I try to help them out and remove the shell when I can a spray bottle of water and a steady gentle hand helps
I agree on cracking the shell or sand paper to ruff it up especially on older seeds
Good luck
Paps
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I had one in this run, couple weeks behind the others, but hard to say when exactly it germinated, I didn’t check it until day 5, the others sprouted day 2-3. I was able to just lift the shell off though, fortunately. Hoping it’ll grow normal, but it’s still notably deformed.
I don’t know if the picture does it justice, it’s just the one leaf. Note, it’s not as cupped as it looks, that’s how it’s shaped. Other than that and slow growth it looks otherwise normal.
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Huh, that’s happened to me a few times, lately though the last three or four sprouting have chopped off their cotyledons or atleast one of them. And they die.
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I mist the shells and when they open more i use 2 pin points and help pry open the shell due to impatience.Misting the shell a few times a day will soften it and help it fall off in time.
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Thanks again everyone for weighing in. Appreciate you all.
Paws
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I use tweezers and steady hands. Usually it comes right off.
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interesting thread here - i have seen other thread [here] say that its some darwin–like act that they be allowed to die - like keeping genetics in the pool when they should be snuffed out…
I’ve helped them get out of the shell many times…
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I have done a little damage but have never had catastrophic failure.
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That is interesting and makes sense to let the weak die. Somewhat of natural selection haha
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I have an auto fem Northern Lights needed help losing its shell.She is now at day 72 and has a canopy of 20 colas.Glad i did not leave it on to find out if she was weak or not lol …
i would say that theory applies more to outdoor growing and guerilla growing were you are germinating in soil outdoors.Then you would want the heartiest ones,but for indoor growing we control all other conditions for the plants so why not help them start life when they need it.
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Was it from seedsman seeds?