This works for me: spritz a little water or daub a little spit on the "helmet", maybe more than once, to soften it up. Sometimes a little gentle nudging can help if it's far enough along.

Gary

I've had that happen too. What Gary said usually works for me, but you sure have to be very careful or you'll break the new sprout. I use a rather fine seed starting mix that offers little resistance to the seed (more resistance would help keep in from coming up with the sprout). That’s especially true if the seed is surface sowed or sowed really shallow.

One thing I’ve tried, with success, is to cover the seeds with a little more of the growing medium just as soon as you see the new sprout popping up. Keeping that new added medium just damp enough to offer some resistance to the seed coat is helpful.

Art

I had it happen on few seeds this year as well. It happened to me because I planted them shallow as Art mentioned above. I was just patient and waited. They popped off naturally about 3-4 days later. The plants are just as healthy as their un helmet headed friends.

A drop of spit (saliva) is a common recommendation for helmet heads. The enzymes quickly soften the helmet and you can then easily remove it.

For future reference, it is often an indication that the seeds were not planted deep enough or in too dry soil.

Dave

These have been up for 2 weeks I have patients but I am getting worried I will try the spit and see how that works. It would not be so bad but 15 plants is to many.