Sorry to upset you, I am new, for heavens sake! Why will I "sadly" break them off? I'm not sure what I did wrong here.

I feel very dumb now that I googled root hairs. Lol sorry for asking such a stupid question. I just thought it was too soon for roots. I have no idea, stupid stupid me.

I'm sorry.....I worded that wrongly. I should have started that sentence with "yippee"! You succeeded beautifully.

The root hairs are how our plants absorb their water and dissolved minerals! They are actually single modified cells and utterly fragile, as you can imagine.

I've never understood the reasoning behind pre-germination. The root hairs will break or smush during the transplanting process, I should think. I've always had great results sowing either in the garden or inside in containers.

Super images, by the way. I'll bet that some experienced people haven't even noticed root hairs.

Thank you so much for your help. I'm sorry I took your wording the wrong way, you are very sweet. I started them indoors to test the germ on them also because I do not have enough containers for all of the seeds I bought. I will be transfering the seeds directly in the garden this weekend that germinated. I have been picking up the seeds to avoid the roots from getting attached so they do not break when I remove them. I really appreciate your help, and like I said I feel so silly bc it was as simple as googling "root hairs" to ease my concern.

I also appreciate you are the only person who answered my question who actually knew what they were talking about.. I also posted this on yahoo answers and 5 people said it was mold and throw them out, imagine what a waste that would be if I haven't heard from you.

xtorieexOx - GW is an excellent resource so please do come back if you have more questions. ( BTW I agree with rhizo_1 that pre-germination just seems like extra work and faff.)

toriee, you are so welcome....I hate that we got off to a bad start, entirely my fault.

Feeling silly or like you've asked a dumb question is not allowed in the Gardenweb! How else can we all learn?

I sure wish that you would go back to the Yahoo website and teach them a thing or two!

Well thank you both, I will consider direct sowing in the future.. does anyone know where I can get cheap cells to start seeds indoors too?

You might want to cut the paper towel and plant the seed and paper together rather than trying to pull the seedlings off. Less chance of causing damage if the roots happen to grow into the paper towel.

If you are in the U.S. then most any hardware store should have seed starting supplies. If not then go to Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, regional chain stores, etc. Of course there are plenty of places you can order the supplies from online.

Rodney

Hello friends.. I hope you see this. I ran into a problem. Before I knew they were root hairs, i got worried it was mold and let the paper towel go dry to combat it. That was a terrible mistake it seems bc the root hairs have "disappeared" and turned light brown. Did I ruin them for good now? Or will they revive after a while of being wet once again? I will attach a picture. I hope you can help. Appreciate it!