SEEDS... whitch way up?

[jennym]

There was an involved discussion on this last year... :)

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,12558.0

[jennym]

[bennettsleg]

last year we planted squash & pattypan any way up, some grew their roots upwards (pushed up by stem growth) and died others grew normally.  This year they'll be planted on their sides as I've heard it's a sure fire way to get all germinating without confusing the poor things!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I remember once having a root on a cheese plant which insisted on growing upwards, but it's most unusual. Roots normally have a mechanism which will always make them grow downwards, and shoots one which makes them grow upwards. It shouldn't matter which way up the seed is; self-setters have to be able to grow whatever way they lie or go under.

[supersprout]

Speaking of swiss cheese plants ...
My parents are practising one of the habits of the Elderly, which is to leave newspapers, junk mail and magazines to pile up slowly in the house. I bought a Swiss Cheese Plant for them in my teens, which has lived in the kitchen ever since. On my last visit, the plant had romped out of its corner and its aerial roots secured a grip in several of these piles of papers and mags on the kitchen worktops. The roots going in at the top and stick out further down. The plant seems very healthy in that sinister way, greenery is festooned around the kitchen. I find it dead scary, but my mum claims she loves living in the jungle  ::)

[amphibian]

last year we planted squash & pattypan any way up, some grew their roots upwards (pushed up by stem growth) and died others grew normally.  This year they'll be planted on their sides as I've heard it's a sure fire way to get all germinating without confusing the poor things!

This is a Watham Butternut Squash, that is suffering from some kind of anti-gravity disorder, I am about to exhume it and see if I can put it to rights.