Way way back in Daves garden I think, quite a few folks lost seedlings because the coat never came off, after a lot of back and forth it was kind of agreed on a method for removing the coat. If I have a lot of the same seeds I couldn't care less about one or two dieing because the coat would not come off. BUT if you only planted four seeds and three of them retain the shell I go with Melissas's thoughts on removing the shell.
Jim
