Hashyanswered grow question 3 years ago My way is soak seed for roughly 12 hrs, then place in moist paper towel, usually within 12 hrs to 24 hr in paper towel the seed will split open and the tap root will appear, as soon as tap root starts breaking through the shell I then place in my chosen medium. About a day later she will be breaking ground. So roughly 3 days from start to breaking ground. The reason I do this is that way I know when I see the tap root the seed won't be a dud.