Last try. You didnt let the tap root fully develope then you drowned her. Thats my thoughts.
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Cute plant. 
Unfortunately, mine donāt even look like that. Iām sooo confused right now. Time to start over me thinks.
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Slow down, smoke a bowl. It happens to all of us at one time or a hundred. Do some reading on germination and relax, let the plant do its thing!
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If buried already wait them out. If showed any tail at all and you planted then letem grow. Can take a bit. Just my thoughts. Every time you touchem you take a risk.
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Just as an aside. I personally do not do a paper towel. Water/peroxide and warm dark. As soon as they split and show a little tail i potem up somewhere. They take every time. This round 1 came up 2 daysā¦other took 5.
They didnāt really have a tail based on the images on the site for that. The shell did split/crack so I thought I was good to go with the soil. Now everyone in here is telling me that may be use the paper towel to get the root to actually grow. What I did see when they split the seam is white inside that I can only assume is the beginning of the plantās root system. I do know not to touch the seed whenever possible, but since they arenāt really doing anything anyway, I figured I would very carefully remove the seed from the soil and put it in a damp paper towel and place that inside a resealable baggie (ziploc or whatever) and wait that out to see if the root actually makes an appearance. Right now I do not know what else I can do (besides smoking some of the stuff my neighbor gave me 
Anyway, I am going to just let them sit until tomorrow. Then I am going to do some deep dive research on getting this to work.
I WANT POT!!! 
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I changed the way I germinate seeds. And now itās been 100%
I soak them in a small cup of water with a few drops of hydrogen peroxide. Because of the hydrogen peroxide most likely the seeds will not sink. No big deal. I dunk them a couple times but they usually come back to the surface.
That container stays in the dark for 48 hours. No more. No less.
Then I put the seeds about 1/4" under the surface of some FFOF (it does NOT burn the younguns) and use an eye dropper to only water right in the center where the seed is. After 3 days I get a sprout. Then I continue to water with eye dropper sparingly until the plant getās a couple sets of leaves.
At that point I transplant to larger pot and off we go.
My current grow.
Tropicana Cookies.
Last picture was taken a couple days ago.
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Take a clear solo cup and cut 3 slots along the bottom outside rim, 1/4ā X 1ā. Do the same with a colored solo cup. Fill the clear solo with soil to within 1ā of the top. Put the clear solo cup in the colored one. The colored one is to keep the roots dark, the clear so you can look at the roots as needed. Now weigh the cup(s) if you have a good kitchen scale, or get a feel for how much a dry cup weighs. Water the soil with plenty of water, until itās so water logged it runs out the bottom through the slots. Wait 15 and top up the soil level as needed, then water again. Youāre best off using distilled. Cover the cup-pair with a sandwich baggie or quart ziplock. You have watered for the last time for at least a week.
Drop your germinated seed at any point after this. 1/4ā - 3/8ā deep in the center. Cover gently with dirt. This is the last time you will fiddle with the soil for the remainder of the time the plants are in the cup. Cover the cup with the baggie and keep warm (>75F).
In 3-5 days the sprout will pop above the soil. Take off the baggie and proudly admire your work. Well done! Now put the baggie back without doing another blessed thing. Banish all thought of watering. Get the sprout under some light. You do not need much at this point. Maybe 150 PPFD. A well lit window sill is too much.
In 3 days or so you can take off the baggie. You can water when the weight of the cup is within 20 grams of the weight when you weighed it dry. Cannabis wants wet/dry cycles in soil. Watering too frequently is the most common mistake by new growers. When you water you will do so with a turkey baster in a ring just inside the rim of the cup, and nowhere near the plant. Water until itās running out the bottom.
When the leaves of the plant hit the rim of the cup take a look at the roots. The clear cup should be packed with them. Time for transplant.
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I had a seed that didnāt pop. So I planted more and they didnāt pop. After about two weeks I had 3 pop the surface finally. I didnāt get much as the tent was bursting at the seams.
Not common by a long shot but it does happen.
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Hard to say exactly what happened or is happening. If seed cracked it was viable and should grow. I also use paper towel method, but there are several ways you can successfully germinate seeds. As most have said, trouble getting seeds to sprout is usually too much water.
I do have a question, how do you move seeds from your cup of water to soil?
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I moved the seeds using a pair of tweezers. I made every effort to not touch them with my fingers. I suspect I planted them too early.
I followed these instructions which I believed were specific to the strain I bought:
My seed looked like this when I planted it, but it wasnāt quite as open as this one:
(I have no way of taking pictures. I am one of a very few who donāt own a cell phone, smart phone or whatever they are being called these days. Never had any need for one and they are way too expensive anyway.)
The seed isnāt even close to looking like this:
Anyhow, I removed the seeds from the soil and inspected them. They still look exactly like they did when I first put them in soil. I put them on a damp paper towel folded in half and placed it in a baggie under light only because they need to be kept warm.
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Sometimes worrying can cause a lot of damage give them some time and see what happens.
I agree with the advice that all the other farmers have given. Just remember itās a weed. Roots donāt like light and to much kindness kills. I like to start mine in a paper towel and the hardest part is to remember to check them at the right time, plant with root up it will turn and grow down, this helps give the plant a sturdy base. The deeper you plant the longer it takes to sprout and the stronger the base. Use a baggy as a terrarium to keep moisture in your soil, if the babies seem to grow tall and stringy they are searching for light. wait until you get your second set of leaves before you put in a sunny spot. You will know when its time to transplant your plant will be strong. Remember its okay to watch, donāt touch.
I like using coco pellets and great white premium mycorrhizae. Use the great white to powder the seed and the hole i put them in. Keep under a florescent light 18/6 (i use the light because i have other plant sprouts with them) and a heat mat temp is set to 77f. Had seeds break soil in 3 days.
@Cat1 Iāve read where putting the ātapā up also reduces the chance of getting āhelmet headā.
@Fieldofdreams makes sense when the little girl grows down and then makes the turn snd reaches for the heat and light it would have more angles to lose the helmet.
The tap root up thing is brilliant and works. I am inclined to thank @Hellraiser for that excellent advice but whoever provided the information here did us all a favor. Seedlings and germination is a topic that can use more coverage in my opinion. Its all well and good to know how to max them out in veg but only if they donāt all die in the little solo cups first. Good thread.
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The last three years have been the absolute worse for seed popping and seedlings in my 50 years of growing weed. First outdoor plants grown in the 5th grade. Current grow I went through 20 seeds and four strains to get four seedlings worth growing. Iām popping ATF seeds right now and of five seeds I have one very sorry excuse of a seedling so far. Itās like the more bred up and candy ass fufu the strains become the worse they are from seed to harvest. Back in the day nobody floated/soaked seeds and used paper towels, ziplocks and heat mats. All that was needed was seed, dirt and water. Three days later you have viable seedlings/helmet heads. Of all the years Iāve been growing, 2022 was the year I bought my first heat mat. And if you were a mad scientist type and grew hydroponics. A shot glass and some sort of fiber or test tubes and fiber with a bit of water and you had seedling growing as swashbucklers playing pirates floating around in the fiber water ready for what ever you threw at them. Today itās like you have to do the Hokey Pokey or the magical Chicken Dance and summon the sprits to grow a damn weed. Good Luck!
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@Blastfact It definitely sounds like your batting average has plummeted. I wonder what could be the issue? Iām only on my 3rd grow but I was 28/28, 4/4, and now 8/8 with my seedlings. Iād hardly be considered even average as a grower this early on although I enjoy landscaping and whatnot.