2/50 seeds sprouted - am I doing it wrong?

E

ExtremelyTinnySteve

New Member
Am I doing something wrong with my seeds? I had 50 seeds that were like 6+ years old, and only 2 of them sprouted after 8 days. I just bought some new ones, so I want to check if my terrible sprout rate was due to technique or just seed age. Here's what I did:

Filled up my little pots with a coco/perlite blend (nutrifield premium, apparently it is cleaned of salts already)
Soaked the coco with water
Put my seeds in a glass of water between 5-12 hours, until they sunk (I push down on them, they sink, I fish them out for planting)
Make a shallow hole in my damp coco, drop the seed in, cover it up
Leave them for about 6 hours in darkness
Put them under the light (600 watt HPS, 1.5 meters above them)
Water them each day
Temps are average 74 lights off, 84-87 lights on

But then I did that 50 times and only ended up with two seeds pushing up through the surface. And they have been growing for ten days and are only just now showing their second set of true leaves.

Where did I grow wrong? Was it not soaking them in water long enough? Was it directly dropping the seed in coco instead of a paper towel or whatever? Was it too hot in the tent at 84-87? Or was it something else?

Please help,
 
Last edited:
Probably age?
Soak seeds till they sink, then put them in pretty wet paper towels. Put paper towel on plate and cover with ceramic bowl. Put plate on cable box. 1.5 days = taproot
method works for me 95% of the time.
 
you did it wrong

and thats really not old enough to habe noticeably effect

edit.. i had to lol at my fucked up grammar, its early
 
Last edited:
Ya kinda sounds like a collaboration of a million things done wrong. The most important things you did wrong were the light, temps, and watering.

Try this next time.
Soak seeds for 12 hrs.
Wet down seedling starter mix with water in a bowl with a spoon. Until its moist.
Poke small holes in the tiny pots you filled with moist dirt.
Drop the seeds in and gently cover.
Place all seeded containers into the dark with a tiny bit of airflow....like in a cabinet or a box thats not totally sealed. The main thing is to keep them in the dark. They need no light to sprout and you can control the temps better without light.
Next make sure your dark environment is at 78-81 degrees. This is also pretty important.
Now do nothing except wait for 48 hrs. Dont open the cabinet or box.
48 hrs later open the box. You should have at least 50% poking through. Now move those to the dim light and close the box back up. Check it every 6 hrs and take the rest of the sprouted containers out and put them under the dim light. They should all be up in 4 days. If theyre not its bad seed plain and simple.
Wet your sprouting mixture, then never water it again. If they dont sprout in 4 days they probably wont, even if you water them.
 
^Thanks, but is that watering part even true for coco? Water once and leave for two days? I'm concerned it will dry out is all.. And you always recommend soaking seeds for 12 hours is best, even if they sink after five? Also, you think light is a problem outside of temp control when they are sprouting, like if there's is light leaking into where they are? Just trying to be clear, thanks.
 
ExtremelyTinnySteve said:
^Thanks, but is that watering part even true for coco? Water once and leave for two days? I'm concerned it will dry out is all.. And you always recommend soaking seeds for 12 hours is best, even if they sink after five? Also, you think light is a problem outside of temp control when they are sprouting, like if there's is light leaking into where they are? Just trying to be clear, thanks.
Click to expand...
Did you just question everything i said? Im not going to explain all this again. Ok well why not...fml. Wet the sprout mix and leave it four days. No watering. Its a seed. In a box, or cabinet, with a tiny amount of air flow. 12 hrs. Dont poke them just put them in water and walk away. DONT PUT SEEDS UNDER A LIGHT, ever. When you see theyre popped they go under the light. A small light. Light leaks are fine but they like the dark...not the hps lmao. Just read my first post again and do it like that next time. 100% every time.
 
yea the age of them , even if they were kept right would be unlikly to sprout , i had some 3 year old ones and lost 30% of them
 
saiyaneye said:
I think maybe he should use the paper towel method on plates in a warm room or on top of something warm.
Click to expand...
I nailed about 390/400 vegtable seeds just like i said last year and im 100% on can seeds like this if the seed is good, well i lost one once in a tray of 36. Old seed sucks but if the methods perfect you can blame the seed at least.
 
we all have different methods but some key points remain. temp, light and humidity being most important.

personally i do wet paper towel in ziploc at 82°, i wanna see water beading.
most have popped in 24hrs, the rest will in 48.
i use soil.. i wet till it holds shape or water the night before and till it up for aeration. put in solo cups with ziploc over in the dark. again at 82°. still should see beading water. they dont even need to be in the soil at this point, a light sprinkle is fine. once the shell falls ot gets side lighting. once first set emerges it goes under hps..but thats just my method

and much of my seed stock is 20 years old.
soooo i would disagree @joejoe4444
even crushed seeds have given me 50%
 
qwizoking said:
we all have different methods but some key points remain. temp, light and humidity being most important.

personally i do wet paper towel in ziploc at 82°, i wanna see water beading.
most have popped in 24hrs, the rest will in 48.
i use soil.. i wet till it holds shape or water the night before and till it up for aeration. put in solo cups with ziploc over in the dark. again at 82°. still should see beading water. they dont even need to be in the soil at this point, a light sprinkle is fine. once the shell falls ot gets side lighting. once first set emerges it goes under hps..but thats just my method

and much of my seed stock is 20 years old.
soooo i would disagree @joejoe4444
even crushed seeds have given me 50%
Click to expand...
practice makes perfect. It makes me chuckle a bit when guys have never sprouted a tomato seed and want to sprout gg4 at 12 bucks a bean :lol:
 
Alienwidow said:
Did you just question everything i said?
Click to expand...
Coco drains quicker than soils is the thing, so I was just checking on that - mostly I was watering to keep humidity up because it all drained straight away and evaporates from the drainage plate.

I did the same routine as my OP with my last few old seeds last night, been under HPS for about four hours. I just fished them out and put them in a dark small box with a hole. Hopefully that four hours didn't wreck them, you think it's worth it after that length of time being blasted by light?

saiyaneye said:
I think maybe he should use the paper towel method on plates in a warm room or on top of something warm.
Click to expand...
Have you tried just throwing them in soil and comparing growth rates to the paper towel? What is the reasoning behind the paper towel other than saving space by not planting non-viable seeds? I've never understood why people say it is better... I guess I'll give it a go with a few of my other seeds see if it helps. I'm just wary of handling seed shoots at all.

qwizoking said:
much of my seed stock is 20 years old
Click to expand...
How do you store them, anything special? Do you think the older seeds need a lot more moisture than the fresh ones in germ/seedling stage?

Thanks,
 
We cant be perfect. A couple hours light wont hurt them if the other variables of the micro climate you make are close. Both ways have the same small details. You get those right and youll be ok.
 
Thanks for the advice, mate. I honestly had no idea that light didn't help the seeds come out of their shell. I think my dark box should be pretty good temp wise, hopefully that light blast didn't kill them and I didn't drown them.
 
Agreed
qwizoking said:
we all have different methods but some key points remain. temp, light and humidity being most important.

personally i do wet paper towel in ziploc at 82°, i wanna see water beading.
most have popped in 24hrs, the rest will in 48.
i use soil.. i wet till it holds shape or water the night before and till it up for aeration. put in solo cups with ziploc over in the dark. again at 82°. still should see beading water. they dont even need to be in the soil at this point, a light sprinkle is fine. once the shell falls ot gets side lighting. once first set emerges it goes under hps..but thats just my method

and much of my seed stock is 20 years old.
soooo i would disagree @joejoe4444
even crushed seeds have given me 50%
Click to expand...
 
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