Germinating

I placed an order with 420 & my seeds are on there way! I've been doing a lot of research & I've a ton of questions the first of which is a YouTube video I saw instead of traditional 6 papertowels on a plate this person used a sham cloth (like 4 drying a car) under a few papertowels! Has anyone tried this or would it be considered a good idea? My fear is the ph idk if the sham will throw the ph?
P.S. I am a first timer!!!!

cant see ph been a prob,
germinating in anything u risk damaging the initial sprout.
if u guna do this then get the seed out b4 thr sprout touches the fibres of the shammy, jst wen it cracks.
just go wiv the paper towels, thats hw i do it and neva failed me, cant see the shammy been any benefit to the actual plant.

Thanx, yea I'm gonna go with the paper towels the shammy seemed like a good way to keep the seeds wet without risk of drowning them that's why I asked & now my next issue will be with a growing medium I bought perlite & peat moss, I'm thinking about buying vermiculite & putting 1/2 peat moss 1/4 perlite 1/8 vermiculit, & mabey buying sand for the last 1/8 any suggestions?

i think perlite and vermiculate, do basically the same thing, i wouldnt say u need both, i used perlite on my last grow and couldnt get any this time so now im using vermiculite.
its only to create good drainage and moisture retension.
just dont leave the seeds in the towels to long get em out wen they crack.

I used to germinate in paper towels, then I read about roots and stopped doing that given you tear root hairs off the taproot. I started germinating in soil, had a little lower sprout rate but not much, the plants took off faster and sprouted quicker. . . . but lower rate.

Then I read some threads by Subcool again and bought a package of rapid rooters, dropped the seed in the hole, pinched it shut, tossed em in a dome. Boom. Best germination I've ever had. Brand name "rapid rooter" plugs. Real easy to use. They stomp balls man.

i use root riot cubes with very good results normally get root growth out nof bottom of cube within a couple of days

See I thought they also had a lot to do with the texture of the mix. If there just for drainage then I'll save a few bucks & stick with the perlite! Thank you, also I know for watering I should let the water sit for 24hrs to let the chlorine disperse & to level out the ph is it as important when germinating?

The thing is that the most common practice I see is paper towels! Being my first time around, do you think there's much difference in you're overall quality, & yield or does it just speed the process up?

the paper towels will do fine, but obviously i dont have experience with the rapid rooter cubes so have no comparison.
maybe with the cubes they root faster but i cant see there bein a difference in the overall quality of ur bud or the yield.
when germin i just use tap water straight from tap, i dnt let it sit, but wen watering the actual plants i let it sit overnight or at least a couple hrs.

ginjawarrior said:

i use root riot cubes with very good results normally get root growth out nof bottom of cube within a couple of days

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Love that avatar

When a seed germinates in has to rely chiefly on its stored energy to pop its cotyledons above ground. Germinated seeds have to draw water to use this energy. When the taproot (little white stub that pokes out of the seed) cracks the shell and grows outwards, it immediately grows root hairs to absorb water. Root hairs are not visible to the naked eye, when you pull the seed from the paper towel and drop it into the ground, you tear off the root hairs that are on the paper towel.

Taproot regrows root hairs usually, but when it can't. . . thats when the germinated seed dies below ground. Sometimes medium doesn't stay warm enough or the proper level of moisture to properly stimulate the seed to begin growing its taproot and your seed molds below ground. I've had the best experience with rapid rooters (root riot cubes probably work just as well) because it keeps the seed at an excellent level of moisture, warmth, etc. Additionally the pre-punched column in the rapid rooters is a little looser than the soil around it and the seed pushes up that much easier.

Did I mention this is what Subcool uses? Won't affect yield or end plant size, but moving seeds around or having them work harder to germinate wastes time and you'll have more seeds die on you. I'll never go back to paper towels or soil ever again. These things kick ass baby.

I'm convinced! I guess I'll spring for the rapid rooters! I bought ice 2000 for my first time round & the whole process is so expensive that I'm trying to save a buck were ever I can! But not at the cost of lowering seeds chances to sprout! You've obviously been at this a long time! I really apreciate the advice. Lot of people just say something is better you actually break down why it's better big upp's! It's important to me cuzz understanding how things work now help you trouble shoot problems later! I'm big on research but the Internet is too vast to find quick answers to certain question's any book's, video's or specific sites you could suggest (besides this 1)? Especially pertaining to nutes cuzz the way I understand it more light = faster growth, whitch means more nutes! But it's still nature there's no sure fire x watts + x nutes = optimum yeild I'm just looking for a guide to narrow thing's down a bit 4 me! I read on 1 site the plant can handle about as much light as you can give it as long as you feed it accordingly I'm a newbie so I can't vouch for that yet but the principle makes sence! Would you agree with that?