need advice with germination please

perkele

perkele

Well-Known Member
Hi guys,

I'm on my second grow, I've germinated the seed for 3 days in wet paper towels, everything went well. My mistake was when I inserted the seed in the soil, I inserted seed sown and root up...so I waited and waited and nothing was coming out. I had a pick inside and the root was still pointing up and the cotyledons were tangled with the root. At this stage I am day 6 in the soil and still no sign of the plant coming out of the soil. It is not deep in it, I can see the cotyledon but no movement, no development in it. The soil is miracle grow pre fertilized for 6 months and the small pot is under a 38 w CFL 18/4.

What to do?
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
you could flip it carefully i would just wait a few days longer than normal then dig it up if it doesnt show, but it should right itself without any help
 
J

jackmac

Active Member
perkele said:
Hi guys,

I'm on my second grow, I've germinated the seed for 3 days in wet paper towels, everything went well. My mistake was when I inserted the seed in the soil, I inserted seed sown and root up...so I waited and waited and nothing was coming out. I had a pick inside and the root was still pointing up and the cotyledons were tangled with the root. At this stage I am day 6 in the soil and still no sign of the plant coming out of the soil. It is not deep in it, I can see the cotyledon but no movement, no development in it. The soil is miracle grow pre fertilized for 6 months and the small pot is under a 38 w CFL 18/4.

What to do?
Click to expand...
Hi - I feel compelled to answer as I've been reading a lot of this nonsense about wet paper towels and the like. Stop with all that!

BTW, your plant will likely be ok - even if not given the best possible start. Listen, if you've 'had a pick inside and the root was still pointing up and the cotyledons were tangled with the root', then you should 1) Not 'pick inside' any more and be a bit more patient - what is looking going to achieve apart from damaging the little one? and 2) maybe think about why you planted that thing upside down after going through all that paper towel nonsense?

I don't know if you're soil or hydro, but either way, always - and that means always - start your seed off in the medium you're going to use to grow it. Simple enough. Chuck away those towels. Weed is called weed for a reason - it's a weed. It's virulent, fecund and fast.

Example: 9 seeds straight from the fridge placed into Root Riot cubes; Root Riot cubes planted into (one litre Air pot) John Innes potting and seed compost + 10-15% perlite mixed well and gently firmed in with a light sprinkle of a quarter inch John Innes mix over the top like a nice little blanket. With a hand sprayer moisten the top and leave it alone for a day, then repeat daily - check and re-moisten if required. Temps from 70-80F will do just fine. Of 9 seeds planted like this, after 96 hours exactly, there are five above ground with first diddy set of leaves proper, 2 just breaking ground and 2 still not showing - that's seven out of nine in four days.
Ask yourself - where in nature did the paper towel come into it?

Good luck!
 
perkele

perkele

Well-Known Member
jackmac said:
Hi - I feel compelled to answer as I've been reading a lot of this nonsense about wet paper towels and the like. Stop with all that!

BTW, your plant will likely be ok - even if not given the best possible start. Listen, if you've 'had a pick inside and the root was still pointing up and the cotyledons were tangled with the root', then you should 1) Not 'pick inside' any more and be a bit more patient - what is looking going to achieve apart from damaging the little one? and 2) maybe think about why you planted that thing upside down after going through all that paper towel nonsense?

I don't know if you're soil or hydro, but either way, always - and that means always - start your seed off in the medium you're going to use to grow it. Simple enough. Chuck away those towels. Weed is called weed for a reason - it's a weed. It's virulent, fecund and fast.

Example: 9 seeds straight from the fridge placed into Root Riot cubes; Root Riot cubes planted into (one litre Air pot) John Innes potting and seed compost + 10-15% perlite mixed well and gently firmed in with a light sprinkle of a quarter inch John Innes mix over the top like a nice little blanket. With a hand sprayer moisten the top and leave it alone for a day, then repeat daily - check and re-moisten if required. Temps from 70-80F will do just fine. Of 9 seeds planted like this, after 96 hours exactly, there are five above ground with first diddy set of leaves proper, 2 just breaking ground and 2 still not showing - that's seven out of nine in four days.
Ask yourself - where in nature did the paper towel come into it?

Good luck!
Click to expand...
true answer, thank you for this. I am using MG expand and grow ( I know, many growers are against it but in my area, nothing else available and I have previous experience with good results with plain MG). This one is pre-fertilized and has a pH of 7.5+ . I am a bit concerned that might harm the little one?
 
hexthat

hexthat

Well-Known Member
MG is special when your soil drys up pH goes (-) when you water the pH goes (+), or maybe its the other way pH + dry and pH - wet, but any how its suppose to change as moister evaporates or is absorbed by roots. In this way MG is great for all plant types.
 
J

jackmac

Active Member
perkele said:
true answer, thank you for this. I am using MG expand and grow ( I know, many growers are against it but in my area, nothing else available and I have previous experience with good results with plain MG). This one is pre-fertilized and has a pH of 7.5+ . I am a bit concerned that might harm the little one?
Click to expand...
Hi - if you're worried about ph being a bit on the alkaline side, there are a number of ways to balance/lower it - a little moss peat in the mix, some crushed oyster shell (edit: should point out, as buffer - raises ph this one, so use to balance if overcooked), horse manure, coco fibre - all kinds of stuff available for that....but really, these particular plants are hardy, adaptable and being a few tenths over on the ph won't matter too much as you're in the correct stuff for growing plants - soil....having said all that, I wouldn't really want to let that ph get over 7.5 - then you might be looking at some detriment to the little one....

and: re: hexthat's post - actually there are a lot of plants that would struggle in an environment where ph swings about dramatically; acid lovers like rhododendron, camellia, azalea, pine, heather, barley and a lot more. .... all would suffer in even a neutral ph...in fact, they wouldn't grow
 
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