Starting Your Seeds

made perfect sense to me. Heh. Heh.

i love this thread. i been growing since 1973 by planting my seeds in soil watering them and growing under sunlight outdoors, works every time!! keep up the good work!

18 for 18 in rapid rooter in a clear shoe box in the window sub cool style

cancer survivor said:

i love this thread. i been growing since 1973 by planting my seeds in soil watering them and growing under sunlight outdoors, works every time!! keep up the good work!

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I would do it this way but I have a terrible way of overwatering.

CrackerJax said:

Okay to all you paper towel heads and water nuts. I have been saying this for a long time now but found a site which states it nicely. Read this and don't lose any more of your precious seeds needlessly.

For an optimal germination result the seeds should be planted DIRECTLY into the substrate. We clearly advise against using pre-germination methods or soaking. Please do not place the seeds into a glass of water or in moist paper tissues. Fresh and healthy seeds prefer a nurturing and airy substrate to germinate in – just as mother nature has meant it to be. Cannabis is a plant species originating from semi-arid and temperate biotopes and the vast majority of modern cannabis hybrids contain a substantial percentage of these genetics. Cannabis seeds are not adapted to swampy wetlands, but they are suited for germinating in well drained soil/substrate. In nature they rot if they fall into a puddle of water...and there are no paper tissues lying around either. Taking into account these botanical facts, it is quite logical that by creating germination conditions that are similar to those of the natural habitat one can expect the best results.
What happens if one uses pre-germination methods?
1. Soaking seeds in water/wet paper towels is a method which can be used for old seeds (3+ years) that are drying up and losing germination power; and for pure land race equatorial strains such as from Africa. Both factors do not apply to our seeds. Fresh seeds have a healthy embryo whose cells are filled with water. But excess water causes the cells to bloat, depletes oxygen and leads to the tissue rotting away before the seed embryo can germinate. Old seeds have lost water in the cell tissue, the embryo starts to shrivel, which is why germination rates drop the older the seeds are. Therefore, old seeds (ie. 3+ years) can soak up more water before adverse conditions cause them to rot. This is one of the main reasons why various seed stock reacts differently to pre-germination methods. Especially novice growers make a lot of mistakes with pre-germination methods such as soaking seeds in water for up to 1-2 days. Even if one chooses to pre-germ seeds it has to be done correctly.
It is in a growers best interest to choose a germination method with the lowest risk of complications. Because we want customers to have the highest success rate possible we recommend the most convenient and safest method. This does not mean it is the only option. We simply believe it carries the lowest risk. In fact, planting seeds directly in the substrate is also the most plant friendly method for any type of seed stock. The reasons are explained below in paragraph 2 & 3.
2. Placing healthy & fresh seeds in water/wet tissue can lead to the development of fungi or bacteria on the seed hull. Lack of oxygen and contaminating substances in the water/wet tissue promote fungal growth which can be transported to the substrate later on. Often the seed simply rots away if left for too long in a glass of water, or wrapped up in wet tissue.
3. Once the seed sprouts in a glass of water or paper tissue it already has the taproot growing out of the cracked seed hull. While transplanting the germinated seed it is very difficult, indeed impossible, to prevent damage to the delicate taproot. Many sprouted seedlings handled in this way show retarded development, or even simply fail to appear out of the substrate after transplantation. Handling seedlings this way can impair the health & vigour of the plant for the duration of it’s life cycle - especially if other disturbing factors occur during the early stages of growth.
Professional horticulturists rarely use pre-germination methods to actually grow out the seedlings because of the shock suffered from transplanting them. For example, we use the paper tissue method only as a quick test for germination rates of aged seed stock from our genetic repository. This allows us to see beforehand how many seeds we have to put in soil to get the amount of plants we require for breeding projects.
Germinating cannabis seeds is not difficult. All you need is some basic information on what is important and everything should work out fine.




Like writing an english paper...keep it short and keep it simple.




out.

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nature is not even fucking close to perfect

...and obviously cannabis does not need a tap root other wise there would be no clones, any root will do

also most professional horticulturists have 1000+ seed and don't care if half fail. just like how tomatoes are spouted, they put 24 seed for one 6 pack of plants, which is why sometimes you end up with 3 plants together
my grandmother worked at a nursery all her life i know their philosophy "One for the rook, One for the Crow, One will wither, and One will Grow." that's an old spell for germination lol

i get 90%+ success rate with zero light and a paper towel, rarely ever do i get 80%+ in dirt

the best method that works well for me is rockwool soaked in 5.5pH water, but i don't like spending $10 on sprouting 98 seed, i like to sprout 98 seed for less then a dollar with paper towels and ziplock baggies

something very importation is when sprouting in paper towel don't put all your seed in one paper towel if one seed rots they all tend to rot, so i put usually 10 seed per paper towel

Hey sorry to come to a good thread to just be a little contrary , but I have to share my experience in areas that are getting a lot of support for something that is just a good variation. We're on a weed forum, we're all naturalists to at least a pretty solid extent lol! With that said we can all acknowledge that the best weed on Earth is grown in human supplemented conditions; don't get me wrong, that's not true 100% of the time, but tell me where the fuck on Earth you'll find soil blends like some of the pros on here make lol!!

Anyhow my point is that, even though the germing of seeds in soil can work fine the best way I've seen it done (that is seldom shared) is actually popping them in between sponges, or a similar spongy medium!.
-The sponges retain the healthy level of moisture that you give them
-They're highly aerated so the seeds don't drown or anything
-Make sure you have them in a tray or bowl or something, over a heating pad, with water filled about half way up the bottom sponge. Use warmish water!
-Important- most sponges will come moist with water as well as storing chemicals like chlorine, these must be rinsed thoroughly to ensure that no chem shit will eff up your beans!!

That's it. Dumping them into a cup of water is generally stupid despite still having decent success rates (hmmm something that has evolves for millions of years will still germ in awful conditions?? no shit). The paper towel trick is very successful assuming you don't over saturate the medium with water. The two keys are air and water! One you have a quarter inch tap gently place them in your medium of choice.

Question: Is it best to put newly germed beans into the brown starter plugs or rockwool cubes? What are the scientific differences that give rockwool a better chance to have your pre-germed seedlings pop on out?

I've only had a few seed fail, mostly freebies...

I'm of the opinion a LOT of blame is placed on the germination method when its probably old seeds, or improperly stored seeds, et

personally I skip all the hub bub and place them right into the rapid rooter

I know it's a super old thread, but I figured I'd chime my two cents in if anyone's looking for information. I used to let the seeds soak in a shot glass of water for 24 hours before planting in solos. But I had a standout specimen that within 24 hours the tap had topped in water and it's cotyledons as well white as snow. Lol needless to say I panicked and got it in a solo right quick. Literally the next day she was up or half the day later I forget, green as can be, first out of a solid amount of seeds. Now I will only do 12 hour soak max, honestly I think if the seeds are able and want to sprout they will as long as you are careful with whatever method you use!

That being said I hate the paper towel method muchly.