What am I doing wrong.

Okay so I have tried growing 3 times now. Every time collect about 20-30 seeds I try to grow them.
I start with germination in a cup of water and that usually works good. Most of the seeds germinate and have good taproots. From there I pick them up with tweezers and put them in a very small shallow hole in the soil taproot facing down and just sprinkle a bit of soil over the top so basically the top of the seed is level with the soil. I grow in seedling trays and under a 36w long flouro tube on 24 hours a day in a warm room with good ventilation. I water 2-3 times a day just about 2-3 squirts of the squirt bottle. But I can't get any further than this on all 3 times the seeds haven't grown at all after germination and I wait about 2 weeks to dig up the seed and hasn't grown at all in 2 weeks from germination help me what am I doing wrong and how can I improve

thats weird. sound like youre doing it right. does the room have proper ventilation?

the way i do it is i take the seed and push it into the soil, just till its level with the top layer of soil, sprinkle some soil over it, push down once or twice and then i mist the soil with warm water twice a day.

i have a sprout in 3 days most of the time.

i also keep my lights on 18/6. during the dark, i think the roots grow more.

Try germinating in a paper towel instead. If you are leaving them in water until a tap root shows then you are drowning them.

So just put seeds on a paper towel on a plate and pour water over them so the towel is wet? Do I have to keep putting water over the towel over the germination period or just leave it?

I just skip the germination in paper towel stuff. I dig a small hole, drop a seed in, and cover it with lose soil. Then water it in. Try only watering that first time. Wait a whole day without water, before watering again. 2-3 times daily seems a bit much.

Just try one or two seeds this way:
F the trans plant tweezers skip that...
Red Dixie cup, drill holes in bottom...
Soak your seeds for 6-12 hours in a 99% water .99% H2O2 and .01% Super thrive
Spray your soil not your plants.....
Mist Bottle, and mist away....
Fill cup 1/3rd full of soil mixxed with perilite
Spray mister on soil damp, not soup
Now fill up cup 1/2" from top
Mist soil again top 2/3rds
Now plant seed
Put in window, put any light over it....
Spray your soil ...
Take clear cup and invert it [after trim]...
Use it on top for humidity dome...
Burp top 2-3 times a day for seven days...
Once seed sprouts take off dome...
Good luck....
Read some of these expert grows....

Sand4x105 said:

Just try one or two seeds this way:
F the trans plant tweezers skip that...
Red Dixie cup, drill holes in bottom...
Soak your seeds for 6-12 hours in a 99% water .99% H2O2 and .01% Super thrive
Spray your soil not your plants.....
Mist Bottle, and mist away....
Fill cup 1/3rd full of soil mixxed with perilite
Spray mister on soil damp, not soup
Now fill up cup 1/2" from top
Mist soil again top 2/3rds
Now plant seed
Put in window, put any light over it....
Spray your soil ...
Take clear cup and invert it [after trim]...
Use it on top for humidity dome...
Burp top 2-3 times a day for seven days...
Once seed sprouts take off dome...
Good luck....
Read some of these expert grows....

Click to expand...

Sounds way easier than putting them in a damp paper towel.

Maybe getting to wet. Damp light soil like jiffy starter mix. Stick sprouted seed 1/4"..cover. Throw a baggie over it until comes up. Thats it. I do it in the veg room on the floor.

bigv1976 said:

Sounds way easier than putting them in a damp paper towel.

Click to expand...

lol agreed.


Seriously, If this kid is waiting 2 weeks just to find out anything the last thing he should do is start over by just planting them and hoping for the best.

As stated,


put your seeds in a cup of water for 12-24 hours

after they have been in the cup for 4 hours if they are still floating give them a light tap to sink them, If they come back up..oh well


after 12 or 24 hours take a paper towel and get it wet. Not dripping... but wet

Put it on a plate or tupperware, Put the seeds on the paper towel and fold it over them.

Sprinkle a little water on the top of the paper towel

Place plate or container in a warm dark place.

Check them in 24 hours

wait until the root is at least 1/4" before planting. (I like to wait until it's at least 1/2 but everyone does it a little differently)

the easiest method is the one i listed, and its never failed me. if you start to germ a seed, then let it dry out before it pops, itll die. its hard to drown a seed in earth with good drainage.

FlightSchool said:

lol agreed.


Seriously, If this kid is waiting 2 weeks just to find out anything the last thing he should do is start over by just planting them and hoping for the best.

As stated,


put your seeds in a cup of water for 12-24 hours

after they have been in the cup for 4 hours if they are still floating give them a light tap to sink them, If they come back up..oh well


after 12 or 24 hours take a paper towel and get it wet. Not dripping... but wet

Put it on a plate or tupperware, Put the seeds on the paper towel and fold it over them.

Sprinkle a little water on the top of the paper towel

Place plate or container in a warm dark place.

Check them in 24 hours

wait until the root is at least 1/4" before planting. (I like to wait until it's at least 1/2 but everyone does it a little differently)

Click to expand...

Right on. I would only give them 12 hr. soak though, 24 is pushing it I think.

Also, to keep moisture high in paper towel, what I do is wet it in the sink, squeeze out excess, not quite to "damp" but a little wetter. Then I fold the seed up in the wet paper towel and put it inside a plastic sandwich baggy and fold over the end a few times. I DON'T try to make it super air tight. That's not the idea. The idea is simply to keep the paper towel from drying out. Then I stick 'em on top of a speaker under a fedora, heh. Holds about 75-80 degrees.

OP, definitely drowned your seedlings. They sprouted then died in the cup before you even got them out of the water.

Personally, I just fill my cup, slightly compress the soil, then take seed and push down at most 1/4", then cover hole with soil till level.
A good heavy misting 2-3 times per day is usually enough to keep moist, and mine will usually show within 4 days.

yeah man, you're killing them with too much moisture.

...i sow my seeds directly into cups of moist coco, and moist coco not wet coco, ...anyway, i just poke a shallow hole and drop a bean in and pinch the hole closed, ...then i use a little masking tape to tape on another cup as a mini-humidity dome which i remove as soon as the seedling emerges from the coco when i put it down below under the lights and with the fans ablowing which is usually about 2 or 3 days.

i find that for me at least simple works best.



peace, bozo

IMO I think your keep things too wet. keep the soil moist not completely saturated. Aslo you didn;t say anything about temps seed bed temps are crucial, they need to be kept warm.

Sand4x105 said:

Just try one or two seeds this way:
F the trans plant tweezers skip that...
Red Dixie cup, drill holes in bottom...
Soak your seeds for 6-12 hours in a 99% water .99% H2O2 and .01% Super thrive
Spray your soil not your plants.....
Mist Bottle, and mist away....
Fill cup 1/3rd full of soil mixxed with perilite
Spray mister on soil damp, not soup
Now fill up cup 1/2" from top
Mist soil again top 2/3rds
Now plant seed
Put in window, put any light over it....
Spray your soil ...
Take clear cup and invert it [after trim]...
Use it on top for humidity dome...
Burp top 2-3 times a day for seven days...
Once seed sprouts take off dome...
Good luck....
Read some of these expert grows....

Click to expand...

...btw, i meant to mention that the easiest way to make your holes in a dixie cup is with a soldering iron, a drill bit slides all over the place while a hot soldering iron tip burns right through. ...you can make 20 DIY net pots in like 5 minutes with a soldering iron. ...a soldering iron makes short work of this little chore.

peace, bozo

wet paper towel, place tap root up, they like to curve around the seed and grow down, to push the seed cap up, thats what I did, first time growing anything and never had any probs germinating, also they like dark while they are germinating, well mine did, and please if I am saying anything wrong, correct me, I love constructive criticism,

you think this kid is regretting posting this thread yet? lol

Do it the easy way. Damp paper towl with seeds into a plastic bag. Put that in a black dvd case. Throw it in a dark droor and check it in 2 days. When the seed pops plant it like you always do.

Smokenpassout said:

I just skip the germination in paper towel stuff. I dig a small hole, drop a seed in, and cover it with lose soil. Then water it in. Try only watering that first time. Wait a whole day without water, before watering again. 2-3 times daily seems a bit much.

Click to expand...

I totally agree with smokenpassout,I've never bothered with all that tissue paper and germination stuff.I've always had 100% success without it!If you want to go straight into soil get yourself a small see through plastic cup so you can see the roots growing,fill it up with a good growing medium(i'm in UK so i use a dutch product called Biogrow)and make a small hole approx 10mm deep in the middle.Drop your seed in horizontally,gravity will make the tap root go downwards.Water above the seed with approx 5ml of water to start,this will soften the husk of the seed.Do not give them any more than 5ml per day until the seedling gets bigger(I know it doesn't look and sound much but we're talking miniscule plants at the moment).Put your lights on 18/6 schedule and have the temp around 24-26 degrees C.I gaurantee you'll see them sprout within 4-5 days depending on the strain.
Good luck

Smokenpassout said:

I just skip the germination in paper towel stuff. I dig a small hole, drop a seed in, and cover it with lose soil. Then water it in. Try only watering that first time. Wait a whole day without water, before watering again. 2-3 times daily seems a bit much.

Click to expand...

I agree, works like a charm every time. Planting a seed and watering it has had the highest success rate for me at 100%.