what the hell?

kricket53

kricket53

Active Member
lat night i attempted to germ 12 bagseeds. so no light would come in, i used a coffe mug. i filled the mug with room temperature water, i put the seeds in the mug, covered it with a paper towel, and set the cup on my water heater in my basement. i waited till about two pm, checked the cup, and EVERY SINGLE ONE is still floating..am i missing something here..? :shock:

is the other method(damp paper towel) better? or do i just have the worst luck in the world..?
 
kricket53

kricket53

Active Member
i put them on the heater at like 9. put before that they were on a table for a couple hours..i wonder if that changed it..
 
tje22

tje22

Well-Known Member
I usually soak them at least 24 hours before planting, I never use the paper towel method but there is nothing wrong with it, works just as good.(assuming you can handle them without damaging the tap root)
 
Chicago Gooner

Chicago Gooner

Active Member
3 days to germinate, I also don't think you should have to wait for them to sink, help them out by shaking whatever container you have them in, I wouldn't freak out because they're not sinking
 
Beansly

Beansly

RIU Bulldog
Wow, if your worried this much already I can't imagine what gonna confuse you once you really get going. Sometimes even after soaking for hours some seeds wont sink. See if you can use your finger and quickly poke them and see if they sink, usually they will. If they don't, don't worry about it. You can either leave it in the water until they pop (don't leave it in water for more than 3 days or the seeds can turn to mush), or you can just plant them anyways. More than likely they will pop. Some people put them in paper towels after soaking them for 24 hours with good success.The ones that don't pop just aren't viable. That being said, some seeds can take up to 30 days to germinate and will grow slow the rest of their life.
 
Total Head

Total Head

Well-Known Member
i don't understand the idea behind soaking the seeds for so long. are you attempting to crack the seed while it's in the water? i tried that when i was a kid and ended up with a lot of rotted seeds the next day. floating and sinking means jack. sometimes i'll soak my seeds for an hour or two in the same solution i use in my paper towels, just to soften the shell a bit. i've had seeds that sink crack and grow into nice plants, i've had seeds that float do the same. sometimes a seed will sink but then if you stir the water it floats again. none of it has to do with whether the seed will sprout. even the paper towel thing isn't really necessary. i just do it so i know for certain if a seed is any good before i plant it. really you can just throw it in the dirt with some water and heat and it should sprout.
 
ClosetSafe

ClosetSafe

Active Member
This is an article from Soma on how he uses the cup of water to germinate seeds.

Sprouting the seeds can be done in a few different ways. When I first started I would put the seeds in a moist paper towel in a warm dark place, that was fine for making the seeds open up and sprout, but what I didn’t know at the time was that the micro roots would get damaged when I would pull them away from the paper towel, leaving opportunity for infection and stunting. Since those days I’ve learned a better method. First take a clear plastic cup and label it with the name of the strain you are going to germinate. Next put your seeds in and add a third of a cup of distilled water. At first the seeds will float on the top. Put your cup(s) in a warm dark place overnight. In the morning when you look in the cup swirl the seeds around with your finger and all the good ones will sink to the bottom. On close observation you will see that the seeds have slightly split open and have begun to germinate. They are now ready for planting.
Click to expand...

Ok, they are probably floating due to the surface tension of the water. They can have air inside them or a bubble of air attached to them to make them float. Typically floaters are bad. Often it's just a good seed stuck to surface tension.

Key notes. Use distilled water. Change the water out each night if using tap water. Make sure it's lukewarm. As soon as they pop, they are ready enough.

They are probably fine.
 
Total Head

Total Head

Well-Known Member
ClosetSafe said:
This is an article from Soma on how he uses the cup of water to germinate seeds.




Ok, they are probably floating due to the surface tension of the water. They can have air inside them or a bubble of air attached to them to make them float. Typically floaters are bad. Often it's just a good seed stuck to surface tension.

Key notes. Use distilled water. Change the water out each night if using tap water. Make sure it's warm. As soon as they pop, they are ready enough.
Click to expand...

while i'm sure soma has grown WAY more pot than me, the part in that article that makes me lose interest is the part where he claims the sinking seeds are somehow more suitable. the only reason soaked seeds sink is because they are full of water and no longer buoyant. it's common sense. it doesn't say anything about the seed itself. like i said, sinking seeds, floating seeds, seeds that do both, they all grow into plants. i do it all the time. i guess i get the reasoning behind the soaking to germ. i've never had a cannabis taproot grow into the paper towel but i can see how that would be a bitch. (i did have this issue with pepper seeds once. never again in a paper towel). i use a bit of superthrive in my solution and i'm wondering if it somehow "lubricated" the taproot so it doesn't get stuck to the paper. i am intrigued by the use of distilled water, though. anyone know the thinking behind it?
 
ClosetSafe

ClosetSafe

Active Member
kricket53 said:
Haha. I poked the seeds and 75% of them fell..i feel like an idiot.
Click to expand...
lol. everyone started somewhere. It's ok.

One of the greatest breeders in the world started by germinating the entire bud, seed and all.

Edit: Now a days, if someone posted pictures of themselves trying to plant seeded buds, we would not stop laughing at them.
 
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