what's wrong with my seeds? (pics)

Ok so I am a first-time grower and I thought germination to be the easiest part of growing marijuana..having failed at that I am pretty discouraged now. but hopefully i can count on you guys to help me figure out what i did wrong.

So here is my germination setup- i put a bunch of seeds in a folded paper towel, watered with regular tap water, on a plastic plate. at first i had them in resealable bags for more hygenic conditions but then i figured they would need air so I took them out.
I had a heat dish warming them up& a thermometer- I kept temp at around 85& no more than 90. I added water abt every two days. covered them with another plate and a cotton towel to keep light out. checked on them every day.

the first two days they seemed to be doing alright- I thought some were cracking. then progress stopped and weird shit started happening. by the end of the week they were obviously fucked up & not intent on germinating.
first off one of some seeds got covered by something that looked like mold- little white puffy stuff. idk how this happened- if anyone got information I'd appreciate it..
second, some seeds started secreting some whitish-yellowy stuff in their mid section- again, don't know how this happened.

if my seeds got contaminated or something I would appreciate infromation on how to avoid that& just how to make them germ effectively. btw these seeds are mixed- mostly old ones but a couple of new ones I bought online.

Speaking from experience at messing up seeds, it sounds like you drowned them. I drowned my first 6 seeds, luckily one survived. I had seeds crack open, but then eventually ooze yellow stuff too. I believe this was the inside that died decomposing and oozing out.

It's a fine line between keeping them wet and drowning them. Best wishes.

I wound up doing the soaking in warm water for 24 hour method. Then as they just barely cracked in my paper towel, I put them in rock wool. I decided against the plastic bag. I just put them in a plate with a really damp folded paper towel. I put another plate over them (leaving an air gap).

happened to me before.. i dont think they ever popped... just put them in the trash. i usually just lightly wet a paper towel. fold it up add a seed or two. and then put it in a ziploc baggie and close it up but leave a little on the end open and put it in my night stand drawer and check it once a day to see if the seeds have popped

sounds to me as if you're keeping them too hot... 80 is ideal, but i think much warmer wouldn't be so good for them, and 90 sounds really hot imo..

ditch the heat pad if you can't get them down to like 80, and instead find and use something like a cable box, the top of a stereo that runs warm, an x box, etc...
i use a ziplock bag mself.. i simply don't seal it all the way and leave about an inch or so open still to allow fresh air in..

you can also try soaking the seeds first in a glass of water for about 12 hours or so to get the seed shell nice and soaked and ready to germ.. after the soak, put them in the 1/4 napkin, into the baggy and unto the heat source.. some people keep them in the dark, i do some times and not others, never noticed much of a difference between the two to have a preferred method yet..
they should crack with in idk, 36 / 48 hours, sometimes as long as 3 days.. if they don't crack in a week, i'd say they're not going to..

sometimes when people have problems cracking beans, they take a small match box, line it with some light grit sandpaper, put seeds in the box and shake them for a few minutes to scuff the seeds up first.. this should help with water penetration on hard to germ beans..

other then that. sounds like you've got it down.. some beans can be a bitch to germ, others no problem at all... are these bag seeds or from a breeder, and if from a breeder, which one??

I put mine on a wet paper towel also in a zip lock bag and put in my dresser ( dark )

I dont fold the paper towel over though , i just set them on top and they always sprout

Very rare do i come across one that does not sprout

These all sprouted , this one just did quicker then the others ,

I forgot to add.... I used a heat pad too, but I put a towel over it and set my moisture dome on 2 pencils (to elevate enough to leave a little gap).

What I've found, and this is just personal experience, is that even if a seed doesn't show a taproot after 24-48 hours that doesn't mean it won't grow. I'd say leave them germinating for 48 hours tops, then try to transplant them. I HIGHLY reccommend using rapid rooter plugs (you can buy em on amazon for dirt cheap) as they seem to be very good for root growth. So far, before I used rapid rooters I went 1/6 on getting my seeds to germinate. Once I switched to rapid rooters I have had close to a 100% success rate. Another important thing is to make sure that once you plant them, LEAVE EM ALONE. Water them initially when you plant, and make sure your humidity dome or whatever your using stays pretty damp, but leave the actual plug alone. Let it go for a few days and I'm sure you'll see some sprouts. At that point, transplant and water again.

As for your mold issues, I think it's probably because you left them germinating too long at too high a temperature. I'd say 80 degrees is what you want to aim for and try and get them into their initial medium (rapid rooters or even rockwool) after 48 hours. It seems like the longer I've let mine go, the more likely they were to fail in general.

im also having an issue, i did the same thing but never added water, (extra) mine all popped but i was waiting for the tap root to grow just a lil bit bigger to put them into soil... it never grew bigger so i just put them in soil... still nothing has happend. its been like 6 days.

Awesome you guys are being very helpful

thechemist310 said:

Speaking from experience at messing up seeds, it sounds like you drowned them. I drowned my first 6 seeds, luckily one survived. I had seeds crack open, but then eventually ooze yellow stuff too. I believe this was the inside that died decomposing and oozing out.

It's a fine line between keeping them wet and drowning them. Best wishes.

I wound up doing the soaking in warm water for 24 hour method. Then as they just barely cracked in my paper towel, I put them in rock wool. I decided against the plastic bag. I just put them in a plate with a really damp folded paper towel. I put another plate over them (leaving an air gap).

Click to expand...

That's a possibility since i did keep them thoroughly wet.
i never mentioned that I did pre-soak seeds before and put them on a paper towel- those just showed no sign of progress. but then I did not keep them warm, so i'll try that again.

racerboy71 said:

sounds to me as if you're keeping them too hot... 80 is ideal, but i think much warmer wouldn't be so good for them, and 90 sounds really hot imo..

ditch the heat pad if you can't get them down to like 80, and instead find and use something like a cable box, the top of a stereo that runs warm, an x box, etc...
i use a ziplock bag mself.. i simply don't seal it all the way and leave about an inch or so open still to allow fresh air in..

you can also try soaking the seeds first in a glass of water for about 12 hours or so to get the seed shell nice and soaked and ready to germ.. after the soak, put them in the 1/4 napkin, into the baggy and unto the heat source.. some people keep them in the dark, i do some times and not others, never noticed much of a difference between the two to have a preferred method yet..
they should crack with in idk, 36 / 48 hours, sometimes as long as 3 days.. if they don't crack in a week, i'd say they're not going to..

sometimes when people have problems cracking beans, they take a small match box, line it with some light grit sandpaper, put seeds in the box and shake them for a few minutes to scuff the seeds up first.. this should help with water penetration on hard to germ beans..

other then that. sounds like you've got it down.. some beans can be a bitch to germ, others no problem at all... are these bag seeds or from a breeder, and if from a breeder, which one??

Click to expand...

yes I figured that temp might be too high& will def keep it lower next time. thx for the matchbox tip, sounds pretty useful, might try that.
I got some of those seeds from Worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com, a pretty reputable source I think

goten said:

I put mine on a wet paper towel also in a zip lock bag and put in my dresser ( dark )

I dont fold the paper towel over though , i just set them on top and they always sprout

Very rare do i come across one that does not sprout

These all sprouted , this one just did quicker then the others ,

Click to expand...

This is very awesome congrats on your sucess! this gives me hope for the paper towel method..

witelightnin said:

What I've found, and this is just personal experience, is that even if a seed doesn't show a taproot after 24-48 hours that doesn't mean it won't grow. I'd say leave them germinating for 48 hours tops, then try to transplant them. I HIGHLY reccommend using rapid rooter plugs (you can buy em on amazon for dirt cheap) as they seem to be very good for root growth. So far, before I used rapid rooters I went 1/6 on getting my seeds to germinate. Once I switched to rapid rooters I have had close to a 100% success rate. Another important thing is to make sure that once you plant them, LEAVE EM ALONE. Water them initially when you plant, and make sure your humidity dome or whatever your using stays pretty damp, but leave the actual plug alone. Let it go for a few days and I'm sure you'll see some sprouts. At that point, transplant and water again.

As for your mold issues, I think it's probably because you left them germinating too long at too high a temperature. I'd say 80 degrees is what you want to aim for and try and get them into their initial medium (rapid rooters or even rockwool) after 48 hours. It seems like the longer I've let mine go, the more likely they were to fail in general.

Click to expand...

Yes! I just got some rockwool plugs actually! glad you're having success with those. do you cover them or just put them on top?