How to properly germinate seeds?

[magsteria]

I was able to read most of how you can germinate your seed but now that i absorbed most of the information, i just don't know what to do any more. I am germinating couple of seeds in 2 different methods.

One is the paper towel and the other one is the thing where you soak the seed in water.

For the paper towel, i'm still waiting for the sprouts to come out and it has been more than 24hrs. (Not really worried about them)

What i'm worried about is the seeds that has been soaked on water. A few of the seeds already dropped at the bottom but no sprouts came out. They just sunken about an hour ago and i was wondering if i should already transfer them into my growing medium. Or should i wait til the seeds cracked up and show a little sprout before transferring them into the medium? Or maybe probably transfer them into a paper towel and soak them there?

What would be the best next step?

 

[magsteria]

1st pic is the paper towel and second pic is the soaking seed thing

 

[Dwight Monk]

How long they been soaking? Many folks will soak for 18-24 hours and then either go to the wet paper towel or directly into your soil or rockwool or whatnot. The good seeds will usually sink after soaking that long, floaters after that long less likely to sprout. If putting directly into soil don't put it very deep 1/4"-3/8" so it doesn't have to work real hard to pop up (once there leave it be, don't dig it up to see what it is doing, as can take up to a week to pop out of the soil). Like most things in life you will find opinions all over the spectrum, so go with what makes the most sense to you or if you have success one way or another don't muck it up by trying something different next time . Personally I go right into the soil as they pretty fragile once root pops out and I'm the bull in a china shop clumsy so I would kill more viable seeds that way. Either method you want somewhere warm (at least indoor temp) as you want to mimic Springtime, as if too cool the seed doesn't think it is time to come out as thinks it's Fall or Winter.

 

[Dwight Monk]

How to Grow Marijuana - Everything You Need to Know

Links to lots of good threads for many different topic areas, good place to start for many questions.

 

[Mayne]

Like Dwight Monk said, 18-24 hours in water, ( 6.5ph) or bottled RO water.

I perticualy dont like the paper towel method. I use a small container, about 1 inch deep, with the soil i plan to plant in. Once 18-24 hours in water, I put the seeds into the shallow soil container, putting them in rows, 1/2 inch apart. and again like Monk said, 1/4inch deep. Now, here is the trick, put the container on something warm with a lid, 80 degreeF. in 2 days, Dont water the seedling. once the sprouts are 1inch high, carefully break the soil apart with spoon or something, and the sprouts roots should be lose enough not to break or tear. Then put them in your soil pot, or whatever your using. If your soil is moist, dont water. Seedlings HATE excess moister, and Ive found, they like almost dryish soil the first week of life. KEEP SEEDS AWAY FROM WIFI components, such as laptops, phones, they WILL NOT GROW. They will crack open, but thats it. Lost 20 seeds experimenting this.

I find that the round Chinese takeout food containers work very well for this.

 

[magsteria]

Thanks for this! I'm trying it right now. lol. But left some seed in the water as my SO wants to buy some make up and some other girlie stuff. Ugh.... Really hope it wont take that long since the seeds has been soaking for almost 23hrs now. Anyway, i took 5 seeds and here they are right now

 

[MickFoster]

Foolproof.

 

[magsteria]

Thats the thing i really cant get my hands on them and having them shipped to the philippines from ebay costs a lot.

 

[MrFortwenty]

I've had 100% success with the following

- place seed in glass of ph'd room temp water for 14 hours, dark room

- transfer to seed to paper towel (double paper towel) on plate

- soak paper towel with ph water from glass, drain excess water from plate.

- keep paper towel damp in a dark warm room until you have 1/2 - 3/4 inch of tap root.

- plant in medium of choice

 

[Oldbear]

What he said ^^^^^^

 

[magsteria]

Ill probably try this with a much more precise ph reading on the next go

 

[Cultivator]

I have germated 10000's of seeds. paper towel method is best way. make sure towels are damp not sodden and place on a plate with another piece of paper towel ontop. then cover with another plate and place inside a plastic bag, this will stop paper towels drying out. place in a dark warm place and do not touch for 72hours. after that they will definately be sprouting iof healthy seeds. you want 1-2inches of tap root before you pot fore best results.

 

[MickFoster]

Why are cannabis growers the only type of growers that pre-germinate seeds in paper towels?

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Because seeds are hard to come bye, and we are impatient....lol

 

[Cultivator]

Why are cannabis growers the only type of growers that pre-germinate seeds in paper towels?

because they are expensive and want to guarantee germination. paper toweel methed guarantees a healthy seed will germinate. percentages are way lower when placing straight into grow medium.

 

[magsteria]

Awesome answer guys. I',ve never tried to use a plastic cover. I'just got my hands on a some seeds but has ben told that its pretty old. Best of luck to me!!

 

[magsteria]

Well. Im now trying all possible germinating process and hopefully, one would sprout. I even made a growbox as i was able to germinate seeds before not knowing that it needs lights and nutrients and what not. Dont know why im having a hard time germinating now though

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Well. Im now trying all possible germinating process and hopefully, one would sprout. I even made a growbox as i was able to germinate seeds before not knowing that it needs lights and nutrients and what not. Dont know why im having a hard time germinating now though

I didn't see posted where yer seeds came from, or i missed it
That could play a part in this as well

 

[magsteria]

Sorry. The seeds was actually just have been given by a friend of mine. I only have 5 seeds left and i recorded everything for this one!! The time when i soaked it, the ph level. Made sure that it would be on a dark and a warm environment. Ill check on them tomorrow morning. Here they are right now!

 

[magsteria]

For the ones in the shot glass, i didnt put a plastic cover but placed a lid to make sure that it would be on a dark environment as well as the one in the mug. Though for the ones in the mug, ive topped it of with a plastic wrap for moisture and topped it off again with a lid.


Trying to post a pic but im getting an error that i dont have permission to post it though