Is it the seeds?

T

Tedmarx38

Well-Known Member
I’ve had great success starting seeds with the two plate paper towel method, putting the germinated seeds in solo cups and then into their final containers. Until this fall.

I must empathize that I’ve changed NOTHING in the approach used (see below for what I do). But, while the seeds do germinate, they do not survive the solo cup phase.

I can think of only two possibilities but welcome feedback. First, I’m on a spring-fed well and we had a weird summer rain-wise, so maybe something significant happened to the water chemistry. I can only measure TDS and pH but those two have stayed stable vs before, so I can’t imagine what. It needs no treatment such as softening nor chlorine.

As for seeds, I’ve had great luck with Greybeard until my most recent purchase of two sativa-dominant auto flower hybrids. Since these do germinate I’m not sure it’s a seed issue. Do poor quality seeds perhaps germinate and then fail to prosper?

As for parameters:
TDS - 200-400
pH 8.4 corrected to 6.3 - 6.8
Temp 78 F
Fox Farms soil
Again I must emphasize that NOTHING in these has changed since prior grows where I had no problems like now.

Thanks.
 
Tedmarx38 said:
I’ve had great success starting seeds with the two plate paper towel method, putting the germinated seeds in solo cups and then into their final containers. Until this fall.

I must empathize that I’ve changed NOTHING in the approach used (see below for what I do). But, while the seeds do germinate, they do not survive the solo cup phase.

I can think of only two possibilities but welcome feedback. First, I’m on a spring-fed well and we had a weird summer rain-wise, so maybe something significant happened to the water chemistry. I can only measure TDS and pH but those two have stayed stable vs before, so I can’t imagine what. It needs no treatment such as softening nor chlorine.

As for seeds, I’ve had great luck with Greybeard until my most recent purchase of two sativa-dominant auto flower hybrids. Since these do germinate I’m not sure it’s a seed issue. Do poor quality seeds perhaps germinate and then fail to prosper?

As for parameters:
TDS - 200-400
pH 8.4 corrected to 6.3 - 6.8
Temp 78 F
Again I must emphasize that NOTHING in these has changed since prior grows where I had no problems like now.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Media is a huge part yet not one mention.
 
Sadly Nope -if they are germinating (which you said they are) then it’s not the seeds….

If you are starting them in soil, I see no reason to adjust ph…. soil should buffer the water, might need a light seed starting soil

since they are germinating but not surviving the solo cup stage then I would think over watering, or not having a heat mat.…

also just as re-enforcement, you gotta be sterile clean handling seeds & tails. Personally I never do paper towel method just soak for 24 and straight into soil or rapid rooter.

how are you watering… how much how often & do you use a humidity dome?
 
013 said:
Sadly Nope -if they are germinating (which you said they are) then it’s not the seeds….

If you are starting them in soil, I see no reason to adjust ph…. soil should buffer the water, might need a light seed starting soil

since they are germinating but not surviving the solo cup stage then I would think over watering, or not having a heat mat.…

also just as re-enforcement, you gotta be sterile clean handling seeds & tails. Personally I never do paper towel method just soak for 24 and straight into soil or rapid rooter.
Click to expand...
Thanks, very careful with water and am keeping the temp stable with a heat mat. At the risk of broken record syndrome, again, nothing has changed in my technique except the batch of seeds and perhaps the water. Unless we’re unknowingly being zapped with radiation.
 
Tedmarx38 said:
Thanks. I’m very careful with watering. Holes in the bottom to allow drainage, for instance. Same as what I’ve always done.
Click to expand...
Well if nothing changes except the media I would look there...that company probably has to import part of it's product and they have to mix it and let it cook for probably a year...I've never used FF but I've heard many complaints.
 
I have. And it’s the same as before. The taproot never grows long enough to reach the bottom. Returning to the seeds: some have had problems with this seed bank in terms of them not being the strain advertised nor being fresh. I’m curious: can seeds that are too old or were stored improperly by the bank germinate but not thrive?
 
CelestialNurseries said:
Well if nothing changes except the media I would look there...that company probably has to import part of it's product and they have to mix it and let it cook for probably a year...I've never used FF but I've heard many complaints.
Click to expand...
Yeah thanks, I wondered about that also. Thing is, I’m using the same bag of dirt from them that I used in my prior grow, which is an Indica-dominant auto grow that worked fine.
 
I’m curious why you are using ph up / down on a seedling tho.… seriously the soil should buffer any problems with tap or well water

please understand I’m not trying to be a smart ass here either.… now if you were in hydro I’d say yup get ph down to 5.8 so it’s in range the plant can use, but for any half decent soil the ph of your liquids should not matter
 
I’ve heard this before but am curious: if the water is either too acidic or too alkaline, how would the soil automatically adjust for both? I had all sorts of problems in my early days until I started correcting for pH, which in our supply sometimes reaches 9.
 
The soil is built with lime to buffer it, and to hold that buffer over many uses or wet cycles. you can’t change soil ph easily by watering a soil unless you use battery acid.

I thought it was spring fed well… my bad.

there could be many other reasons, it could be those tiny black soil mites. Might want to oven / grill sterilize a few cups of that FF soil then re-charge with microbes / mycos and start over, Hmm could be fungal. Of course anything is possible… no affiliation here but I have great confidence in FF, they want to protect their reputation.

imho… ph might matter down the road in soil when plant is bigger, but for seedling thru veg in soil you should not have to adjust ph….

dunno my friend but hope one of the crew says something that nails it.
 
013 said:
The soil is built with lime to buffer it, and to hold that buffer over many uses or wet cycles you can’t change ph easily by watering a soil unless you use battery acid

i thought it was spring fed well… my bad.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Yeah, spring-fed well with ph around 8.4 - 9.0. Wouldn’t the lime content in soil raise the ph even more, not lower it?
 
I’m country hick dirt farmer the only thing I got out of chemistry class was best friends with the quaalude guy…

I might need Emilya to explain it but every decent soil manufacturer aims to set the ph into the grow media such that the soil ph remains stable, yes the soil ph changes but it changes as the column of water moves thru and returns to its original ph value as it dries out.

to test soil ph you need to run slurry test with distilled water but generally speaking you should not have to worry about soil ph especially from company like FF…

im happy to be corrected if I’ve screwed up here
 

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