New Grower Question regarding germination

mcadamjw

New Member
Hello All,

So I am brand new to growing but so far have had a blast reading all of the information on the forums and other various sites. I finally got my tent all equipment set up. I ordered some seeds from Attitude and they have arrived to me. Took about 14 days ordered on a Saturday evening and 2 weeks later on a Saturday my babies arrived. I know I def ordered way more than needed but I wanted to have the extra on hand for next grow and also in case I screwed something up with germination.

I have read about the paper towel method and seem like a lot of people are for it but also seems like a lot of people are against it. I decided to start my germination using rock wool. I didn't soak the seeds or anything like that. I didn't put in paper towels or anything of that nature either. I purchased some distilled water and used about half of the gallon in a 1 gallon bucket and let the rock wool soak for about 4 hours or so. I drained the Rockwool by shaking the water out and just a very gentle squeeze to let some additional water out. The cubes still had some decent weight but were evenly wet all around. I took a brand new pair of tweezers and got some alcohol and cleaned my area and tweezers. The seeds came shipped in an aluminum can inside separate Baggies. I never touched seeds except with my tweezers. The Rockwool had holes in them already so I just placed my seed in the pre drilled hole and placed little pieces of rock wool at the top of the hole, just enough to cover the hole and not tight at all. I started off with Royal Haze, White Widow, Chronic, Blue Dream, Burmese Kush and Fruit. All of my seeds are feminized and the fruit is an auto flowering.

I placed the seeds in the Rockwool on Sunday evening about 6PM PST and I placed the rock wool in a tray inside of a humidity dome. The warmer does not have separate settings to change the heat so I just placed the tray with the rock wool and dome in my closet and let it sit on top of the warmer. I check about twice a day ok maybe 3-4 times a day to check on them and so far nothing. It is Wednesday morning at the time of this note about 2.5 days later since planting the seed in the rock wool.

I have seen people saying they have seen sprouting in 18 hours some 2 days some even longer. I guess I am wondering should I be worried about anything that I did? How long should it take using the method I mentioned above? Is it ok if I pull the rock wool out of the tray to check the bottom of the cube for moisture? I have not needed to really add any additional water to the cubes just to the dome hood. I mist water onto the dome hood just to keep it moist in there. The cubes started to feel a little dry but when I lifted them out could tell it still had a little weight to it and was damp in certain places of the cube. I was worried about adding to much water so I just added a little mist to each cube on the bottom of the cube and a little mist on the sidewalls of the slot the cube sits in.
Am I ok so far anything that I shouldn't be doing or anything that I should be doing and not doing? I just want to see some sprouts lol I am super excited but don't want to hurt anything either.

Let me know your thoughts?

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Thanks,
JM
 
Hi mcadamjw,

Let me start by welcoming you to 420 Magazine and the community of members that gathers here. This is definately the best Cannabis related site to be found!

I will also add to my response that I have not ever used rock wool (although am very familiar with it), but I simply cannot immagine anything so unique about rock wool as to make it dramatically different than germinating in other mediums. Hard to judge from your description but it sounds as though your cubes might be a wee bit dry. Again, this is a bit of a guess based on your description, but rock wool as I understand it is utilized due to it's ability to retain about 18% air making it very difficult to overwater.

I'm also aware that rock wool typically has a high PH and if memory serves I believe a user of rock wool is advised to adjust the PH of the water used in the presoak and any subsequent watering down to around the 5.5 range. It is also not usually advised to squeeze rock wool as this may damage the structures that provide the desirable air/water ratio.

Now with all that said, I will share that I have had seeds germinate in peat cubes, in a humidity dome, on a warmer for up to 6 days before sprouting and they turned into great plants!

My suggestion would be to wait another day or two. I'd probably be tempted to remove the little plugs you've put overtop of the seeds as well. While your waiting is it possible to prepare some water with the PH adjusted down into the 5.5 range for application to the cubes if nothing occurs?

Be well, happy growing and again - :welcome:
 
Hello TanR - Thanks for the reply. I did actually soak the rockwool in 5.7 ph water for about 4hours before I planted the seeds. I sprayed the hood some more today where I can see the mist on the inside. I will be hitting the 72 hour mark soon and I know just be patient just super excitied to get started and I hope I didnt screw anything up. I can add water the rock wool but when i touched them they still have a little weight to it in comparison to a completly dry one so I know its still holding some water. I sprayed a little mist to the rock wool and just waiting with my fingers crossed.
 
Sounds good mcadamjw. I took it from your original post that you soaked the rock wool in distilled water (which would be closer to 7 PH) and didn't realize you adjusted the PH also. Sorry for going down the wrong path.

Waiting anxiously with you. Getting started and seeing the little sprouts take off is a large part of the fun for me!
 
Hey TanR - Good News I am seeing 4 of 6 sprouted and the other two they are also on the way I could see a time piece starting to come up from those two. Just opened the hood for a little air and placed it back on after 5 minutes. I am leaving the top vent open just a little to start getting the plants acclimated to the environment. Thanks for the follow up from you man greatly appreciated.
 
And the fun begins! :thumb:
 
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