first i'd like to thank msg and tomhill for their valuable insights and patience in answering my questions. i'm sure there are others i'm forgetting but my method is basically a marriage of their two philosophies on starting seeds.
with seed prices as high as they are i really spare no expense when it comes to my beans
i like to use a organic garden information lunar calendar to find the best time to start my seeds; with the new moon so i usually start them around the 15th of the month (might as well stack the odds eh?)
for starters i like to get a room around 80-85 degrees ambient; i use a small space heater in an even smaller bathroom. i then soak the seeds in a shot glass of ro water at room temp for up to 12 hours; i cover em with a box to keep em dark during this period. I check them every few hours and once they drop i move them to moistened paper towels that are on a heavy stoneware plate which is then covered with another smaller plate; i find this gives a nice distribution of heat and insulates the seeds from any drastic temperature fluctuations. Even seeds that are still floating after a 12 hour soak get moved to the paper towels.
35 hours later...
I like to use paper towels because i'm able to check and physically see if the seed has germinated as opposed to just hoping they pop up out of the ground everyday.
Also i've experienced that if a seed doesn't crack in the paper towels after three to four days its best to physically crack the seed with your fingernails and then place it back in the towels; recently i saved one of three seeds that never opened using this method and i think i would have saved more if i had cracked them sooner.
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART SO JUST CUZ THERE AREN'T PICS DON'T SKIP IT 
I recently started my seeds in coco as i've had problems with bugs in bags of premixed soil and i don't trust anything around my yard; i also didn't want to use rockwool cubes as the seedlings end up in coco and not rockwool. To get the coco sterile i pasteurized it; something our brothers who farm mushrooms employ. To do this i placed a good amount of coco in a hops bag i use for brewing my teas (used in brewing beer too; paint strainer bags are the same i think) i then boiled 5gallons of water on my stove; placed the bag of coco in a 5gal bucket and covered with the boiling water; best to do this outside if possible. Cover the bucket with the lid and let it sit for 90 minutes; open it up and take out the coco; it'll be HOT! I spread it out on a 10x20 tray with slits in it and allowed it to drain. Once drained i placed it in the same room the seeds in the paper towels were in so it would come to ambient room temp and not shock the seeds when they were transplanted. I filled some little 1x1 cells with coco taking care to not compress it; the coco was still a bit moist from the pasteurization but i didn't rehydrate it prior to planting the seeds. Once germ'd i transplanted em to the coco cells and placed em under two 40 watt fluorescent lights propped up by trusty beer cups(not the best supports but they worked in a pinch and i always exercise care around the babies.) At this time i moisten the top of the coco with a small spray bottle filled with ro water at room temp; just a couple squirts.
And here they are after 66 hours from opening the packages of seeds...
Of the 8 seeds i soaked 7 germinated of those 7 are up and alive. In less than three days time the seeds are up and out the gate.
As the seedlings grow and the coco dries i'll feed them with ro water at room temp from the bottom up by placing them in a small dish with the nutes in the bottom. This way the coco only absorbs whatever it will absorb through capillary action lessening the chances of overwatering the delicate tap roots. I then let the cells drain well before moving them back under the lights. Once they've rooted out a bit i transplant them to larger containers. I feed them with h&g coco specific nutes, not organic i know, and some h&g root excel.. nutes at half strength; about 3ml per gal after the true leafs have shown; while its just the cotyledon all they get is water.
After a week they are ready to be transplanted into larger containers and the first true leaves have all started to grow.
After that they go to their new home in the veg tent under a 4 bulb t-5
And here they are at 10 days from opening the seed packs.
To give a better idea of the growth in 3 days here is a 7 and 10 day shot of the same seedling.
I hope that this method helps others successfully start their seeds and get them through those first few days without stress.
I know there are those who believe that seeds should be started in the soil they are grown in but i've found that sterile coco works best for me along with the paper towels; when i do large numbers of seeds they go straight into coco(vegetables etc but cannabis seeds are too expensive in my book to just pop in the ground and cross my fingers on). Regardless; this is my method so we can agree to disagree on the paper towel handling seeds after soaking stuff i've heard it all before
I will update this thread in the future as i start more seeds; fwiw i've since cracked two packs of sensi seeds jack herer (check the cost on the boo if you think seeds aren't expensive) and was able to get 18/20 to germ and they are all alive and healthy today
with seed prices as high as they are i really spare no expense when it comes to my beans
i like to use a organic garden information lunar calendar to find the best time to start my seeds; with the new moon so i usually start them around the 15th of the month (might as well stack the odds eh?)
for starters i like to get a room around 80-85 degrees ambient; i use a small space heater in an even smaller bathroom. i then soak the seeds in a shot glass of ro water at room temp for up to 12 hours; i cover em with a box to keep em dark during this period. I check them every few hours and once they drop i move them to moistened paper towels that are on a heavy stoneware plate which is then covered with another smaller plate; i find this gives a nice distribution of heat and insulates the seeds from any drastic temperature fluctuations. Even seeds that are still floating after a 12 hour soak get moved to the paper towels.
35 hours later...
I like to use paper towels because i'm able to check and physically see if the seed has germinated as opposed to just hoping they pop up out of the ground everyday.
Also i've experienced that if a seed doesn't crack in the paper towels after three to four days its best to physically crack the seed with your fingernails and then place it back in the towels; recently i saved one of three seeds that never opened using this method and i think i would have saved more if i had cracked them sooner.
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART SO JUST CUZ THERE AREN'T PICS DON'T SKIP IT I recently started my seeds in coco as i've had problems with bugs in bags of premixed soil and i don't trust anything around my yard; i also didn't want to use rockwool cubes as the seedlings end up in coco and not rockwool. To get the coco sterile i pasteurized it; something our brothers who farm mushrooms employ. To do this i placed a good amount of coco in a hops bag i use for brewing my teas (used in brewing beer too; paint strainer bags are the same i think) i then boiled 5gallons of water on my stove; placed the bag of coco in a 5gal bucket and covered with the boiling water; best to do this outside if possible. Cover the bucket with the lid and let it sit for 90 minutes; open it up and take out the coco; it'll be HOT! I spread it out on a 10x20 tray with slits in it and allowed it to drain. Once drained i placed it in the same room the seeds in the paper towels were in so it would come to ambient room temp and not shock the seeds when they were transplanted. I filled some little 1x1 cells with coco taking care to not compress it; the coco was still a bit moist from the pasteurization but i didn't rehydrate it prior to planting the seeds. Once germ'd i transplanted em to the coco cells and placed em under two 40 watt fluorescent lights propped up by trusty beer cups(not the best supports but they worked in a pinch and i always exercise care around the babies.) At this time i moisten the top of the coco with a small spray bottle filled with ro water at room temp; just a couple squirts.
And here they are after 66 hours from opening the packages of seeds...
Of the 8 seeds i soaked 7 germinated of those 7 are up and alive. In less than three days time the seeds are up and out the gate.
As the seedlings grow and the coco dries i'll feed them with ro water at room temp from the bottom up by placing them in a small dish with the nutes in the bottom. This way the coco only absorbs whatever it will absorb through capillary action lessening the chances of overwatering the delicate tap roots. I then let the cells drain well before moving them back under the lights. Once they've rooted out a bit i transplant them to larger containers. I feed them with h&g coco specific nutes, not organic i know, and some h&g root excel.. nutes at half strength; about 3ml per gal after the true leafs have shown; while its just the cotyledon all they get is water.
After a week they are ready to be transplanted into larger containers and the first true leaves have all started to grow.
After that they go to their new home in the veg tent under a 4 bulb t-5
And here they are at 10 days from opening the seed packs.
To give a better idea of the growth in 3 days here is a 7 and 10 day shot of the same seedling.
I hope that this method helps others successfully start their seeds and get them through those first few days without stress.
I know there are those who believe that seeds should be started in the soil they are grown in but i've found that sterile coco works best for me along with the paper towels; when i do large numbers of seeds they go straight into coco(vegetables etc but cannabis seeds are too expensive in my book to just pop in the ground and cross my fingers on). Regardless; this is my method so we can agree to disagree on the paper towel handling seeds after soaking stuff i've heard it all before
I will update this thread in the future as i start more seeds; fwiw i've since cracked two packs of sensi seeds jack herer (check the cost on the boo if you think seeds aren't expensive) and was able to get 18/20 to germ and they are all alive and healthy today
