for over twenty years i have planted seeds into jiffy cubes or soil...i dont what the success rate is...shit..i cant even imagine thru the years how many seeds....but i would say...99.32784 %...ha...ive never understood the need for paper towels or shot glasses etc...unless it is for the enjoyment of just seeing a wonderful process unfold....but once youve seen it, just drop em into whatever you grow em in..they are seeds..they know what to do...
How do YOU germinate your seeds? What's your success rate?
- Thread starter Caille
- Start date
statusquo
Member
I completely agree, both common sensically and through personal experience. Paper towel can be used effectively under the right circumstances but also putting a wet paper towel into a zip lock back is just begging for mold. I have had a pretty good success rate with this method and it is quite successful. It should also be mentioned that when you use the bag method, one is forced to hold the seed and there is a high probability of damaging the extremely fine/fragile root hairs on the tap root. My method, IMO, combines the best of both worlds.
Depending on hull thickness, I soak in distilled/filtered/non-tap water (my municipal source is quite hard) for 6-12 hours. BEFORE the seeds show tap root, you want to have w/e medium/container you want already ready to go - I use 16 oz solo cups with 4 holes drilled in the bottom. I then, using a pencil, make a very small divot barely below the soil surface (just as deep as the seed) and then give a medium watering. This combines the paper towel/soak method with the natural way a seed germinates. Success rate is between 95-100% and germ times are fast. Couple times i saw a seedling the day after I transferred the soaked seed to its medium. The few times I put seeds directly into their starting pots, I had much lower success rates. Not saying this method is worse (many of the older and more experienced growers do this) I just haven't had the best of luck.
Chronic Future
Member
here's how I do it I get 90-100%. skuff seeds with a clean finger nail file, place seeds in shot glass pour in some premixed liquid karma at 1 teaspoon a gallon leave in shot glass for 24 hours pour seeds out on paper towel put another paper towel on top, place in sanwich bag or between two sanwich bags, no mold for me I check em everyday, then it goes into my jiffy rooter dome and place on top of my amplifier to my stereo when everybody pops I soak my jiffy peat pots and plant seeds in there I dont plant into stright soil cuz the last time I did that there were these little worms that ate up the sprouts. good luck
i plant my seeds in the feathers of a bald eagle soaked in pussy juice and get good germ rates...
on the serious side...what do yall think about using "superthrive" in the seedling water?
and what PH should the seedling water be?
on the serious side...what do yall think about using "superthrive" in the seedling water?
and what PH should the seedling water be?
C
Carl Carlson
moist paper towel - 98%
Caille
Member
Wow, Yes4Prop215; what a lucky person you must be to have so neutral a ph'd vagina at your disposal; as my vaginal juices are highly acidic I cannot imagine that they would germinate anything well at all. What an alkaline crevasse your lady must have.
Anywho, dirty jesting aside. I am happy with the 85% rate I got, especially since all the duds came from one breeder. Makes me happy that I chose nature's method, seed in moist dirt, let it grow.
Alexis
*smiles*
Anywho, dirty jesting aside. I am happy with the 85% rate I got, especially since all the duds came from one breeder. Makes me happy that I chose nature's method, seed in moist dirt, let it grow.
Alexis
*smiles*
Read the Mandala Germination link in my sig. No soaking, no paper towels. Drop seed side ways in rockwool cube.
It's extremely important that you don't overwater the rockwool cubes if you go that route. The rockwool cube should not feel heavy or look dark, and it should almost look/feel dry unless you touch the cube.
The top is VERY important. I've lost literally hundreds of dollars worth of seeds to pythium. Seedlings are very susceptible to root rot (damping off) and most of the time if one seed shows symptoms, the rest follow within hours.
Also avoid high temp. It speeds up germination but also speeds up bacterial/fungal growth.
It's extremely important that you don't overwater the rockwool cubes if you go that route. The rockwool cube should not feel heavy or look dark, and it should almost look/feel dry unless you touch the cube.
The top is VERY important. I've lost literally hundreds of dollars worth of seeds to pythium. Seedlings are very susceptible to root rot (damping off) and most of the time if one seed shows symptoms, the rest follow within hours.
Also avoid high temp. It speeds up germination but also speeds up bacterial/fungal growth.
I drop seeds in a cup of room temperature water for around 24 hours by which time most if not all of the seeds have cracked, i then place them in a small pot with a couple inches of coco at the bottom and gently cover with another couple inches of coco and spray with water so that it is wet without being soaked......put under T5's and when the seeds pop up i add coco as they grow to keep them supported and short as possible in the pot.
My success rate in 10 years of growing is not far off 100%, having lost only a few seeds out of hundreds germinated.
PEace
Peace
My success rate in 10 years of growing is not far off 100%, having lost only a few seeds out of hundreds germinated.
PEace
Peace
I
icon
i scuff my seeds lightly then put them in wet oderless/colorless toilet paper & put it in something like a sandwhich bag & put it on a shelf above my digital tv box the shelf is alwys warm but never gets hot its just right as soon as they start to sprout i very carefully put them in a cup of coco coir & place it under a light germ rates are usually 90% +
S
Stray
straight into root riots for me and if i lose a couple? never mind,our paths were'nt meant to cross
Caille
Member
As I mentioned a couple pages back, I ended up choosing a natural feeling method.
Soaked seeds for 6 hours until when stirred some seeds would hang mid level before coming back up, not to the point of full sinkage.
Then I placed the seeds in a mix of 50/50 FFOF and Coir, dampened it but did not wet it.
Couple days later my success rate was 85% and the 3 duds (out of 20 seeds), they came from one breeder, so it was likely the beans and not me.
Alexis
*smiles*
I've never bought seeds. For me it's either quality clones from a growing buddy or bagseed.
My bagseed usually germinates less than 10%. So after 12-36 hours in a jar of tap water, I germinate in wet paper towels placed on a plate somewhere warm and free of much air movement.
I add just a VERY small touch of dish detergent to the water I use and I think that helps penetrate old, less viable seed casings, and may reduce infection rates. It's dilute enough that virtually no bubbles appear when shaking the water. Some bagseed can take several days to pop. Every day I change the water by running the paper towels through new warm water to replace the old water.
I then very carefully move the popped seeds into soil-less mix. I carefully use a small stick or fork or some-such to orient the seed about a half inch down with the tap root pointing up. I try not to handle the seeds with my fingers.
After a day or so, I use the stick or whatever to very carefully help guide the seed/seedling into a good orientation and even help pop the seed casing off.
I might lose the occasional seed/seedling doing all this, but it's plentiful and cheap bagseed, so IMO no big whoop.
My only exception to bagseed was 2 seeds I got from my outdoor plant this year. Surprisingly, even relatively immature and after a water cure, 1 of the 2 has popped, and pretty quick.
Paper towels work for me fine IMO with bagseed. With 10% or less popping, this method saves me lot's of planting of seeds that will never pop.
If I was to buy professionally created and expensive seeds with high germination expectations, I might just plant the seeds with no jar or paper towel steps. But with high quality clones available to me, I see no need to buy seeds.
My bagseed usually germinates less than 10%. So after 12-36 hours in a jar of tap water, I germinate in wet paper towels placed on a plate somewhere warm and free of much air movement.
I add just a VERY small touch of dish detergent to the water I use and I think that helps penetrate old, less viable seed casings, and may reduce infection rates. It's dilute enough that virtually no bubbles appear when shaking the water. Some bagseed can take several days to pop. Every day I change the water by running the paper towels through new warm water to replace the old water.
I then very carefully move the popped seeds into soil-less mix. I carefully use a small stick or fork or some-such to orient the seed about a half inch down with the tap root pointing up. I try not to handle the seeds with my fingers.
After a day or so, I use the stick or whatever to very carefully help guide the seed/seedling into a good orientation and even help pop the seed casing off.
I might lose the occasional seed/seedling doing all this, but it's plentiful and cheap bagseed, so IMO no big whoop.
My only exception to bagseed was 2 seeds I got from my outdoor plant this year. Surprisingly, even relatively immature and after a water cure, 1 of the 2 has popped, and pretty quick.
Paper towels work for me fine IMO with bagseed. With 10% or less popping, this method saves me lot's of planting of seeds that will never pop.
If I was to buy professionally created and expensive seeds with high germination expectations, I might just plant the seeds with no jar or paper towel steps. But with high quality clones available to me, I see no need to buy seeds.
OPT
Member
Bounty paper towel, dunked in luke warm water. Then ring out all extra moisture leaving the paper towel moist. Put seeds in middle, fold over 2-3 times, stick in a sandwich baggie, left open, not sealed. Then, i wrap them in small bath towel, and put them up out of the way.
The number one thing people do wrong in this method is leaving the paper towel too wet, It need to be fully rung out of moisture. The little bit left in the paper towel is plenty to get the seeds to open, and when put in a baggie, the humidity stays where you want it to be.
If they don't pop within 3 days, It's just not going to happen.
Success rate: 98% in 1.5-3 days. (even old ass seeds have popped for me, like cherry bomb II from 6 years ago, or old stock of Skunk x haze by Sam)
OPT
The number one thing people do wrong in this method is leaving the paper towel too wet, It need to be fully rung out of moisture. The little bit left in the paper towel is plenty to get the seeds to open, and when put in a baggie, the humidity stays where you want it to be.
If they don't pop within 3 days, It's just not going to happen.
Success rate: 98% in 1.5-3 days. (even old ass seeds have popped for me, like cherry bomb II from 6 years ago, or old stock of Skunk x haze by Sam)
OPT
Well see I totally diagree LOL I hate rockwool #1 and why not soak? bro if something has worked for ppl for over 100 years why do you say to them now don't do it LOL .. I wouldn't let my seeds rot but it has worked this way for me for a long time so if it ain't broke lol. The fungal growth you are talking about might be avoided by small amounts of bleach often used by all gardeners on their seed stock for just this reason. Although I personally have never had to use this as I have never had a plant or seed with this type of problem.Another technic is using seaweed in veg as a foiler. peace out Headband707
