Fresh Seed Germination Trick?

So what's the trick to germinate freshly dried seeds?

The reason I ask is that I've noticed that I haven't been able to sprout any of my newly dried seeds (they have been dry for about 3-4 weeks now). Are they still too fresh? Do I need to cool them down for a period of time in the fridge to increase viability or should I just dry them out some more?

I've noticed that a few stray seeds that I've planted outdoors in small pots HAVE germinated. Where as the seeds that have remained in the constant warm temps of indoors will not germinate.

I always let them dry out for a cpl weeks at least then put them in the fridge.
I've never sprouted seeds that hadn't spent some time in the fridge. Maybe there's something to the cooling off process. symbolic of winter maybe??


MARLO

The trick is to plant way more seeds than you'll actually need plants. Hopefully that way you'll get enough.

But if they are germinating better under cooler temps try that? Are they outdoor seeds by any chance?

i just put seeds in rapid rooters now and keep moist, 3 weeks should be long enough, when i have extra seeds i just put like 20 in a pot of dirt and when they come up i transplant to their own pot, also i think the moon is waning, might just be lunar man, i like t56o plant prize seeds about 4 days before the full moon, seems the moon has a pull or something, helps seeds or hurts them

Marlo said:

I always let them dry out for a cpl weeks at least then put them in the fridge.
I've never sprouted seeds that hadn't spent some time in the fridge. Maybe there's something to the cooling off process. symbolic of winter maybe??


MARLO

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Put them in the fridge for a week or two.

A near freezing temperature in the fridge replicates the over-wintering of seeds that occurs in most climates outdoors in nature, MOST strains usually need this to have good viability and activate the embryos in fresh seeds. Otherwise freshly dropped seeds from a plant that attempted to just immediately grow at the end of the life cycle of a female plant (right before the winter) would not survive most likely and would die during the winter so the seed knows it has to wait until winter is over and it is re-warmed before becoming active. This is all controlled by selective genes and growth hormones present in the embryo.

Here is how I do it:

Let seeds fully mature til almost falling off mother plant, stop watering mother last few days and let it dry out well before harvesting so there is minimal moisture present.

Harvest seeds from dried buds, and dry well for about 7 to 10 days in 70 - 75 F temps with low humidity. A small fan blowing over the seeds helps and rotate them around a few times.

Place in fridge for approx 30 to 60 days, sealed well in the dark and protected from moisture.

Take out of the fridge only the seeds you plan to germinate and let them re-warm in room temps for a few days before germinating at 80 - 85 F. I like to soak them overnight in distilled water with a drop of superthrive in it and a teaspoon of Hydrogen Peroxide to prevent any fungal or bacterial complications with the delicate hatchlings. Then they go into freshly rinsed coir in solo beer cups with holes poked in the bottom and get watered with GH flora series in a 1/1/1 ratio at 200 ppm for the first 2 weeks of seedling growth. Then you can move it up to 400 ppm when they start to veg before transplant time. I give my seedlings a few drops of superthrive per gallon of nutes once they are actively growing and they love me for it. Happy little healthy seeds grow up to be big happy plants.

TIP..1..Storing fresh dried seeds in the cool dark fridge has many advantages. One being that this process mimics the dormancy stage which happens in nature. FREEZING is also common but used much less than fridge storage. Freezing is only suggested for seeds you know 100% will not be need for a few years at least. The problems with freezing seeds is you must use them when there thawed and they cant be refrozen. It will extend the dormancy period though and freezing has its purpose. I have seen 7 year old frozen seeds germinate at of 60%...

TIP 2..try using a silicone pack, you know the type you find in electronics boxes to keep things dry and mildew free.. they look like tea bags filled with rock salt.. these will absorb any moisture in your seeds and speed up the drying process.

TIP ..3..Some seeds such as some of the auto-flower genetics do need help to germinate. I have tried many different techniques to boost the germination rate in all sorts of strains. 12 hour pre-soak in good water with out nutrients is alwasy a good idea.. seed that sink are usually good where floaters are not.. then from that point its up to you, paper towels, rockwool, soils , promix, perlite are all good methods.. one tip is to stay away from COCO when starting seeds. Coco tends to burn fragile seed roots which can really be devistating wit the price of some seeds.. So stick to the simple stuff for seeds and remember no nutrients are needed and ph isnt really critical at this stage...for a really good germ report paper search out MANDALA SEEDS and on there site is a really well written paper on this subject as well as lots of other great tech stuff that is in contrast to most of the inforamtion around the web...

best of luck with your projects...

Coco coir that is not high in residual salts like quality coir should be to begin with definitely does not burn seeds, in fact Coco is excellent for starting seeds. Do it all the time.

Has anybody ever used rice instead of silicone packs to help draw the moisture away from the seeds while drying and in storage?
I used to use rice to keep the moisture down in my antique tin toy car collection and figure it would work for seeds as well.
thoughts?

they recommend using rice as a drying agent for cellphones that are submerged in water.......works very well and restored my iphone.....
i keep all my beanz in rice........
so to me YES......the rice draws out moisture......
thats also why they place a few grains of dry rice in salt shakers to prevent moisture from building up from humidity... then causing the salt to clump and not freeflow.......

so I'm alwayz using rice.......
and the whole use rice husk for U'r compost.works well also.......

Marlo said:

I've never sprouted seeds that hadn't spent some time in the fridge. Maybe there's something to the cooling off process. symbolic of winter maybe?

Click to expand...

Yes cold stratification is normal in most annual varieties from temperate climates

I have used all of the posted tecs on seed germ and had success with many methods.. germing is the easiet step for sure but time after time people continue to have problems with it... mis-inforamtions is part of this I think...

now besides the discussed methods in this thread I have also use another method for extremly old or hard to germ seeds.. such a seed was the first generation of autos from teh turn of the century , the original lowryder.. what a terrible plant it was, the taste was bad and the buzz gave many headaches... thank god it has improved leaps and bounds as it was a real waste of time up to about 6 years ago, basicly a real novelty and thats about it..

so hard to germ or old seeds... what have I done when all else fails..

GIBBERELLIC ACID... this is a hormone that is naturally found in plants and that is where they actually get the acid from...It can be found on places like ebay. I found mine at a rare and exotic seed seller who sells rare orchid, bamboos, bonsai, picture plants rain forrest plants and lots of other extremly rare seeds. I bought a pack of 10 grams for $15 I think.. comes in powder form.. and just a pinch will really go a long way...

it will make plants elongate there stems much like the stretch of early flrowers.. not a trate most people like...

its very good at boosting germ rates...and thats it most common use in plant cycles...

Gibberellic acid stimulates the cells of germinating seeds to produce mRNA molecules that code for hydrolytic enzymes



http://www.crfg.org/tidbits/gibberellic.html

Gibberellins have a number of effects on plant development. They can:
1) stimulate rapid stem and root growth,
2) induce mitotic division in the leaves of some plants,
3) increase seed germination rate.
Gibberellic acid is sometimes used in laboratory and greenhouse settings to trigger germination in seeds that would otherwise remain dormant


SO THATS MY 3 cents....

Cold dont have nothing to do with germination. Marihuana seeds dont have inhibitors for cold as most of mariuhuana come from tropical regions. Ive seen plants in fall with small plants out of buds with temps up abowe 15C.
Let your seeds mature, dry them for 2 months, plant them and you will have germ rate close to 100%.

peace

I agree with lasko, cannabis seeds don't need to be stratified. Matter of fact, I regularly germinate seeds the very next day after teasing them out of even wet bud. When a seed is first taken out of wet bud, it will be dark and shiney, but after drying overnite it's ready to go. The fast turnover of genetic material is the indoor breeders advantage. With practice, you can 'push' a strain through four or even five generations each year. If you're not getting 100% germination rate with fresh seeds, there's some other problem.

Mr. Greengenes said:

I agree with lasko, cannabis seeds don't need to be stratified. Matter of fact, I regularly germinate seeds the very next day after teasing them out of even wet bud. When a seed is first taken out of wet bud, it will be dark and shiney, but after drying overnite it's ready to go. The fast turnover of genetic material is the indoor breeders advantage. With practice, you can 'push' a strain through four or even five generations each year. If you're not getting 100% germination rate with fresh seeds, there's some other problem.

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Problem is your over domesticated line will perhaps grow weak in lineage, by pushing whats not natural.
Stratification in annual species is normal, its the reason old allotment growers use an old biscuit tin to overwinter seeds in.

ALL professional breeders use cold stratification,,, come again!

All 'professional' breeders have not been breeding as long as me Doc. I stratified seeds with my grandmother back in the late sixties, but have since dropped the practiice with cannabis.

Point worth makeing on useing rice , uncooked dry rice from the pack contains quite a lot of moisture and works much better if microwaved till steam stops comeing off first.

Everyone at my allotments keeps seed overwinter in an assortment of ancient rusting metal biscuit tins now with silica gell packs from electronics ect , they can be microwaved dry and reused indefinately , such is progress.

Have not found a requirement for stratification in canna , all my own seed pop straight off the plant , even immature seed pulled at 15 days from pollination will go 50% with care .

Have noted that smaller less mature seed will mostly germinate straight off the plant but will fail once properly dried , i pop these as is and store the best looking in the fridge once properly dried , to slow deteriation rather than stratify.

Everything done indoors , maybe outdoor seeded plants are a little different but have seen rings of fresh seedlings around missed plants in november before the first frost kills them , and mouldy outdoor bud with seedlings growing out of them.

Mr. Greengenes said:

All 'professional' breeders have not been breeding as long as me Doc. I stratified seeds with my grandmother back in the late sixties, but have since dropped the practiice with cannabis.

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woho there ,, (one love) im not that old,, i just started young (on the first seed i found) naturally organic style. As for 'old breeders' ,, check out grand-daddy Sam and Gerrit (he aint that old),, Tony at Sagarmatha (dude your lastest seeds where wack , but i still love you ,you the lion),, see Shantibaba and Arjan's/Franco's shit (word out to Jack),, if you wanna get really old school then get on the Wernard Bruining flex,,, over at Positronics/whateevr and all the seed co.s dem still supporting that (genetically)..

DocLeaf's old to school but still catching up on the old 'professional cats' full props to them,, shout out Big Buddha over ground and So7omon under it!! brrrrrrrrr