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A Germination Machine
- Thread starter D.S. Toker. MD
- Start date
I use filtered water only (a simple water filter on the end of my tap). If that didn't work I was going to start mixing a light Maxicrop solution (15mL/gal) and wetting the sponges with that. I've been waiting 48 hours before planting directly into 18oz solo cups of soil (1 bag of FFOF to 1 bag of FFLW). I water the soil with that light Maxicrop solution, place 18oz solo cups into a seedling tray (10 per tray), heating mat underneath, humidity dome on top (closed for 24 hours or until seedlings break the surface, then cracked vents 1/4 turn once they make it up, then cracked 1/2 turn once they are all up), under a bank of 4 2ft blue T5s.
M.
I don't soak seed at all anymore, nor do I believe in it. Dry seed goes straight onto wet sponge. Sponges shouldn't be soaked either. They can be heavy but not dripping wet. Machine works perfect without any Maxicrop.
M.
great! I really meant wetting the sponge not soaking it. I woke up this morning and one of my Bodhi Hollywood Pure Kush x Uzbekistani HP popped and has a nice tail coming along. going to wait another day to see if other pop as well. but so far looks more effective than anything ive tried so far.
Sunday blessings!
do you put them in soil as soon as you see a tap root? any other tips?
I've put them in soil uncracked with no tap root showing (after 48 hours in the machine) and they still germinated. I had 3 Afghan Haze that didn't pop in the machine. Not wanting to give up on them I put all 3 of them into the same solo cup. 24 hours later I had one seedling, 48 hours later I had 3.
M.
amazing! another other tricks putting the solo cups into a dome?
why put a tiny bean into an 18oz solo cup. why not put it a 3x3 planter or smaller cup till it grows some and then transplant when ready. you can probably fit more into a Humid Dome without crowding with large solo cups no??
do you punch holes at bottoms of solo cups for drainage?
took me a bit to find them but here are the containers shown in the picture. I offered $9.98 for 2 of them and the person accepted and shipped the next day.
these seem the best as they have 2 even size compartment so if you use 2 containers you have have 4 different beans germinating. just get a larger container for the water to but both of them in and make sure you have enough depth for them to float over the heater.
If you need to cut the edge of the sponge so it fits better or in a different container just cut away the wet sponge to size.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Frigidaire-...602277?hash=item1a1a5f4a65:g:3sAAAOSw65FXt5Gu
these seem the best as they have 2 even size compartment so if you use 2 containers you have have 4 different beans germinating. just get a larger container for the water to but both of them in and make sure you have enough depth for them to float over the heater.
If you need to cut the edge of the sponge so it fits better or in a different container just cut away the wet sponge to size.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Frigidaire-...602277?hash=item1a1a5f4a65:g:3sAAAOSw65FXt5Gu
It's just how I was taught to grow. Saves time and effort. I don't have to water the cups as much or transplant to larger size container for quite some time. This allows me the luxury of leaving them alone to let them grow, and in my mind that's less stress. Less stress equals more females IME. 10 solo cups fit perfectly into 1 seedling tray, up to 4 seeds can be planted per cup, 4 drainage holes cut into the bottom of each cup using Fiskars. It's simple, easy, quick, efficient, and effective.
M.
Logic is that you have 4 seeds you don't expect to pop (usually the last 4 to germ) so you throw them all into the same cup and hope one of them pops. If they all pop then that's great. Theoretically 2 will be male. They can be culled or cloned. The 2 females can be cloned and/or separated. Idea is to not waste too much soil on seed you don't expect to germ. Most times none of them pop and you reuse the soil.
M.
Put 6 fem Kali Mist into the machine. 0 germ after 48 hours. Gave them another 48 hours. All 6 germed, 4 with 2 inch root, 1 grew into the wet sponge, and 1 jumped out from between the sponges and was sitting in the plastic Tupperware tray. So, in summary: 96 hours, 100% germination. Incredible.
M.
M.
here's another good tip. I took the container lid and the container and marked it with a Sharpie, so after you label each side and open the container to check it you can not make a mistake putting the lid back on.
it could be very easy to make a mistake and put the lid on wrong hence switching the label to the wrong position.
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