Just finished germinating the following :

5 x Grapefruit - 5 popped and are looking good;
5 x Cinnamon - 4 popped and are looking good;
5 x NL - 1 popped and looks pretty awful.

Now they were all presoaked in the same liquid (water/OxyPlus/superthrive) as were the rockwool cubes. They were all in the same light/heat/etc. One week on and only one of the NL seeds has popped and it looks pretty awful really - and has looked bad more or less from when it popped the shell.

It's been a very long time since I germinated cannabis seeds so I'm wondering whether I've just got a bad batch or what? The Grapefruit & NL came from one seed supplier and the Cinnamon came from another. There was no physical damage apparent to any of the seeds either.

The only other difference I see is that the NL is indica while the other two are sativa dominant? Does that make a big difference to germination?

[Sleepy]

Soaking the rockwool over night in pH'd water flushes out the fire-retardent chemicals...then squeeeze out most of the water...maybe this would help?
did you use the old "paper towel" method first? and then into rock wool?
i don't know.

Hiya Sleepy. I did presoak the rockwool overnight as recommended - PH around 5.5 to balance out the alkalinity. All the seeds were germinated in the rockwool. The sativas did fine and the NL didn't so I haven't a clue what is going on

Bad batch or old seeds maybe?

[Sleepy]

Hmmm, you got me...

best of luck to you with your grow. sorry i can't help...

welcome to IC!! :smile:

Thanks mate - it's not a big deal or anything but since I'm just getting back into the swing of things I just wondered if this was a "gotcha" moment where I'd messed up :smile:

[Female Seeds]

Hey vestas, you never know what happens with the seeds in the post. It looks like you are doing an excelent job......Some strains pop faster than others.....So far we haven't heard any complaints about bad germinating NL-seeds and the latest test results where good..........

Thanks for the reply Female Seeds.

I think you can take this as a tentative report of a bad batch or one of your official retailers having problems with storage/whatever of seeds.

I've tried to germinate the remainder of the seeds and there's nothing happening after 4-5 days now. The one seed that germinated died not long after my first post on this thread - the taproot was brown and withered. Same conditions/water/etc that the Grapefruit/Cinnamon are happy in.

I don't think anything happened in the post as I received the Grapefruit and NL inside the same plastic box from a seed supplier in this country (so no customs involved). The Grapefruit is fine, the NL seems to be damaged somehow - 9/10 didn't germinate and the one that did looked sick right from the start. No big deal but maybe something you should keep an eye on?

If you want to know who the retailer was then PM me.

Replying to myself - must be losing it

Anyway I decided that the last 5 seeds weren't going to do anything so I cracked them open one by one. All of them were black inside I doubt its anything I did as I really went back to basics on these 5 - ph neutral water and some seeding compost (John Innes No 1 for you UK peeps).

The rest (Cinnamon/Grapefruit) are doing fine so I'll just chalk this one up to bad luck.....

Hey.
My 'female seeds NL' have germed at a sweet 100% in 36hrs, been using the good old moist newspaper in a glass method.
I've popped 6 so far without no pre-soaking or superthrive or what have you.
Also i use Helsinki city tap water that has a PH of about 7.5 - 8.5
And the NL's grow like a mofo too!
So.. Thus far i'm very impressed with these.

[tokinjoe]

As for germ rates on Female seeds.....I ordered 3 packs of the Skunk special for a friend and he germed 24 of them and every single one of them popped and are looking VERY NICE indeed! I also ordered 10 White Widow and 10 Grapefruit and had 18 germinate, 1 seed was missing and the other cracked open and never did anything else. I've also germed 7 bbxnl seeds and every single one of them germed and did very well. No doubt you got hold of some seeds that were probably stored incorrectly.

One other note, I have a very basic germination method. I germ in a paper towel folded over 4 times, store it in a small tupperware container, and actually let the seeds get a root that is 1/2" long and many have already shed the seed. It's only then that I plant them in the dirt, always with the seed head, or bare leaves above the ground and get 100% survival rate. I also handle them with my fingers, which from what I understand is a no-no, but it works for me...Good luck. Peace. TJ