You reap what you sew

[X3rx3Z]

(this information is based off study, trail and error over the last 2 weeks. The information may be debatable to some and i am happy to be corrected, this is just what has worked for me, and considering the lack of information on this i decided to post my results)

 

NOTE: If the seeds are pale or white and or crush between your fingers... dont bother with this, or at all for that matter.

 

 

Ok, So you cant get seeds for whatever reason (like me) but you happen to have a few dusty old bag seeds you found in 1993 wedged in the back of your drawer (like me - 1993 = hyperbole btw, maybe they're 4yrs old).

You chuck em in to germinate with all the right specs of light/heat & time.... nothing ... why did that happen? are they dead? what now? eat em?

 

Well its time to get medievil on their dormant asses and crack out the scalple!

They could be dormant from a number of reasons, but with cannabis its mostly 2,

 

1. The integument (shell) is too tough for the water to seep through and start the reaction.

 

2. The embryo is too small for the integument and doesnt contact moisture once its soaked through.

 

So that brings us to the scalple, if the seeds are hard, dark and look healthy you can try scarifying them, which is to scrape the blade gently over the integument seams scraping shavings off with the blade 90 degrees to the edge to thin it out. Place the scarifyed seed in to tepid fresh water and germinate as usual, no ferts, hormones or vitamins as they're useless untill the first true leaves... Hopefully in 48hrs you'll have some movement in there!

 

If not, all is not lost. there is one chance left... its risky .. but with a seed that wont crack what have you to loose? and that is to remove the embryo completely and carefully from the integument and membranes and manually place it in a damp towel of tepid water as above.

This will still need the seams to be scraped in oreder to get the halves apart, this should happen pretty easily until you realch the point where the seed was attached to the plant, that will need a bit of "force" (term used very loosely)

For this i will attach an image......

 

(p.s im at work and supposed to be working so i appologise for any grammatical errors in this post / drawing)

 

 

P.s Thanks to Nouseforaname for the tips and tricks that got me this far.

Edited January 12, 2010 by X3rx3Z

[X3rx3Z]

**UPDATE**

Ive just had to do this again for a friend in need, he was happy to give it a try.

 

This time a small vice was made using two bolts with a fine thread ... tightened gradually until the casing cracked and i was able to chip it away - this method really worked well for me

 

RESULTS

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10 seed were placed in a towel, out of those 3 germinated naturally (30% success rate)

2 more seeds responded to scarification (20% increase - total 50% success rate)

4 embryos responded to human intervention (40% increase - total 90% success rate)

1 seed/embryo hasn't respoded to anything so far

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Totaling a 60% increase in success rate by stepping in for mother nature

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Heres a few pics, -