Seed germination technique...

[XerXes]

I recently aquired 5 seeds and have been trying to germinate them using the paper towel method. I found a tupperware container, put 2 layers of paper towel on the bottom of it and soaked it. I then spead the 5 seeds evenly over the paper towel and placed a wet piece of paper towel over them. Then sealed the container and placed on top of my dvd drive, which is nice and warm. It's been about a day and a half now, and nothing noticeable is happening.....how long does this method usually take? Just worried that I may have 5 dud seeds....

 

Cheers

[pipeman]

firstly you don't want to seal that container otherwise you'll have mouldy seeds. keep that container open but in a dark warm spot and just keep the paper towells moist.

 

they can take up to 2 weeks to crack but usually good seeds will crack within a few days.

[zorba]

I start my seeds in rocwall cubes and 70% of them have sprouted within 2 days. In my experience you can tell quite quickly if the seed is not going to sprout after 2 -3 days, because it either hasn't begun to swell or it has become mouldy.

[bush billy]

hey guys, i put the seeds in a glass of water for 24 hours. after this time a lot of the seed are starting to swell and split open. i then pop em in seed raising mix. they are generally all up in a couple of days. this is the first time ive tried it this way and have had a excellent strike rate.

[Guest Wilderbud]

I have to do the water germination technique with the super silver haze I got. The 5 seeds were already planted but I managed to find one so far to try this out on and after 12 hours its finally sunk!

 

I believe the process of osmosis is what you are doing when putting water near a seed and some seeds have hard cases so they will need to be soaked. For other species of seeds germination can be really hard and you have to score [stratify] some hard cased seed to let them soak up the water.

 

I was really depressed when I seen the seed float as its been in warm/moist peat moss for a week but Im happy now and I hope I can find the rest of these seeds.

 

PS. I do not wait until the seed has cracked with this technique as Ive only ever heard of marijuana growers cracking seeds under water - Ive never read it in any gardening book and since the inside of the seed is now moist [hence the sinking effect] its ready to plant out.

 

NB. Ive never HAD to use this technique but these seeds cost me $5 each so I feel pressured to get them popping up. Ill grab some perlite tomorrow and restart the indoor grow [again - heh].

 

NB2. a few cheap ways to aerate water without an aerator are; shaken and not stirred, putting a straw in the water and blowing in it [kitchen favourite] and my favourite is grab the water spray and squirt a stream of water into the water youre germinating in [favourite because the mister is always there].

Edited October 28, 2003 by Wilderbud

[XerXes]

Thanks pipeman, you're a champ

 

Will post back in a few days and tell you what's happening with the seeds, otherwise I will have to get more and restart....

[Guest BudWaver]

Do you know what strain your seeds are? Some require warmer germination than others...was the water you put in with the seeds warm to start or did you slowly warm it up over a few hours.....I find its a shortcut to germinating them to use warm water...not hot...to start....and seeds germ in 24 hours....some with extremely hard shell casings will take a week or more....unless you slit them

[didjeridrew1]

I've never had a seed that took longer than a few days to germ if it was going to do it at all....i use the paper towel method like you, but under a constant flouro light

 

peace

[Chev]

I use paper towel, or rockwool. Usually under Cf's, or outside depending on weather.

[wassily]

Depends where you are too. Vico has been fuckin freezin lately. I had some NL's take like twice as long as they should recently.

BTW I've been getting away wthout a heating pad for cloning lately, but I had to use it to get my last seeds to crack. Did nothin in the rockwool and cracked within a day of the heating pad being on.

Edited October 31, 2003 by wassily