how do you germinate?
- Thread starter loolagigi
- Start date
SuperD
Active Member
I soak mine in a R/O water and H2O2 mixture for about 24 hours or until they sink to the bottom. After that I move them to a small container with a paper towel that has been dampened with the same mixture and then cover them with another paper towel. I put them on a germinating heated matt and wait.
First seeds (Attitude) I had 100% germination rate BUT had to go out of town and lost all 3 of them. This batch came from another source and I'm not having as good of luck with 30 seeds but I'm pretty sure it's the seed quality and not the technique.
Super-d
First seeds (Attitude) I had 100% germination rate BUT had to go out of town and lost all 3 of them. This batch came from another source and I'm not having as good of luck with 30 seeds but I'm pretty sure it's the seed quality and not the technique.
Super-d
Hobbes
Well-Known Member
I don't soak or use paper towels and I have a nearly 100% germ rate within 3 or 4 days.
16 oz plastic cup, poke holes in bottom for drainage
Pro Mix (B'Cuzz, anything PH adjusted without nutes)
Distilled water
Glad Cling Wrap
Pen
1. Mix your medium with distilled water until it's ready for planting - squeeze some lightly in your hand, it should retain its shape of the contours of your hand but not drip any water.
2. Fill the cup, covering the top and shaking up and down to get the medium compacted evenly. Fill to 1" below top, pat down GENTLY.
3. Using the pen tip make a small hole in the center of the cup about 3/16" deep.
4. Take the seed to good light and determine which end is scalloped (will open) and which end has the little dimple where it was attached to the plant (the hing). Place the seed gently in the top of the hole with the scallop side down, remove the refill from the pen and use the open end to fit over the seed and push down so it's dimpled end is 1 millimeter below the surface. Use the tip of the pen to gently rough up the medium top and lightly cover the seed with 1 mm of medium.
5. Sprinkle 3 - 5 tablespoons of distilled water on top of the medium, soaking the entire surface.
6. Tear off a strip of cling wrap wide enough to cover the cup, tear the strip in two and use one half strip per cup. The good cling wrap will hug the lip of the cup and give you a great seal.
7. Put the cup in your flower room, if possible high enough to get direct light. This will give you a steaming effect, the inside of the cling wrap will become opaque with water vapor. The 12/12 cycle seems to help the seed split, I've found much better luck with this than 24 hours constant heat - perhaps because the heating and cooling in 12/12 closer mimics a natural enviroment.
8. Check the cup atleast 3 times a day - lights on/off/in middle - if the seed pops the surface and you don't remove the cling wrap the stem stays bent for a few days. Filling the cup with medium to 1" below the cup lip gives you some playing room, and space to add more medium if the stem needs support.
9. If the plant pops the surface and you have a white stem without the leaves you planted the seed upside down and you are looking at the root tip. If you catch it early enough you may be able to replant before the root dies.
10. Remember to label your cups.
Long winded but if anyone is having trouble with germinating this is a near idiot proof method.
.
.
16 oz plastic cup, poke holes in bottom for drainage
Pro Mix (B'Cuzz, anything PH adjusted without nutes)
Distilled water
Glad Cling Wrap
Pen
1. Mix your medium with distilled water until it's ready for planting - squeeze some lightly in your hand, it should retain its shape of the contours of your hand but not drip any water.
2. Fill the cup, covering the top and shaking up and down to get the medium compacted evenly. Fill to 1" below top, pat down GENTLY.
3. Using the pen tip make a small hole in the center of the cup about 3/16" deep.
4. Take the seed to good light and determine which end is scalloped (will open) and which end has the little dimple where it was attached to the plant (the hing). Place the seed gently in the top of the hole with the scallop side down, remove the refill from the pen and use the open end to fit over the seed and push down so it's dimpled end is 1 millimeter below the surface. Use the tip of the pen to gently rough up the medium top and lightly cover the seed with 1 mm of medium.
5. Sprinkle 3 - 5 tablespoons of distilled water on top of the medium, soaking the entire surface.
6. Tear off a strip of cling wrap wide enough to cover the cup, tear the strip in two and use one half strip per cup. The good cling wrap will hug the lip of the cup and give you a great seal.
7. Put the cup in your flower room, if possible high enough to get direct light. This will give you a steaming effect, the inside of the cling wrap will become opaque with water vapor. The 12/12 cycle seems to help the seed split, I've found much better luck with this than 24 hours constant heat - perhaps because the heating and cooling in 12/12 closer mimics a natural enviroment.
8. Check the cup atleast 3 times a day - lights on/off/in middle - if the seed pops the surface and you don't remove the cling wrap the stem stays bent for a few days. Filling the cup with medium to 1" below the cup lip gives you some playing room, and space to add more medium if the stem needs support.
9. If the plant pops the surface and you have a white stem without the leaves you planted the seed upside down and you are looking at the root tip. If you catch it early enough you may be able to replant before the root dies.
10. Remember to label your cups.
Long winded but if anyone is having trouble with germinating this is a near idiot proof method.
.
.
loolagigi
Well-Known Member
just recieved a lot of seeds from greenhouse, attitude. am going to go with the small cup and distilled water only. wait 24 to 48 hours, then when seed cracks place in my non fertilized soil. then place under cfl"s until they are strong enough to handle the hps.