Germinating seeds, how warm water to use and do you keep them in dark?

xtsho · Sep 9, 2019

Kingrow1 said:
Strange as the rest of us get near on 100% germination by direct sowing....

Must be your error not ours because it aint hard

I just don't understand the paper towel step. If someone soaks the seed for 24 hours it will sprout in soil just like it will sprout in a paper towel. The difference with soil is that once the seed germinates it's tap root immediately starts growing the way it should. It's more natural and reduces the possibility of damaging the root, stunting the seedling, and overall gives the seedling a better start.

Blossom21 · Sep 9, 2019

xtsho said:
It doesn't really matter. They just need light once they start to break the surface. It won't hurt for them to be under light before they break the surface. Just be careful that they don't dry out. I never use a dome when sprouting seeds. They don't need it and excess moisture can lead to dampening off and the loss of your seedling.

How moist should i keep the cup after putting the seed in? I've seen people fully saturate the cup until seeing run off water, and people saying you should just keep the top moist all the time. So do i just keep it moist or let it dry at all? At what point should i actually let it dry and start watering for real?

xtsho · Sep 9, 2019

Blossom21 said:
How moist should i keep the cup after putting the seed in? I've seen people fully saturate the cup until seeing run off water, and people saying you should just keep the top moist all the time. So do i just keep it moist or let it dry at all? At what point should i actually let it dry and start watering for real?

Damp not wet.

Put in damp soil and use a sprayer to water the seed in. Spray as needed to keep the soil moist. You don't need or want to water until runoff when starting seeds.

I know there are people that disagree with going straight into soil and think that germinating in paper towels is needed. It isn't. I've started so many seeds over decades of growing. It's so easy and the reason people fail is because they mess around with everything. They just can't leave things alone and have to make things much too complicated. Put the seed in soil, water it in, wait for it to sprout. A viable seed will sprout all the time. I can do trays of seed directly into soil. No soaking, no paper towel, and 100% germination. If you can't start a seed in soil then you're doing something wrong.

Kingrow1 · Sep 9, 2019

xtsho said:
I just don't understand the paper towel step. If someone soaks the seed for 24 hours it will sprout in soil just like it will sprout in a paper towel. The difference with soil is that once the seed germinates it's tap root immediately starts growing the way it should. It's more natural and reduces the possibility of damaging the root, stunting the seedling, and overall gives the seedling a better start.

Like boveda and such, 90% of my time is saying how it use to be done before we got invaded by the worst bs ever.

Thesedays growers be like 'paper towel led boveda... suckers' :-)

Aotea Med_Men · Sep 9, 2019

Blossom21 said:
So keep them in dark 'til they start to break the surface, should i put some kind of dome on top of it to keep the humidity up? I don't have a humidifier and RH is around 45% in my house.

You can put light on them sooner but the gravity will pull them up you dont need much light for first week either

ganga gurl420 · Sep 9, 2019

Blossom21 said:
What would you consider "very warm" water to be, like almost steaming hot or? I wanna be sure before making something stupid haha. 70F doesn't seem to be "that" warm, my room temperature is between 74-77F, that should be okay without any extra warmers? I let it get to the point right before it hurts my hand.
Your temps are better then mine but it's always a little cold here lol

Hot water cylinder?

Blossom21 · Sep 9, 2019

I think you made a mistake posting ganga gurl?

ganga gurl420 · Sep 9, 2019

Wow... sorry. I run the water hot til right before It hurts my hand. I've never taken the temp of it tho.

Germinating seeds, how warm water to use and do you keep them in dark?

xtsho

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Blossom21

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xtsho

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Kingrow1

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Aotea Med_Men

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ganga gurl420

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Blossom21

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ganga gurl420

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