Please chime in with your most successful germination method for the Aerogarden

Can I get everyone's opinion on their favorite way to germinate with the AG?

Do you pregerm in paper towel or glass of water?

Do you start it in soil and transplant it to the AG plug?

Do you put it straght in the AG? If so how deep in the plug? DO you cut or puncture the plug?

If you germ in the AG do you run the pump 24/7? 12/12? Use a maual timer and custom program (for example 15 minutes on every 4 hours)?

If you germ in the AG do you make adjustments to the water for PH, h2o2, superthrive, root accelerator, sm-90, tiger bloom or anything other than tap water?

I have read a lot about not using paper towel or cup of water due to tap root damage. The solution they suggest is to plant directly in the substrate. Well my last two seed runs in the AG went 1 for 3, and 2 for 4. I dont know if I screwed something up to get such a low germ rate.

Im thinking maybe it needs to get sanitized? Have you figured the magic combination ?

Gypsy, Sicc, Alex, Shack, Purp whats your take on AG germ?

Thanks in advance

kiss-ass

I feel like a retarded kid asking this, as it has been so easy for me in the past in soil.

Grabbed 3 sheets of paper towels. Folded them to it made a rectangle. Wet the paper tower. just so its damp. dont over soak it. I placed seed inside the rectangle , folded the paper towel over to make a square so the seed sits in the middle. Placed square on a dish plate, then covered with a bowl. Placed it over my Entertainment center for a little warmth.


Took 1 day for me. Little root was curled up. Took those premade seed grow medium. Took a pen and pushed to make a hole all the way through it. I then cut it length wise to kinda split it in half to set the seed in the middle.make sure root is facing down. Placed grow medium back in plastic thing. Make sure to have paper thing cover that plastic thing. Then i placed the dome on top that comes with the AG. A few days they sprouted. I took off Dome.

Look at my thread.It has kinda detailed things of what my days have been like. https://www.rollitup.org/aerogardeners/215680-first-timer-aerogarden-grow-journal.html

Thanks Cardinal + rep.

Thats what I did my first time and it worked well. I think I screwed up these last times, as I had to crank up the AC to keep temps down, and in the mean time made it too cool. Ive been experimenting putting the germinating seeds in the water heater closet. Totally dark, and about 88 degrees all the time. I had one in a glass of water that popped in 24 hours in there!

my most successful method was to throw the cheap piece of shit in the trash yo

jwop said:

my most successful method was to throw the cheap piece of shit in the trash yo

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Pop goes the weasel!

And for the germination issue I was having...I figured it out. I have the AC cranked up, and it was getting in to the low 60's at night. I tried germinating in my garage, as its steady at 82 - 89. Wouldnt you know it, 100% germination within 48 hours on two different tests now. And that guy Ludacris was right...he's always posting to germinate directly in substrate. I did an experiment with paper towel method, cup of water and directly in soil. Now I only did 6 in each method but the ones germed in 1 inch of Ocean's Forest Soil, sprouted a taproot easily twice as long and twice as fast as the paper towel or the cup of water. Although it is worth noting again that in the garage I did get 100% germ rate. This makes sense as most of these germination kits for sale have a heating pad.

cardinal7syn said:

Grabbed 3 sheets of paper towels. Folded them to it made a rectangle. Wet the paper tower. just so its damp. dont over soak it. I placed seed inside the rectangle , folded the paper towel over to make a square so the seed sits in the middle. Placed square on a dish plate, then covered with a bowl. Placed it over my Entertainment center for a little warmth.

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I agree with Cardinal7syn, but after i put the seeds in the damp towel I put the damp paper towel in a zip lock bag to keep it moist then put the bowl over that then put it over my cable box or on top of my refrigerator

i put mine in rockwool they seem to sprout faster

paper towel never fails

Froman said:

paper towel never fails

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Thats you right SICC? Ive been using a lot of your advice over the last couple months so thanks for your helpful posts.

That Brother Lynch cover is badass...

Yeah the paper towel is super trusty, although a lot of people are preaching dont do it, plant directly in substrate. I did a little miny experiment and the ones directly in two inches of moist soil did start a little faster than the paper towel or the AG plug, although they all sprouted 100%.

My problem was clearly temp fluctuation. Got too cold at night (65). Now seeds seem to pop out of their shell no matter what method I use at temps 80 - 88.