whats the best way to germinate seeds?

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Keeping germinating seeds in the dark is a counter-intuitive myth.
For sure! I keep mine under a 23W 6400K CFL on 24/7 as soon as planted so the second they emerge they are getting light. 8 hours after they pop up they'll be 2" tall and falling over without good light.

If in just water or even paper towel it's good to keep them out of the light as the emerging tap root doesn't like the light. We're all in the dark once planted underground. ;)

:peace:
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
For sure it works but for me it's just another step to forget and screw it up. I had a small stroke about 5 years ago and the fog is still hanging around tho much better than it was.

Found out two years ago that my birth mother was diagnosed with dementia at age 65 which meant she was likely sliding into it for 5 or more years before the diagnosis. Died 10 years later at 75. 6 months before I made contact with my 5 half-siblings.

I'm 64 this October and starting to wonder if those more often old-fart moments aren't something other than residual effects of the stroke.

I'll be eating my shotgun long before I'm stuck in a wheelchair drooling in my diapers I tell you what!

No way I'm going out like that.

:peace:
at least you have a stroke to blame, i've never had one, and still can't remember why i walked the ten feet into my kitchen when i get there.....and where the fuck is my phone? goddamn it, why did i get a black case? should have got a bright yellow one with flashing lights......sorry....what were we talking about?
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I've made my fair share of labeling errors through the years.....but that takes the cake ...lol

Wanted you to visually identify them for him ....lol wtf
I was actually able to positively identify most as I'd grown those strains for years and made the seeds. Was two that I wasn't sure about until they were in mid flower and even then it was a coin toss.

Like now I have 7 plants of 4 strains starting their 2nd week of flower and you could rip the labels off the pots and I'd know who's who no problem. The Critical Mass are budding up the best so far with the AK47 just a bit slower. The Blueberries are just staring to bud up and the OG#18 like usual looks sad and is bringing up the rear with it's tiny burnt leaves. Fussy f'n plant of so-so use so I'm dropping it as a keeper.

Got too many in the pipeline to waste any more time with her. Real nice mellow buzz tho.

:peace:
 

bullSnot

Well-Known Member
Keep it simple. Damp paper towel folded and dark in a solo cup covered. not wet. as soon as the crack and show a root - get in soil.

I have put in solo cup with a plastic bag over top with rubber band. then I can put on top of my LED heat sink to give it a 80 degree warmer.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
at least you have a stroke to blame, i've never had one, and still can't remember why i walked the ten feet into my kitchen when i get there.....and where the fuck is my phone? goddamn it, why did i get a black case? should have got a bright yellow one with flashing lights......sorry....what were we talking about?
You must be a godly man then as you constantly search for the here-after.

Walk into a new room and swear loudly, "GOD! What am I here after!" rotflmao.gif

Reminds me of an old joke.

Old biker takes a sweet young thing for a ride on his hog up to Inspiration Point in the middle of the night when no-one else in there and while they quietly sit looking at the stars, listening to the pings of the cooling V-twin he leans over and asks her . . . "Do you believe in the here-after?"

"I'm not sure." she replies. "Why?"

"You better", he responds. "'Cause if you're not here-after what I'm here-after you'll be here-after long after I'm gone!"

;)
 

Indacouch

Well-Known Member
I was actually able to positively identify most as I'd grown those strains for years and made the seeds. Was two that I wasn't sure about until they were in mid flower and even then it was a coin toss.

Like now I have 7 plants of 4 strains starting their 2nd week of flower and you could rip the labels off the pots and I'd know who's who no problem. The Critical Mass are budding up the best so far with the AK47 just a bit slower. The Blueberries are just staring to bud up and the OG#18 like usual looks sad and is bringing up the rear with it's tiny burnt leaves. Fussy f'n plant of so-so use so I'm dropping it as a keeper.

Got too many in the pipeline to waste any more time with her. Real nice mellow buzz tho.

:peace:

Oh I thought you gave him 100 seeds of multiple different strains. I grow multiple strains for my patients. I'm very familiar with what I grow. I always save one house for new strains and experiments. The strains I grow pretty regularly....I can identify without a label once they start showing their characteristics. I like having the the babies labeled for convenience. I can definitely identify nuggs I've grown with no label. The worst part about not knowing which is which for me is feeding and care. EXAMPLE- My BubbaK is hungry and very hardy...not finicky at all.....My OGK wouldn't fair so well with the same treatment.....so I like to have sections and keep strains together.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Keep it simple. Damp paper towel folded and dark in a solo cup covered. not wet. as soon as the crack and show a root - get in soil.

I have put in solo cup with a plastic bag over top with rubber band. then I can put on top of my LED heat sink to give it a 80 degree warmer.
I totally adhere to the KISS principle and nothing is simpler than putting a seed in the dirt and letting it sprout like nature designed it to do.

Us humans are so f'n arrogant when it comes to improving on nature and I'm one of the worst for that in many things.

Move over bitch! I'm gonna show you how it's done! lol

:peace:
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
put them in a small cup of water till they sink, then into a little tupperware bowl with a damp paper towel, on the back of the fridge where they stay warm, till they crack then into solo cups full of promix/perlite
It's great and works for you or you wouldn't do it.

I used to always soak in water 'til sprouting but doing older seeds of strains I really wanted to keep wasn't working out.

A buddy gave me about 200 seeds he found out of a 20lb grow of Afghani Kush. Turns out it was a hermie pollination so I sprouted 40 and 36 made it into DWC. As they flowered I took out hemies and ended up with a dozen girls that got some pollen from the best males.

A few of those girls tossed 'nanners later so any of those seeds got tossed.

Ended up with hundreds of seeds that many growers I sent them to never once reported a hermie.

Everybody did report that they got almost all girls which was a pleasant surprise.

Seedsapoppin_zpsce065a0b.jpg

It's amazing how many seeds you think you might have.

1/2 oz in a shot glass is 500 beans. I'm going to be tossing close to 10,000 seeds in various town/city flower beds starting next week when we go to Peace River. A few towns on the way will get some free beans too. ;)

Fill your pocket with beans and toss them where they might get a toe-hold and germinate.

Drive the local cops and town gov't right out of their tiny minds! happydance.gif

Power to the powerless !!!!!!!

:peace:
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
For sure! I keep mine under a 23W 6400K CFL on 24/7 as soon as planted so the second they emerge they are getting light. 8 hours after they pop up they'll be 2" tall and falling over without good light.

If in just water or even paper towel it's good to keep them out of the light as the emerging tap root doesn't like the light. We're all in the dark once planted underground. ;)

:peace:
The taproots being exposed to light for a few hours is such a non-issue. With some species (lettuces), you can't even germinate without light. I put my papertowl/plastic bag on top of a table lamp so it keeps warm and bright and they usually all germinate within 1-2 days. Not to mention, the green part wants to see light ASAP so it doesn't stretch.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
The taproots being exposed to light for a few hours is such a non-issue. With some species (lettuces), you can't even germinate without light. I put my papertowl/plastic bag on top of a table lamp so it keeps warm and bright and they usually all germinate within 1-2 days. Not to mention, the green part wants to see light ASAP so it doesn't stretch.
For sure casual exposure to light has no negative effect on roots.

The last batch of 4 pricey seeds I did had 3 up and nothing in the 4th hole. No biggy right.

Next day I'm looking a bit closer and there's a bit of brown sticking up more than yesterday so I give it a poke and damned if it isn't the tap root from the 4th bean.

Flipped it over and gave it a squirt of water and it took off and outgrew it's sisters within two weeks.

People freak out about hurting roots and "transplant shock". OMFG!! Doesn't happen.

I saw the bottom off every root ball when I up-pot. If there is long roots around the sides I do a slasher deal on them. Whack ,whack whack all down the sides with chunks falling off as I stuff the plant into it's new home.

Make sure that the new dirt those freshly sawed off roots are going to sit in is nice and wet before you set her in then water the whole pot until is saturated and watch new roots poking out the bottom in 4 or 5 days. Swear to Jah!

Chop the roots off and they branch out like the plant does when you top it. It'll spread out a spider's web of feeder roots to fill the pot top to bottom and your plant will love you for it I promise!

:peace:
 

AkSlayer77

New Member
I just got some seed for my first grow in a while. i'm trying the wet paper towel method with no success. any suggestions would be very helpful. thanks in advance!
I strongly urge against the wet paper towel method. Reason being is the tap root is extremely vulnerable and delicate. And so when checking to see if it has sprouted you can actually damage or kill the seedling. You can pull the little hairs off the tap root when pulling paper towel apart thus stunting it's growth. My best success is with rapid rooter. Make sure rapid rooter is moist but not drenched. Put seed in hole pointy side down. And treat as if cloning. Humid and warm...... do not allow rapid rooter to dry out. But make sure to rehydrate from bottom and not top. You don't want to confuse it. As long as seed is viable you should have success. Once you see tap root protruding then can easily transplant to any median you will be growing in. Hope this helps as there are many ways this one has seemed to work the best for me. I use to do the wt paper towel until I read to do this way. I have noticed huge difference from success of germination to strength and grow rate of seedling
 
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Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
No shit!

I once sent a guy about 100 seeds of 10 different strains and two months later he finally sent me a PM with pics of two dozen plants and wanted me to tell him which was which because he couldn't remember which seed he put in what pot.

Needless to say I never sent him any more seeds. :D

Some peoples children eh.

:peace:
Haha nice
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Scratched and Soaked for 6 hours friday night
Got put into cubes at about midnight .
Waiting for popping
 
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Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Lots of different ways to pop a bean ....

Left the paper towels for picking up dog Doo ..... Lol

Somebody already said go ol mother nature's way ....... Sow a seed in soil .
Plug and play ... 1/8" in depth ... Cover / water a bit and go have a sandwich.
3-5 days later ... Poof .... Lil green thing.

Scuffing a seed is pretty easy ... , old timers used to " crack " slightly with their teeth like a sunflower seed , then plant....... Don't do that .........

Take a plastic tube ( like those House J's ) you get at the dispensary and put a piece of sandpaper in ... Plug end with finger and shake ( very carefully ) you not trying to make a mixed drink. You can even cut a small square of sandpaper / roll it up like a Tube / put seed in / cover end with finger and thumb - Do a slight shake.

For old seeds - I have a few sets of old Sensi and " House OG " type strains / baggers / mystery seeds - with a few at least 10 yrs old . Do a scuffing , then I grab a shotglass fill with water add 2 drops of seaweed / kelp , soak for a few hours ( overnight ) . Then plant in a container , cover , then pour shotglass water over it , then go watch tv and forget about her ... Few days .... New plant.

There are a few "ADDITIVES" you can add to your germing water , like kelp , Clonex liquid , Gibberellic Acid .... Among other things.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
I
I'm going to be tossing close to 10,000 seeds in various town/city flower beds starting next week when we go to Peace River. A few towns on the way will get some free beans too. ;)

Fill your pocket with beans and toss them where they might get a toe-hold and germinate.

Drive the local cops and town gov't right out of their tiny minds! View attachment 4129190

Power to the powerless !!!!!!!

:peace:
I love it!

I'm going hiking in a few days and am going to take a big bag of seeds from crosses I made along with me and try to be a modern day Johnny Appleseed except with cannabis.


As for germinating seeds. I've done the soaking, paper towel, etc... All I do now is put them in some dirt and water them in. Keep the soil around the seed moist and pretty much 100% success. If the seed doesn't pop it was probably a dud.
 

bullSnot

Well-Known Member
Tossing 10,000 seeds in various city flower beds??? Damn, I have like 10,000 more productive things I could be doing with my time.
 
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