The ones I soaked longer and left in the paper longer did better. I have a bale of ProMix HP. I am searching on here trying to figure out what to add to this. I have the Coco pellets but haven’t had luck with them. I will try several ways if I can get more
I have an idea @G-paS. Well it’s not my idea but let’s try this… I have a worm bin and I have fresh vermicompost. Let’s try a thin bed of earthworm castings with the seeds laid on top of it, with the set up in between paper towels like normal. So basically just wet your paper towels like you would normally do( but without the peroxide. I will take care of the peroxide wash) Don’t add any water to the vermicompost I am going to send you in a ziplock. It already has the perfect moisture content. Once Your paper towels are moist open them up and spread an eighth or quarter inch thick layer of the vermicompost on the first paper towel and place the seed on top but not buried in the castings( technically this is not castings yet. Its better. More biologically active) cover it with the second moist paper towel and mist when getting dry. I usually wrap my setup in saran wrap. Sorry for the repetitive nature of this post. I had a bit of Huixtepec for breakfast this morning while doing firewood😁
Just do normal but add the poo.
Yes I have handcracked and used long nose vise grips that have a thumb screw you can turn, to ever so slightly increase pressure.
Lots of people have good luck with hand cracking But something deep down inside of me tells me that I should wait for the seed to do its own thing if it’s possible. For very old seed I would crack them
I use ProMix for my base soil. I add EWC, and a healthy dose of FF Ocean Forest soil (maybe a fifth or less of the PM, for both). The OF has stuff like biochar and and is like a good compost almost. That’s about it. I would use fresh compost if I had it, too.
I use dry nutrients and a lot of microbes to break them down. Another amendment I use is Silica, especially if you’re growing in pots. If you get Silica, buy it no less than 1 pound at a time to save money. Ag places can be cheaper, and pot growing suppliers tend to charge too much.
Another good amendment is trace minerals, like BioAg TM-7, or Build A Soil’s Big 6 (same but no iron). Humic/Fulvic is always good to be in the mix.
Good luck with the grow @G-paS
This is what I do for 24 hours. I haven’t done it longer as some here say they can get to water logged.
I have tried that. I think my problem is the dry/wet cycle. I probably an not getting that right. I
So, I need to get my hands on a aloe plant. Isn’t this the same as the water and then towels with the full power.
I tried with one of the first ten that was still hard. I don’t have a “cracker” so used the tweezers and fingers. It smashes instead of just cracking.
Will do! I didn’t have good luck with y worm bin. The compost bugs took it over. I only have the store bought…
The silica I just bought is liquid. I have TM-7 and the Ful-power (Humic/Fulvic Acid) on hand also, many additives. The old goat poop left in the barn is frozen 
I got the veg tent cleaned up last week. So I moved the kids into it today.
The cloner is clean and ready to go too.
Got a very nice surprise today. There is no chance of any more of the first 10 popping. But, we have two more volunteers from the second group of 10
We have six seedlings so far. Better then 4 but not as good as 12.
I dropped 7 seeds of C99 x mix males that I got from @99PerCent February of 2018.
I am using @JohnnyPotseed method of EWC to see how they do. I set the heat pad to 80F. When I pushed it into the EWC I got 85F so backed it off to 76 degrees. Is this still to warm @JohnnyPotseed If I get a female or two I will have to clean up the secondary grow area for them. I was just planning on doing this one strain this year 
And deal with the original grow area.
Sorry you have been having trouble with your seeds! I didn’t have a seed cracker either so used some finger nail clippers and clip the very tip off of the seed. Not much, just the tip. Water can get in and it opens easier. I haven’t tried it on really old seeds but it is easy and has been effective for me
You must be very talented. Holding those little seeds and being able to clip the tip. 
I think I know the reason this is so important. In the fall in wetter regions, like here in New York in the Catskills, If a ripe seed were to fall off of a plant at the end of its life in October, it would likely remain wet for the next month. If the seed Didn’t contain a defense mechanism against this continual moisture, it would germinate in the fall and get killed by the cold. So the wet dry cycle comes into play. This mimcs springtime conditions. It Rains, dries out, rains etc… And here the heating pad comes in handy to let the plant know that warmer conditions prevail and along with the wet/ dry cycles…it signals Spring has arrived.
One more thing G-PAS…I’m no expert here myself so DON’T get discouraged or think i am upset with poor germ numbers. I expect them. We try one way first and evolve to improve. Someday we’ll find the best method.
in the end i always end up thinking castings would have been the way to go. This is the first time i have them fresh like I had read is best. You’ll be the Guinea pig here. Sending tomorrow.
That’s where I got the idea myself. @JohnnyPotseed reinforced for me what i had read on icmag about using castings for old seed. Using them for any hard to germ seed seems like a no brainer. 80- 85ﾟ is actually prime for landrace seed germination. I wouldn’t go much higher though.
I see that you wrote that the seed was still hard… Which means you must have wet it 1st? Seed cracking works best on dry seed…I have smushed plenty wet ones myself😁 And literally last night just cracked (or maybe smushed )a wet seed. Sometimes you don’t know they need cracking until they don’t crack. It is intimidating cracking seed.
Probably the same idea only aloe is free once you have a plant growing. Aloe absolutely love the same soil( not really hot soil…) as pot. At least mine do. I gave them some Hollytone fertilizer and they went crazy.
Yeah I got used to it after a while. Now I do it on all seeds I plant with so far near 100% success
Always ready to learn how to do this better.
Awesome girlfriend. I wanted to met up for the jar adapter too. I don’t feel I can drive safely at the moment. I can drive fine put if I need to do some stupid driver avoidance and I get stabbed in the shoulder pain, it could go bad.
Just sent you a DM.
We have another volunteer !
So we are up to six from the last ten and the one from the first for a total of 7
The first 4 to sprout are throwing out the second true leaves. All 7 are in there solo cups now.
I also met up with @Bobgrows today to lunch with her and her man. What great people they are.
Bob had a Christmas present for me.
This will keep me from smashing them. I tried is out on a couple seeds. Even being half deaf, I could hear that little pop when they cracked.
