I have recently been struck with some self doubt around my germination techniques, and have had some issues with seeds popping tails and then dying the second they are added to the soil.
I have been trying new techniques
I have been using the seedling bags and then placing in egg cartons and spraying with a spray bottle, and had about 25% success placing in my tent with 70%rh and a temp of about 20 degrees celsius under 18/6.
I also bought a seed starter with humidity dome, but the issue then lies in transplanting the seeds from the seed starter into their pots, and it is a tiny bit awkward.
I was hoping to draw on the collective wealth of knowledge here to try out some other members best practices.
Have you tried planting them directly into the soil without any germination tek? If you’re already growing organic maybe natures way will work better for ya
it took me a few days longer than I was used to from germinating in paper towels but I’ve had high success rates with it
I start mine with the paper towel method and after a couple days of sprouting I put them in styrofoam cups…the key is to make sure that your soil is very moist and has a drain hole…once its established in the soil you can let it dry out a little…
These all started out with the paper towel method bromigos…
I take mine and put them between very damp towels. I then place them in between two plates and tape the edges. Put the plates in a dark warm area and they pop inch long tails in two days tops. Have gotten them to pop in under 24 hrs but that only happened once. After the pop right into plastic solo cups with moderately damp soil. Light watering for a week or two and they take right off.
Hope this helps
Also I did a few with light warrior soil from fox farm, I know it’s not organic but man did they flourish. Haven’t since I went full organic
Throw in a solo cup with soil, drop seed about 1/2" deep, cover top layer and give a lil dash of water, walk away and come back 5 days later to hopefully a nice sprout
Wrong bromigo, I know the difference between a solo cup and a styrofoam cup…they all start out in styrofoam cups…The cuttings I intend to keep goes into a solo cups…after they’ve been in a styrofoam cups…hope this helps.
I have been germing in paper towels over twenty years now. I get the best results that way. Only new trick I learned I got from another Overgrower here.
Put two coffee filters between the wet paper towels. The taproots can sometimes penetrate the paper towels, but the coffee filters are made of a finer, and tougher material. Less likely to damage the delicate taproot that way.
@Maddawg , these all started in small styrofoam cups, then I put them in solo cups because I intend to keep them…the ones in styrofoam cups are for giveaways…hope this helps.
These styrofoam cups are Vietnam Thunder Fuck and they are all being handed out to my farmer buddies…I value my solo cups more than styrofoam cups because they are bigger and I can reuse them…
Years ago, after learning that seeds germinate faster after a forest fire, I got to thinking about whether I could use that to help germinate seeds.
I looked it up and found some articles, namely this one
Ever since then I’ve used it sparingly here and there, and I can’t say for absolute sure cause I’m just the one person and I’d like to see more ppl try it first, but I can say that every time I have tried it, seeds seemed to sprout a few days faster than normal when I let them soak in some bongwater.
That’s right. Your stanky bongwater is your next next-level seed germination soak.
I don’t usually use pure bongwater either, I just go half n half with regular water or some X-seed, but I’ve never really noticed the X-seed to make much of a difference on it’s own, where as with bongwater I’ve seen seeds sprout a tiny tail in less than 24 hrs at times.
I scarify a bit the seeds with sandpaper (to help water go inside), drop them in a shot glass with mild water and some drops of peroxide (to kill patogens), cover it with a dark sock to avoid light and bring warm and put them inside a heated germination box until they show tails …
Then I put them in Jiffy pots humidified with water mixed with aloe vera (to help roots) inside the heated germination box. I like them because you can water them from the bottom and it’s easier to up pot to a solo cup or 1 gallon fabric pot, you have the chance to cover the stem if it was too lanky …
Thanks everyone for the tips! I am going to try out the jiffy pots and the styrofoam method. I have been having trouble with plants wilting over an dying right after sprouting.
I am due to pop a bunch more seeds in the coming days, so will document both methods.
I think putting more effort into the specifics of the germination process has really done me in. I am getting lost in the process, and not really leaving it alone to do its thing. I may be overwatering which is why they keep wilting over, but really hard to say.
Overwatering is avoided with Jiffy pots, once you see they’re dumped you just empty the remnant in the tray. When you water them more times you just adjust the needed …
BTW, experts say Styrofoam takes 500 years to disappear, cannot be recycled …
