I’ve always had very good seed germination rates… but not Great. After wasting a half of valuable (irreplaceable) packs of Archive’s Dosi #22 and Rainbow Belts 1.0 (Only half made it )
I came across an article by Ed Rosenthal and Purple Caper Seeds that helped me into the Greatness In-zone
It is a 12 step method similar to tissue culture (sterile lab) procedures. As it maybe necessary to follow ALL the steps for 10+ year old viable seeds… following just a few crucial steps on newer/properly stored seeds helped me up my game.
For years I was just placing seeds in a damp paper towel then in a fresh sandwich bag and placing it on some warm “bottom heat” usually a cable box or under a laptop. And most seeds germinate fine, however if I didn’t get 1" roots within 48-72 hours they would turn to mush. -What I Do Now: #1. Take distilled watered and reduce it down to 6 pH and sterilize it by bringing it to a roaring boil (The natural pH 7ish is probably fine). #2. Wear gloves that are sterilized with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and dip the seeds into 3% Hydrogen Peroxide for 15 seconds and then immediately rinse them off with a small amount of the sterile water (Discard the Peroxide+Water). #3. Take a couple of paper towels from a new pack and wet them with the sterile water and ring it out until the are very damp but no longer dripping wet. #4. Place seeds in paper towels towards the center and fold over covering the seeds and put them in a fresh/new zip lock sandwich bag. #5. Keep the bag somewhere preferably dark and keep the temperature as close and consistent to 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25.55 Celsius) an IR digital thermometer is helpful here.
#6. I try not to disturb them for 48 hrs and only then I check them with sterilized gloves. Within 24-96 hours, once the roots are 1" (2.5cm) place them in soil (or plug) with the tap-root facing down and bury it only leaving the seed shell barely exposed/visible on top and put them under light.
Fortunately I still a 1 Full pack of Dosi #22s (12 Reg) and Rainbow Belts 1.0 (6 Fems) Keep Germinating Those Seeds…and Happy Hunting!! -Dutch
Personally I think that’s just way too much work. I scuff mine around in a pill jar lined with sandpaper then stick them in the media they will grow in. I keep that in a humidity dome under lights until they sprout then remove sprouted ones from the dome right away.
You should never wait for 1" tails when sprouting in paper towel either. As soon as they start showing a tail I used to put them in their media with low nute levels so they can get food right away. Like a Tbsp of seaweed fertilizer in a litre of RO water for a soilless media or 300ppm hydro nutes in rockwool or other media destined for hydro growing.
No nutes needed if planting into something that has nutes like real dirt of course.
I’ve been doing this shit almost as long as Ed and his was one of the early books I ever got for growing with in the 70s. I wrote to his column in Cannabis Culture back in '01 or '02 about my idea to grow pot in rubbermaid tubs with an airstone. He replied in the mag that he didn’t think it was a good idea or something like that. I’m pretty sure he was wrong about that one.
Hey, whatever works best for you. I too was trying to get them out of the paper towels ASAP because I was always on the verge of root rot due to my high temps. But thats no longer the case with 78 degree temps.
Its typically a very narrow window from the seeds cracking open and 1" tails usually it is just mater of a couple hours. Ed recomhmends you soak te seeds in a nuet. solution for 48hrs, well that must be for very old seeds… because most of mine have 1" tails within 48hrs (Even 4 year old Blissful Wizards I just got 100% germ). Once I get them to brake the soil line they are no longer so vulnerable. I’ve never once lost a cannabis seedling to damping off… I don’t feed them anything for at least a week… and my medium doesn’t contain any nuets. either = 1 part organic Promix, 1 part screened Pine bark and 1 part volcanic rock blend (like 4 different types of volcanic rocks I use for my Bonsais) But I am going to start trying them out in FF “Coco Loco”
Oh if your not careful scuffing can do more harm than good… In my experience only a handful of strains even need that… like the tiny ones from Trainwreak/Casey Jones genetics, seems the smaller the seed = the harder the shell
The scuffing barely scratches the surface but I believe it helps with uniform absorption of water through the tiny micro-scratches it does make. I’ve used my 80 - 1000X USB scope to check them out after I scuff them and you can see the fine nicks and scratches all over.
I’ll often soak for 24 hours in a shot glass of RO with a few drops of 3% peroxide and a tiny dab of Blue Dawn then plant them whether they’ve split open or not. I rarely get less than 100% germination so it works for me.
That organic promix does have some nutes in it and I used to use it. It grew fine plants all by itself mixed half and half with HP. Just straight up it could burn small plants.
I have enough off it, you’d think I would know for sure… but I still had to go out and check to be certain.
I believe you were thinking of another product from the Promix line.
If I am not mistaken… the cotyledons (embryonic) leaves contain the nutrients for the seedings for at least the first week or 2. But don’t get me wrong, by week 2 my seedlings were looking hungry AF
That’s different than the ones we get here So it’s basically like the HP but certified organic is it? How is it for perlite compared to HP if you’ve used HP of course.
The bags here are different now but the same products.
I bought 8 bales of promix last year and won’t be needing much. Wife took half for her veggie grow in a little greenhouse. Looks like you get your own truck load there. Hemp farm started 6 miles away and knocked up my 5 outdoor girls last year so just going to grow indoors over the winter for now on. Just growing for myself and all stocked up for now.
I’ve been using DynoMyco with my organic efforts and it seems to help a bunch. I also water once with unfiltered dugout water to introduce a variety of micro flora and fauna and give everybody a little carbs to get them going.
Yeah, it looks like Promix changed there line-up/packaging since then. We got that delivered just a couple months ago. I should’ve taken a pic of the soil itself…it doesn’t have nearly as much perlite, I guess they added fugal gnats instead Any way to eradicate them?
This is my first grow in years… that Promix is for our nursery business… I haven’t decided what I am going to use for cannabis. We’re only allowed 4 plants so I think I may try out the FF Coco Loco as I was saying and add liquid nutrients as needed. I’ve never been able to grow MJ consistently/long enough to dial-in or establish any sort of brand loyalty or schedule regiment, mostly FF starter kits. I am certainly open to suggestions. My plan is to try to get the most of my 4 plants by vegging the hell out of them and flowering in 7 trade gallon (6.6g) square potted SCROG
Like I said, whatever works best for you. But I doubt your planting seeds worth over $400-Priceless (a pack) and if you are I doubt you are getting great germination rates… When the seeds can’t be replaced and every seed lost could’ve been the winning pheno (perhaps the only one) its worth the 6 simple steps I posted. Ed’s 12 step method seems like it was created by someone with OCD
I believe my Dosi 22’s had a bacteria or fungi on the shells themselves, because they would crack open and just stop…took me half a pack at a couple seeds at a time to figure that out, because I was germinating several strains side by side at a time and everything else took off like a weed.
Your the type of troll that make forums and social media shit… someone takes their time to try to help out the community and someone always has to add their worthless 2 cent. If the info doesn’t apply or help you let it fly for someone it can.
The best thing I’ve found to get rid of gnats is a natural bacterial product called Gnatrol. I just watered in a medium dose the last time I had them and they were gone. I also had lots of sticky traps stuck in the pots to get the adults.
Even soilless medium gets infected with those little f’ers from any little tear in the bags while sitting in a warehouse or at the stores selling it. I’m fussy about only taking bales with zero rips in them. Could even get infested at the plant where it’s made between the sterilization process and when it finally gets baled up.
I only have one plant going atm and it was a clone from a friend back east. The original seeds were $550US for ten and he sent 4 clones. Two each from two different mothers so I was going to make fem seeds by crossing both and also S1 fems from each one. Due to my neglect with watering the other half was lost along with my one GG#4 from a cutting a buddy closer by gave me a couple years ago.
This magic plant is not what I’d imagine should come from a $55 seed. I like it and it smells different from anything else I’ve grown but I flowered out one of each and no big whoop-dee-do for me. This great strain is called Cherry Noir by Aficionado.
Hmmmm . . . I was going to post a link but Page Not Found came up.
I think I’ll take some cuttings to make some S1s as it was the ‘A’ plant that I liked the best but I have a couple of other strains I want to concentrate on when I get going again probably in Nov as I may go out to BC in early Oct to visit family for a month or so. Coho season starts around the middle of Oct in the Fraser Valley as does my b-day so catching a few salmon on my b-day is a real treat for me.
I have some 30:1 CBD seeds and a supposedly near narcotic strain called Paonia Purple Paralyzer I’m hot to grow and make seeds with. Right now I have at least a few pounds of regular THC pot stashed away in the freezer and about the same in hi-CBD stuff that I need to make into oil for edibles and stash that away in the freezer as well.
I haven’t bought seeds in ages but have 3 or 4 dozen strains to play with that I won’t live long enough to grow. I don’t even get in on the free seed drops here anymore so people that really need the seeds and will actually grow them can get them. If I see one that really catches my eye I can usually request a few of those and get them if I ask sweetly.
4 plant limits suck but I was growing 40 years before we got ‘legal’ so screw the limit and OverGrow the planet!
I agree, that’s way too much overthinking…I do the paper towel method using my shitty town water and has always worked with me, even my 25+yr. old seeds have sprouted…
Another thing you can try that worked well for me is, Sterile Test Tubes off amazon. 1 Tube per pack of seeds. Fill it with spring water (optionally treated with hydrogen peroxide). Then I scuff, then I use the same spring water to germinate in paper towels and baggies.
If they’re fresh seeds and I know where/who stock came from, I don’t always do the whole test tube thing.
very much want Rainbow Belts 1.0, a bit green, with envy that is, lol. Thanks for the tips. I found some GMO Cookies seeds in a bud I will try this out with.
@PhilCuisine I have to agree, as I think this OP is complicated, too much work for me.
I understand wanting to be careful with packs that aren’t available anymore but simplicity, patience, and consistency always seem to go a long way for me.
Mainly I use rapid rooters and keep ‘em moist, not dripping wet, but not close to dry, using local tap water, under a small veg LED, and I get about 90% results even with some older beans.
Or I’ll plant direct to medium, keep ‘em moist with local tap water, under a small veg LED and I get near 90% success with this method as well, as long as I don’t let them dry out.
Occasionally if I’m ever feeling froggy, I’ll do a sandpaper scuff with some of my older beans that are maybe nearly 15-20 years old.
I’ve also heard from several people on different forums to use a wee bit of liquid karma and water as a pre-soak after scuffing to help give them a little head start, or if organics are more your cup of tea, I have also had fast and vigorous results from an aloe & coconut pre-soak too. That was when I was going more in the no-till direction, of course.
Overall, think a lot of folks can overthink germination just a little bit, which I do completely understand not wanting to lose beans if at all possible, but for me nice and easy methods with local tap water have always worked for a good amount of years, and while living in California previously and currently living in Florida.
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Any way to eradicate them?
Clever 
