JohnnyPotseed’s Germination Technique

Indoor Growing
#166

This is such a fascinating thread @JohnnyPotseed I have a few questions if I may be so bold.

What do you use as the insulator?

Very interesting. Had abysmal germination rates on some old SnowHigh seeds that I wish I had used this method on. By this do you use the scalpel to crack the seed open per se or actually slice a piece of the husk off?

Once they’re in the 5oz cups of worm castings, you just lay them on top of the soil in full light and just mist them if dry? When do you transplant them, when they stand straight up?

Wow! I had only 7 of 20 pop up using the towel method. You are a maestro my man! Thanks so much for sharing your technique with us OG’rs!

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#167

Hey there cuz. In answer to your questions;

I use a big towel, folded a couple times. Or a couple of smaller towels, stacked. The older style heat mats didn’t come with thermostat controls. I’d recommend trying the newer ones with controls.

you use the scalpel to skim/cut the seam of the seed off, but that’s only used in the case of very old/hardened seeds. If scarified in a sandpaper tube awhile, usually is all that’s needed. I rarely need to ‘crack’ any bean open, but it does occasionally happen.

Before I take the sprouted beans from the tray, I ‘prep’ … poke a drain hole in the bottom of the 4-5 oz cups, fill the cups with WC, saturate the WC with PH’d water. Let it drain then, using a toothpick, or suitable pointed tool (repurposed nail, pen, toothpick, etc) dig a small hole in the top of the WC. Take the beans carefully from the tray, and place it, taproot down, in the WC and gently push the dirt back into the hole around the root. leaving just the seed still above the surface.

Glad you’re interested, good luck if/when you give it a try.

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#168

VERY much appreciated my man!

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#170

I used to reuse em a couple times. But if I don’t have seeds to drop, I just mix the castings into my ‘work-bin’ to use in potting up plants. nowadays, I don’t need nearly as much or as often lol Especially since no longer commercial

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#171

Still getting folks asking me about this, lol so I reckon it’s doing good for others here as well!

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#172

This generated a lot more interest than I figured it would, lol I still get folks asking me about it! Great, I’m glad so many people like it!

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#173

Because it’s a total game changer @JohnnyPotseed !!!

:hugs:

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#174

@JohnnyPotseed

I’m going to try this method tonight! Thank you for this contribution.

I was wondering what kind of lights / how bright you use once moved into cups of the earthworm castings?

Also how long do they stay there before you move into your custom living soil? And do the lights change at that point? I’m trying to figure out the timing here for each step with preferred lighting setup.

This is a weak part of my game.

Looking for any tips to successfully get them out of the “seedling” phase to real veg phase as healthy and quickly as possible.

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#175

Don’t over-complicate things, cuz. I use the same LED strip lights on all of the clones, seedling, and young plants. It’s just the height that changes.high when younger, lower as they grow. Seedlings I keep the light about 16-18" above, but you might have different lighting than me. I use replacement LED strips from Lowes to replace the T12 flourescent bulbs, after taking the ballast from shop-light fixtures.
Don’t damp off with overwatering, for the seedlings I just give a few drops of water around the base of the seedlings every day.When the true leaves come I start giving a bit more water and lower the lights a few inches.
Timing is whatever the plant’s genetics dictate, when it comes to what stage. I’m not in any hurry here, so not sure what you want to do it as ‘quickly as possible’ for?
Haste makes waste, cuz. you can’t rush mother nature… I like to let my plants veg for months

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#176

understood on the speed part, what i should have said is “as optimal as possible”…

about how many watts are your LEDs?

are they something like this?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-40W-Equivalent-4-ft-Linear-T12-Type-A-Instant-Fit-Daylight-Deluxe-LED-Tube-Light-Bulb-6500K-1-Pack-545624/308367839

#177

not sure what this means…can you clarify?

#178

Yep, that’s pretty much the ones. 40watt equivalent full spectrum (daylight)
Damping off is what happens when you over water seedlings. They die, in other words. That’s just the term used for how they are killed off/die

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#179

oh, i think i’ve done that more than once!

thanks again brother! hope you’re having a nice weekend.

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#180

New question old topic @JohnnyPotseed Why dont you like to use fulvic acid?

#181

I think that was in reference to the practice by some to use those in trying to feminize seeds? I’m not against the use of natural acids like those to enhance the buddage production, though.

edit… @CapnCannabis If I gave that impression, I’m sorry about that, cuz. lol I
’ type-while-stoned’ (often!) and don’t put down full thoughts at times, only pertinent to subject of conversation?
Does thqat sound right? lol

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#182

No totally cool.Ive been putting a pinch of WC in the holes i put my beans that popped tails in and packing them with dirt on top and watering with a light fulvic tonic of DR Fulvic.No damp off ever anymore and they get this perky little boost i noticed.

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#183

Good work there then, cuz! You might also try dropping a tiny bit of Mycorrhizae in the pot where the roots will touch it.

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#184

WTG @JohnnyPotseed , in the root zone abfungus all the goodness year old compost with worms…yeah…
OverGrow The World with Love of life greens beam me up…later. peace growers…

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#185

@JohnnyPotseed - do i need a full 24 hours with the heat pad on low without the seeds first? would it make a big difference if it was only 6 or 12 hours?

wondering why you suggested this.

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#186

I doubt it would make much difference, cuz. the thing is to acclimate the tray of castings to the temp you’re gonna be using. Feel the top of the castings, if too warm feeling, turn the mat down (or add more insulation) it can be done in as little as 3-5 hours. The trick is to NOT get it too warm. Barely warm is all the seeds need. I would ‘set it n forget it’, moving on to other projects and dropping the beans the next day. No biggie, in timing really, just got busy usually, doing other stuff. (commercial grow-ops ALWAYS have ‘other stuff’ needing done! lol)

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