So, I had some seed starting troubles lately, with only 3/12 seeds starting after putting them into small cups of my recycled soil mixed @ 50% with the Miracle Gro seedling mix I usually start with. I decided to switch to the Jiffy pucks that seem well-regarded, and when I soaked and squeezed them out, I got a strong whiff of liquid smoke. I’ve heard before that it’s a useful seed starting and soil conditioning tool, who out there uses it and what can you tell me about your experiences with liquid smoke/wood vinegar/pyroligneous acid? I did a forum search and didn’t find any mentions of it, but I’m sure someone here or in the organic forum uses this common and cheap product, right?
One of the lime products I use smells like it. You can add tons and the pH doesn’t raise passed 6.5
Fastest crops. It’s made me question long held scientific beliefs about nutrient antagonism. I aimed for high pH before this product opened my eyes. Half of what’s been attributed to Calcium is the result of excess carbonate or high pH. University science has brought us nothing. It’s the field where all their wacky theories get straightened out.
2 Likes
I think I got some sheets of that stuff a few years ago with an order of houseplant & tropical plant seeds. They were red discs of paper that supposedly had some sort of liquid smoke stuff soaked into them. I had terrible germination rates with everything on that order so I can’t say it helped. I’ve since simplified my cannabis germination process a lot, opting basically to just soak the seeds in a dilute mix of kelp, microbes, & yucca. Typically that would look like a pinch of kelp meal, a pinch of high quality worm castings and/or a drop of fish sh!t, and a drop of thermx-70. Use some dechlorinated water and let the seeds soak for 12-24 hours then put 'em in soil and sit back.
2 Likes
I was contantly 
by seeds failing until I started doing the following:
1: seed is shaken lightly in my sandbox* to scuff it (*a 1"x1" box lined with 100grit sandpaper)
2: seed soaks in distilled water for 24-36hours in total darkness at 24-26c (75.2-78.8 
)
3: when the tap shows up, they are placed into pre-moistened PROMIX BX with the tap root in the ground and 1/2 of the helmet above the soil line; this is then covered with a plant pot to cut down on light and maintain higher humidity levels.
4: check on it every day and spray AROUND the helmet to keep things from drying out.
5: when helmet starts to rise in the air; remove pot cover and add a layer of worm castings around the establishing plant
6: water around the edge of the pot and never at the base of the plant.
So far since I’ve stuck with the above I have 100% success rates unless I add human error by NOT paying attention. Even when the seed didn’t pop in the water; it still did in the soil!
Apolgies for not having any info about pyroligneous acid; but last time I used liquid smoke to help with seed sprouting it was an attempt with Dawn Redwood seeds; which only grow AFTER a fire so I thought: WHY THE HECK NOT TRY THIS OUT.
It didn’t work; but again the germination rate for those seeds is like 10x for every 300x planted!
2 Likes
I’m ‘suspicious’ about my last batch of Jiffy pucks, same brand but different results.
I’ve used them for years but I suspect these is some variability in quality of the peat material.
Have a look at JohnnyPotseed’s approach, I really like it.
Cheers
G
3 Likes
I’ve noticed this too. I now exclusively use J-pellets for cloning.
2 Likes
What’s the difference between the pellets and pucks? I got these Jiffy 42mm refills at the local garden center:
I’ve had mostly good results though I have run into a batch where something is off with poor resulting performance. Have also heard of bad batches in the forums where, perhaps, the PH of the puck is off.
Also, I usually remove the outer casing when transplanting whether that’s needed or not. There are two variants, one that’s fiberous, fine, tough fabric that’s tough to rip while another that has some sort of plasticy mesh that’s easy to remove:
I have not run into any issues with the ‘good’ variant myself. I have run into issues with the other variant.
Overall though, I usually get good results sowing directly into the pucks w/ fresh water and a bit of warmth. Never felt the need to try some of the other methods, personally. Successful enough.
3 Likes
I checked mine and they are exactly like the left one, (horrible) 
Thanks, good to know I’m not imagining things.
Cheers
G
2 Likes
Ok, interesting, because I got the ones on the left, and my memory of seeing them years ago was more the right. I see that Jiffy is phasing out their old petroleum plastic netting for a biodegradable PLA one, I wonder if they changed the composition at the same time? I’ll let you all know how this batch work out
2 Likes
It’s probably not correlated but more of a lot based issue. I personally like the plasticy wrapped ones much more … from the perspective of handling … and perhaps roots have an easier time piercing the wrap if you were to leave it on.
1 Like
I germinated all 20 year old seeds recently of a backcross I made of C99. Don’t use pucks, peat, or a wet paper towel. Use a tall, 20 oz. styro cup with good soil. Soak the seeds until they sink. Sow. The root radicle is already 4" long by the time it pops the surface.
You use pucks and you’re just stunting your faves and getting off on the wrong foot.
2 Likes
