When do you all give up on a germinating seed and start another? I put 4 into papertowel on a heat pad. By the end of the first day 1 had a tiny tail, 2 had popped but no tail yet and 1 was doing nothing.
Now is the 3rd day. 1 has still done nothing and the 2 that cracked and appeared to be pushing outwards have like contracted back into themselves. I put all 4 into soil but am contemplating starting 3 more
I’ve actually let some seeds soak in water for a full week and they’ve popped.
I start my seeds in promix and give up on them after, say, 2 weeks. But, I usually start more seeds than I need to account for any potential non starters so I don’t need to start more. I probably wouldn’t do this if I were using expensive seed.
Keep them till they mold. Someone suggested to just plant and burry them anyway as it could trigger the sprouting.
The 2 im unsure about have definetly popped, I could see them pressuring out. This morning the seem to have receded back in lol.
I’ve had this happen before so I’m kind of wondering if its my error or just bad seed. I don’t do anything fancy, tap water on paper towel, into a bag, into a container then sit on a heat pad. Maybe my heat pad is too hot?
@Grease_Monkey I do same deal. Non chlorinated bottled water warmed up, just slightly over room temperature.
Drop seed into water till it sinks or 8hrs, whichever happens first. And OR damp paper towel sandwich with seeds in center, placed inside a sealed sandwich bag on something warm. Key is warm, not hot.
Today actually I used a nail file to sand down the edges of stubborn seeds and squished them in my fingers till I felt a little snap.
5 days on heating pad and I give up lol
I’m with @Foreigner
Just start a bunch and keep what sprouts. Sometimes everything comes up quick, sometimes you get 5/10. Average is about 90% but if some line isn’t being cooperative I just sprout more of something else.
I wouldn’t give 'em much longer than a week unless you have extenuating circumstances (old or limited stock).
Personally, I fold a paper towel in quarters, wet it, wring it out a bit, put seeds in the middle, put it in a sandwich baggie, and put that in a dark cabinet. then I usually check on it 2 days later and wish I had checked on it sooner. ive never tried heat or anything else, never had to. im sure ive also done it way less than most people here.
Lol ill admit I’m a bit impatient, I want to turn around snap my fingers and see a tail lol. Ill give em a few days in soil if nothing happens ill do some more.
About 2 weeks is where I draw the line and they get trashed.
@Grease_Monkey, this might seem like a silly question, but do you normally have great success using this exact method with that same heat pad?
The reason I ask is that I know I’ve botched seeds from putting them in wet paper towels on a tray with a dome & sitting on a HydroFarm heat mat made for germinating. I saw tails start showing within a day or so, but several of them just died off. It could have been a few different things, but I’m pretty sure it was due to overheating. It seemed like they started, then started to die/rot soon after…
Unless I think a seed is going to be troublesome or generally averse to germinating, I just put ‘em in ProMix or Jiffy Mix seed starter and let them do their thing. I give them about two weeks max, to see if they can do what they were made to do.
If I am aware that they may be persnickety and do not want to pop, only then do I soak them in water before placing them in the medium. I am not a fan of paper towels.
But I can only speak for myself.
@Purple-N-Hairy i can’t really speak from experience because in the grand scheme of things I havnt germed a lot if seeds. And I havnt really recorded my success/failure with different methods lol. I am wondering if the heat pad is too hot and actually doing harm… whats warm for me may be a hot tub for them lol
@Calyxander I may try that next time. How moist do you keep the soil through your germination time? I typically start in solo cups so obviously I don’t want to have a soggy cup of dirt. Would a few spritz from a spray bottle to keep the top inch moist with a bag over top for humidity seem adequate?
Go figure i have issues starting seeds yet can nearly guarantee a 98% success rate cloning while doing it all wrong lol
If I am germinating seeds indoors that I think are fresh and viable, I use styrofoam 16oz cups, I moisten the medium… not soggy, I let it drain off, because I make sure that I have lots of holes in the bottoms of the cups. Then I use plastic wrap secured with a rubber band on the top of each cup to seal in the moisture. This will usually keep the medium moist enough to sprout the seed(s).
If I am starting them outdoors, under the preeminent light source (the sun) then I never use any plastic wrap covering to keep the moisture in. I simply spritz them with a spray bottle of water a few times a day ‘till they sprout above the surface of the medium.
Awesome thanks! I will try your way next time!
@Grease_Monkey I just botched some seed because my heat mat got too hot. Same as you describe, the tails popped and then the seed just stopped. Too damn hot. I normally don’t use a heat mat and normally don’t have problems. Just can’t use enough LITFA sometimes.
But then again, certain strains are so vigorous that they grew tails regardless. PaintedFire’s Big Nose Kate all popped and had 1 inch tails the next day lol.
Interesting. Yaa I’m waiting more my new batch of litfa to arrive lol . running around like a crackhead with OCD trying to micromanage nature doesn’t always work
After the first ones have popped i normally give the rest 2 days, then trash them.
3 days and a small tap root dont get it either.
Thats typically what I have done aswell lol if nothing in 4 days I usually lose interest and start more haha
It depends what it is.
I’ve gone to great lengths to pop rare/old seeds of something special. Scoring the outside of the seed with some fine grit emery cloth before attempting germination seems to work the best for old seeds.
When I’m starting off from seed and pheno hunting I will pop hundreds of seeds and cull off everything that doesn’t have vigorous growth almost right away.