A Germination Machine

[Samson420]

is it best to use distilled water or RO to soak the sponge or just plain tap water? do you think using a solution and PHing the water to soak the sponge will increase overall effectiveness?

 

[Morphote]

Ive tried so many different ways to get older beans to pop and have had very little luck. I have a ton of older Bodhi beans, even Instant Karma he sent to me himself. I tried to pop a bunch and had no luck. I still have 15 left and will test a few more if I see the machine works on my testers.

I am fascinated by the Germ Machine and set it up as I had a digital aquarium heater and bought some new sponges. I am testing it now and will let yall know what happens but interested to know what the best way to make sure it survives once it opens.

I use filtered water only (a simple water filter on the end of my tap). If that didn't work I was going to start mixing a light Maxicrop solution (15mL/gal) and wetting the sponges with that. I've been waiting 48 hours before planting directly into 18oz solo cups of soil (1 bag of FFOF to 1 bag of FFLW). I water the soil with that light Maxicrop solution, place 18oz solo cups into a seedling tray (10 per tray), heating mat underneath, humidity dome on top (closed for 24 hours or until seedlings break the surface, then cracked vents 1/4 turn once they make it up, then cracked 1/2 turn once they are all up), under a bank of 4 2ft blue T5s.

M.

 

[Samson420]

so maybe a soak with Maxicrop or Seaweed solution would help some and then use the excess water and solution into the soil mix.

 

[Morphote]

so maybe a soak with Maxicrop or Seaweed solution would help some and then use the excess water and solution into the soil mix.

I don't soak seed at all anymore, nor do I believe in it. Dry seed goes straight onto wet sponge. Sponges shouldn't be soaked either. They can be heavy but not dripping wet. Machine works perfect without any Maxicrop.

M.

 

[Samson420]

I don't soak seed at all anymore, nor do I believe in it. Dry seed goes straight onto wet sponge. Sponges shouldn't be soaked either. They can be heavy but not dripping wet. Machine works perfect without any Maxicrop.

M.

great! I really meant wetting the sponge not soaking it. I woke up this morning and one of my Bodhi Hollywood Pure Kush x Uzbekistani HP popped and has a nice tail coming along. going to wait another day to see if other pop as well. but so far looks more effective than anything ive tried so far.

Sunday blessings!

 

[bloyd]

Still swear by this thing. Popped 100s of seeds with great germ %

 

[Samson420]

Still swear by this thing. Popped 100s of seeds with great germ %

do you put them in soil as soon as you see a tap root? any other tips?

 

[Morphote]

do you put them in soil as soon as you see a tap root? any other tips?

I've put them in soil uncracked with no tap root showing (after 48 hours in the machine) and they still germinated. I had 3 Afghan Haze that didn't pop in the machine. Not wanting to give up on them I put all 3 of them into the same solo cup. 24 hours later I had one seedling, 48 hours later I had 3.

M.

 

[Samson420]

I've put them in soil uncracked with no tap root showing (after 48 hours in the machine) and they still germinated. I had 3 Afghan Haze that didn't pop in the machine. Not wanting to give up on them I put all 3 of them into the same solo cup. 24 hours later I had one seedling, 48 hours later I had 3.

M.

amazing! another other tricks putting the solo cups into a dome?

 

[Samson420]

I use filtered water only (a simple water filter on the end of my tap). If that didn't work I was going to start mixing a light Maxicrop solution (15mL/gal) and wetting the sponges with that. I've been waiting 48 hours before planting directly into 18oz solo cups of soil (1 bag of FFOF to 1 bag of FFLW). I water the soil with that light Maxicrop solution, place 18oz solo cups into a seedling tray (10 per tray), heating mat underneath, humidity dome on top (closed for 24 hours or until seedlings break the surface, then cracked vents 1/4 turn once they make it up, then cracked 1/2 turn once they are all up), under a bank of 4 2ft blue T5s.

M.

why put a tiny bean into an 18oz solo cup. why not put it a 3x3 planter or smaller cup till it grows some and then transplant when ready. you can probably fit more into a Humid Dome without crowding with large solo cups no??

do you punch holes at bottoms of solo cups for drainage?

 

[Samson420]

took me a bit to find them but here are the containers shown in the picture. I offered $9.98 for 2 of them and the person accepted and shipped the next day.

these seem the best as they have 2 even size compartment so if you use 2 containers you have have 4 different beans germinating. just get a larger container for the water to but both of them in and make sure you have enough depth for them to float over the heater.

If you need to cut the edge of the sponge so it fits better or in a different container just cut away the wet sponge to size.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Frigidaire-...602277?hash=item1a1a5f4a65:g:3sAAAOSw65FXt5Gu

 

[Samson420]

use masking tape on top of the box for labeling. don't forget to label as you go!

 

[Samson420]

and the heater is the Tetra HT 10, 50watt.

 

[Morphote]

why put a tiny bean into an 18oz solo cup. why not put it a 3x3 planter or smaller cup till it grows some and then transplant when ready. you can probably fit more into a Humid Dome without crowding with large solo cups no??

do you punch holes at bottoms of solo cups for drainage?

It's just how I was taught to grow. Saves time and effort. I don't have to water the cups as much or transplant to larger size container for quite some time. This allows me the luxury of leaving them alone to let them grow, and in my mind that's less stress. Less stress equals more females IME. 10 solo cups fit perfectly into 1 seedling tray, up to 4 seeds can be planted per cup, 4 drainage holes cut into the bottom of each cup using Fiskars. It's simple, easy, quick, efficient, and effective.

M.

 

[Samson420]

interesting. whats the logic of putting 4 seeds into 1 cup if you dont plan to transplant? the roots will obviously get tangled in the soil no?

 

[Morphote]

interesting. whats the logic of putting 4 seeds into 1 cup if you dont plan to transplant? the roots will obviously get tangled in the soil no?

Logic is that you have 4 seeds you don't expect to pop (usually the last 4 to germ) so you throw them all into the same cup and hope one of them pops. If they all pop then that's great. Theoretically 2 will be male. They can be culled or cloned. The 2 females can be cloned and/or separated. Idea is to not waste too much soil on seed you don't expect to germ. Most times none of them pop and you reuse the soil.

M.

 

[Samson420]

got it! makes sense! I just did that, put 4 in 1 hoping 1 pops, instead of using 4 separate containers.

 

[Morphote]

Put 6 fem Kali Mist into the machine. 0 germ after 48 hours. Gave them another 48 hours. All 6 germed, 4 with 2 inch root, 1 grew into the wet sponge, and 1 jumped out from between the sponges and was sitting in the plastic Tupperware tray. So, in summary: 96 hours, 100% germination. Incredible.

M.

 

[Samson420]

so patience is key here!

speaking of Kali mist I got a pack of

Apollo Mist F1 - Kali Mist (1998 Pre-Sensi) x Apollo 11 G4 made by Reservoir.

I hope they pop using this method.

 

[Samson420]

use masking tape on top of the box for labeling. don't forget to label as you go!

here's another good tip. I took the container lid and the container and marked it with a Sharpie, so after you label each side and open the container to check it you can not make a mistake putting the lid back on.

it could be very easy to make a mistake and put the lid on wrong hence switching the label to the wrong position.