Hello my stoner friends. This April I will be giving a seminar at the First Annual IC Cup in Amsterdam at SeedsDirect as part of the 420 celebration. 
DutchGrown has me following my hero, Soma, on the program so I have to be good and ready to teach something. I told DG that we had better stick to basics so care of seeds and babies along with common problems will be my topic. I am also to talk about 48 hours in the dark theory and then there will be a question and answer period. The presentation will last an hour.
As a person making seeds for sale (some don't feel that is necessarily a breeder) I find that people often ask for more seeds because they don't really have care of babies down. So I would like to teach how to get those seeds going with less losses.
Getting seeds to sprout isn't rocket science. Even a 3 year old can do it. Just by wetting and keeping moist and warm they should germinate in 2-5 days. Some seeds have thicker shells and may require a wetter and warmer environmemt than others. When a seed simply refuses to crack you can crack it with a hemostat but you mustn't crush it.
Some people use superthrive or H2O2 to assist germination but I don't recommend this because people tend to overdo this sort of thing. More seeds have probably been killed using these in too strong concentrations than saved. When using superthrive for seeds 1 drop is used per gallon of water! I just use water.
My germination rates for my seeds is usually 90-100% so I guess additives aren't necessary. Plain potting soil without any ferts is best and a lot of perlite needs to be added to it to prevent waterlogging. I start in small cups and in the bottom there are holes. The lower bed is mostly perlite and then the mix is about 25% added perlite to make a light mix that water runs through.
With this mix you can water about every other day if in a cool veg room but if warm daily watering may be needed especially if warm. Most new growers overwater and overfert too early in an attempt to speed early growth. Be patient as a plant needs to build a root system before getting big.
I start my seeds in a covered dish with kleenex. Make sure you use the plain kind and not the ones with baby oil in them. A fine point I would like to make is the soaking sequence for seeds I use. Initially I soak the kleenex so it is holding as much water as it can. I leave it that wet for 24 hours. Then I wring out the excess water and leave a just damp kleenex around the seeds. I think the seeds have soaked up already enough to grow inside and crack.
If some dont crack re-moisten those but plant seeds as soon as they have 1/2 inch tails and plant tails down with the seed just below surface level. Dont bury it much as it is ready to grow up and open up to the light. Keep the light close if a floro but 2 inches is close enough to a floro as any heat can kill a baby.
Even seeds that don't crack should be planted as they may just be slow germers. Seeds vary in germination times as this is a survival method they have. In nature you never really know when the last frost has come so the late germinating ones are the ones that ensure the survival of the plant.
Misting is a valuable tool for babies. They have little root system so they need to be kept hydrated and misting helps this. You can't really mist a baby too much and humidity is good in a veg room. Be sure your water is not acidic or alkaline or use RO water at first until the plants are past the fragile stage.
Don't be discouraged if your 1-2 week old plant looks weak and thin. They get over this and by week 3 they can usually take a bit more light, ferts and regular water ok. BOG
DutchGrown has me following my hero, Soma, on the program so I have to be good and ready to teach something. I told DG that we had better stick to basics so care of seeds and babies along with common problems will be my topic. I am also to talk about 48 hours in the dark theory and then there will be a question and answer period. The presentation will last an hour.
As a person making seeds for sale (some don't feel that is necessarily a breeder) I find that people often ask for more seeds because they don't really have care of babies down. So I would like to teach how to get those seeds going with less losses.
Getting seeds to sprout isn't rocket science. Even a 3 year old can do it. Just by wetting and keeping moist and warm they should germinate in 2-5 days. Some seeds have thicker shells and may require a wetter and warmer environmemt than others. When a seed simply refuses to crack you can crack it with a hemostat but you mustn't crush it.
Some people use superthrive or H2O2 to assist germination but I don't recommend this because people tend to overdo this sort of thing. More seeds have probably been killed using these in too strong concentrations than saved. When using superthrive for seeds 1 drop is used per gallon of water! I just use water.
My germination rates for my seeds is usually 90-100% so I guess additives aren't necessary. Plain potting soil without any ferts is best and a lot of perlite needs to be added to it to prevent waterlogging. I start in small cups and in the bottom there are holes. The lower bed is mostly perlite and then the mix is about 25% added perlite to make a light mix that water runs through.
With this mix you can water about every other day if in a cool veg room but if warm daily watering may be needed especially if warm. Most new growers overwater and overfert too early in an attempt to speed early growth. Be patient as a plant needs to build a root system before getting big.
I start my seeds in a covered dish with kleenex. Make sure you use the plain kind and not the ones with baby oil in them. A fine point I would like to make is the soaking sequence for seeds I use. Initially I soak the kleenex so it is holding as much water as it can. I leave it that wet for 24 hours. Then I wring out the excess water and leave a just damp kleenex around the seeds. I think the seeds have soaked up already enough to grow inside and crack.
If some dont crack re-moisten those but plant seeds as soon as they have 1/2 inch tails and plant tails down with the seed just below surface level. Dont bury it much as it is ready to grow up and open up to the light. Keep the light close if a floro but 2 inches is close enough to a floro as any heat can kill a baby.
Even seeds that don't crack should be planted as they may just be slow germers. Seeds vary in germination times as this is a survival method they have. In nature you never really know when the last frost has come so the late germinating ones are the ones that ensure the survival of the plant.
Misting is a valuable tool for babies. They have little root system so they need to be kept hydrated and misting helps this. You can't really mist a baby too much and humidity is good in a veg room. Be sure your water is not acidic or alkaline or use RO water at first until the plants are past the fragile stage.
Don't be discouraged if your 1-2 week old plant looks weak and thin. They get over this and by week 3 they can usually take a bit more light, ferts and regular water ok. BOG
