What is an idiot proof way to germinate seeds?

[Wiimote]

I use tap water, sometimes decorated, sometimes not. Temp and humidity do definately matter. I've found that 75-85f works well, and you want near 100% humidity (thats why the mostly sealed container). Extremes of heat, cold, dry or wet will all kill the seeds. Just squeeze out every last bit of water from the papertowels, close your container 80-90% of the way, and sit them on top of your fridge (near the back is better) and you should have great success.

If your using bagseed though, it's a crap shoot. You may get 20 of 20 or 1 of 20 no matter how you do it.

 

[Guest]

wet paper towel put inside zip lock baggie, warm dark area, if seeds are good they will germ in 12 to 48 hrs. If there not no matter how you do it they aint going to germ.

 

[d4.]

I usually fold up a paper towel in 4ths, wet it and insert the seeds, fold it and put it in a zip lock baggy and place it onto my computer monitor, or my stereo receiver... anything that runs warm-hot and produces a nice humidity and temperature for the bag. You should see signs of germination within a day or two.

 

[Frozenguy]

omg..


I use a red beer cup with good drainage and soil. I dont think the seeds can tell if its humid outside the soil or not.. if it drys out too fast then yes, it might be dry but then you should water it..

i havn't lost one seed to using soil.. and if it doens't sprout then maybe it shouldn't.. of coarse temp matters.. so keep that in check..

i have used paper towel method.. make sure it doesn't dry out or you'r ****ed.. thats the only way i've lost seeds.. it drys out way much faster, then your transplanting and so much handling of the seeds and stuff.. i just keep them in soil.. it works.. i used to water with superthrive and a root stim and lk but then i stopped.. i just let the seedling use what it needs to from the soil..

 

[Arkaya]

LOL, I wish there was some sort of machine... I use a red beer cup, fill it with some distilled water and put a drop or two of Hydrogen Peroxide into the water, stir it up, drop your seeds right into the water, they will float initially then sink about 8-24 hours later. Usually a healthy seed will sink within 6 hours and show it's little white sprout root that's when you pour most of the water out and put the seed into a rapid rooter plug under a humidity dome. After a week move the rapid rooter plug with the plant into soil or into your hydroton medium. I have seriously tried it all and this is by far the easiest and most successfull. Just remember there is no 100% solution, not every seed will sprout, some are duds!

 

[Pirate]

All good advice above.

My 2 cents:

I use distilled water in a shot glass. Drop carefully chosen Beans into glass, Use 1/2 paper towel folded up and placed into shot glass pushing the seeds down into the water and holding them there. Place glass in DARK cabinet or box or ???. Cracks within 24 hours, Usaully less than 12. Take cracked seeds and place them into paper towels folded in 1/4s. Place folded papertowel containg seeds into an emty DVD cover and pour shot galss water over towel. ( this ensures seeds do not suffer from Tempature shock from using different water). The tap root is Very sensative. (like me) Place in or on a warm place (Tv, Computer, Stereo, Seedling matt (watch that seedling mat does not over heat the DVD case, I fried 20 seeds like this) I found it best to put an air space between the DVD case and the mat.

Anyway, within 24 hours you should have sprouts. Take sprouts and place the TAP ROOT facing down VERY GENTLY into a GH RAPID ROOTER. (this rapid rooter will amaze you if you haven't tried em yet) Clip a small peice from the edge of the Rooter and use it to cover the seed. Water with Distilled water and keep rooter very moist until sprout. Will pop up within 24 hours to several days. and thats all. Your done. Except for adding your light.

From the time I start, I usually have nice little seedlings within 3 to 5 days. (and buds in 4 months)

Pirate Out

Heres one of my seedlings:

 

[greengnome]

Well, I see everyone likes the papertowel method, which I hate, for some straight forward reasons.

1, you have to touch a rootling, and that can cause root disease/damage, that I really don't like to risk.

I have germinated at 98%, and also get 90% female always with the method I use, so I am going to share it cause I have never seen or heard anyone do the method I use.

So, what I do is grab a margerine container, fill with very good medium *soil* and wet it slightly. I then put this on top my fridge for one day to have the medium and wettness adjust to room temperature. 80F aprox.

So I have two ways now of doing this, I either plant the seeds in this soil, or if I am in a rush, I simply pour in the seeds shake the container up, and put it on top the fridge again.

Germination in just a couple days, sometimes there are even seeds germinated on the top of the soil, which usually turn out to be male, and 95% of the ones in soil germ as female.

This is the oddest way, but I have found what works for one may not work for another, please do not try this with expensive bag seed, try with experimental, see for yourself, it's amazing germination, + amazing germination times!

Just remember to transplant as early as you see any sort of break in the seed and a root showing, sometimes I actually let them grown in this container for 7-10 days.

I also only ever use tweazers to touch what I beleive is the delicate process of determining a male / female.

I say this cause one of my buddies, gets 80% male all the time, and I get 80-90% female all the time, obviously he is doing something wrong, and I am not.

oh yes and when everything is ready, I simply pour the container out onto a work table so I can spread things out, and re-cover the seedlings with soil on the table before I transplant.

Keeping the seed under the cover of soil, and very little light hitting them is important while doing the transplant.

opinions welcomed

 

[herbal essences]

I just throw mine in a shot glass with some water put it on my heat pad over night usually they start cracking by then then I'll throw them in the soil keep it moist and put the back on the heating pad, were above ground in 3 days

 

[panopticist]

Put me down for the paper towel method. Keep them in a ziplock bag and put 'em on top of my cab for warmth...

Sometimes seeds just aren't viable; but if they're good they will sprout in the presence of moisture.

 

[G Brazil]

germinating seeds is so easy, it only needs a warm environment 70F-90F, darkness and water.. it can be done in many ways and methods.. there is no secret to it really... I would just put them in a glass with distilled water in darkness for 24 hours and plant directly in good soil...and go on and move forward with your life. What ****s up is checking the seeds every hour, just let them do their magic... if they are viable they will germinate period.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

i'm lazy dont like the risk of mold in paper towels so i soak seed in glass of water right from tap. when they sprout tarpit roots i plant them in 3x3x3 inch containers with tarpit up 1 inch down. this is so when the tarpit grows it will do a 180 deg turn grow back down. and when the stalk apears outt the ground the seed shell is expelled in the soil. little rounds leaves open up to recieve fluro lighting at walmart stores they sell a 2ft singel bulb fluro call grow light lol it has a 17w 5500k i think bulb for a bluish/purple. or right next to them are replacement bulbs in 20w red 3000k and blue 5500 i think. kelvin color spectrums these things work great dont produce much heat and cheap 10$ us i run 2 sometimes 3 for bonsai mum clone rooting stage and vegn freshly rooted seedlings or clones.

 

[noworrys]

Im a first time grower but here is my experience.. 100% germination with what i tried. plants only 3 weeks old now so no male/female ratio just yet. i just dampened a few sheets of papertowel. Then i put the paper towel in the bottom of 1 of those airtight sealer lunchbox's, poped the seeds on top, put 2 more sheets of dampened paper towel on top of the seeds, closed the lunchbox but didnt seal it, covered it with black plastic and poped it on top of my heated propegator. Worked a treat for me, all the seeds poped within 2 days. As soon as they popped i gave them a few more hours then transplanted using twisers to a light soil mix.

 

[Hundredproof]

LOL, I wish there was some sort of machine... I use a red beer cup, fill it with some distilled water and put a drop or two of Hydrogen Peroxide into the water...

well i am starting up again (as of this week) and so far i burned through 30 or seeds that woudnt germ in distilled water. i noticed some kinda translucent growth on some seeds and realized i had some kind of contamination. so i found a reference in the big book of buds 2 from ed rosenthal saying to use rooting hormone and hydrogen peroxide.

i ditched the hormone and mixed 5 parts water to 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide and bam! all but one light green seed germed beautifully by the time 24hrs rolled by.

good luck!

 

[Lemon]

I go to the faucet, fill a glass with water, put the seeds in and come back 2 days later.

Hasn't failed me yet. I hate the paper towel method. They can dry out, they can rot, and it seems to take longer.

 

[Hundredproof]

i had good results before with just bottled and distilled water as well but this time it seems the problem was with the seeds, not the method. i mustve exposed them to something. maybe i forgot to wash my hands before digging in there to get some seeds or my glass wasnt sterile, i dunno but the peroxide killed any possible source of infection it seems.

just curious if you looked closely at your germing seeds to find the fuzz i mentioned in my other post?

im definatly going to try to keep everything as sterile as possible from now on. at least for my seeds and clones.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

A viable seed is a formidable force of nature and will germinate, if the proper conditions for germination are created. Water (humidity) and oxygen is the basic elements required, temperature is also important, but to a lesser degree (I've germinated certain Cannabis varieties in 10º/50 F, then again certain tropical strains germinate much faster if the temperature is brought up to 25º/77 F).

Another factor in germination is dormancy. Old seeds or seeds that have endured rough climatic conditions (cold temps, extreme heat/drought, etc) will enter a kind of hibernating state in which hormone levels change, and the seed pod casing toughens. These seeds will need more time and more patience than fresh seeds straight off the bud.

A few things to concider:

Keep humidity and temperature fairly constant.

Water is the life giver but can also be the enemy. Too much water can lead to rot, and in combination with high temps it can shut out oxygen. I've found that moist is always better than wet. If you germinate your seeds in a glass of water, you have to be vigilant and get the seeds out of there as soon as the seed pod cracks and the tap root appears. I would actually choose tap water over distilled water, since the chlorine generally present in it is a disinfectant that protects the seed from bacterial attacks.

As several other growers in this thread, I soften the seed pod in water for 12-24 hours (even longer for older seeds), then place them in a germination medium.

The paper towel method works adequately for fresh seeds that germ within 24-48 hours. The problem with paper is that thin sheets of paper dehydrate quickly, especially if a heat source is added, so for slower germinating seeds, cotton wads is a superior medium. Cotton is thicker, fluffier, it retains moisture better, while it aerates better. It is easier to keep 'moist' and stays that way much longer than paper. I've always had far better results in cotton than paper. The only slight problem with cotton is that it's fibrous, and if you let the tap root grow it will drill itself into the fibers and entangle itself.

You could of course skip this part and place the germinated/non-germinated seed straight into the medium you intend to grow it in. In that case, same thing. Keep the medium moist on the verge of wet, but not soaked. Place the seed close to the surface. Deeper planted seeds will have to spend more energy on reaching the surface, precious energy they need to grow and fortify themselves.

Take sprouts and place the TAP ROOT facing down

Nope. It does't really matter how you place the taproot, but this is the way it works kids. Cannabis belongs to the Dicot plant family. The Dicot seed generally sprouts from above, then makes a bend downward and 'pushes' the seed pod with the embryo up through the medium (which is why the Cannabis seedling sprouts bent over). The advantage with this way of germinating is that it's easier for the seedling to get rid of the seed pod and free the cotyledons (primary leaves).

If you place the tap root down, the seedling will re-orientate itself in the medium to produce the described 'bend' anyway, loosing time and energy in the process.

Here's an image of a bean seedling, also a Dicot plant, which produces the same growth pattern as Cannabis:

 

[yamaha_1fan]

I Soak the seeds in water. Last batch, I put 2 small tupperware containers with seeds in them, in a small box then on top of my hood. That was a little too warm but most of the seeds had sprouted. They now are in rockwool.

I think it varies on strain. All my seeds came from BC Bud Depot on the same order, Blueberry Feminized, Northern Lights and White Widow. The Blueberry by far had the least success rate. Out of 15 seeds only 3 plants came to be.

 

[Hundredproof]

good post Rosy Cheeks. ive been thinking about the orientation of the seeds alot your pic spells it out for me really well. tap root up makes alot of sense now.

edit: this seed was planted taproot down. like you said it doesnt really matter i guess but its definatly a waste of energy to me.

 

[alphacat]

Good stuff y'all, esp. Rosy's very detailed info. Much appreciated.

Question:

~ What, if anything, would you recommend for seeds that've been stored in a freezer for about 10 mos.? Any recommendations for water PH and for H2o2 ratio, if any?

~ Also, what about pure Perlite as a germinating medium for these same seeds - any reason not to use it? (Perlite's preferable since these'd be going into a SWC setup and wouldn't want it to get attached to any medium...)

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

~ What, if anything, would you recommend for seeds that've been stored in a freezer for about 10 mos.? Any recommendations for water PH and for H2o2 ratio, if any?

~ Also, what about pure Perlite as a germinating medium for these same seeds - any reason not to use it? (Perlite's preferable since these'd be going into a SWC setup and wouldn't want it to get attached to any medium...)

Are you talking about how to thaw them, or how to grow them? Once the seeds are back in room temperature, you germ them like any other seeds, just give them that extra time and concideration I was talking about.

I use tap water to germinate seeds. It is generally not too acid or too alkaline, and the low levels of chlorine added protects fragile seeds from bacteria. Hydrogen Peroxide helps to soften the seed pod (some people use bleach), it is your call whether you think you need it or not.

100% perlite is okay if it goes with the system, such as drip. Perlite is completely inert, absorbs nothing, so you need constant re-flux of water/nutrients in that case.