Over the time I have been a member here, I have seen many differing opinions and methods for germinating seeds.
I have been asked on a couple of occasions for advice and once or twice, people have asked for a guide to germinating.
What this thread is for is NOT a side by side COMPARISON
The intention of this thread is to give a side by side perspective of several methods of germinating seeds, thats all. No conclusions will be suggested or offered.
I will be using some of my own BB x NL seeds. I have a 100% germination rate with them and the finished plants are very good.
While they may not be the strongest around, they are quite vigorous, easy to grow and the finished smoke is a real old school skunk flavour. I should rename them Woody's skunk to be fair since there are many BB x NL varieties out there.
I will NOT be seeing the seedlings through to the finish with a diary, unless one turns out to be a serious good pheno. The objective here is purely to demonstrate the varying methods and hopefully give some tips along the way and some of the benefits and drawabacks for the differing method.
I plan to germinate 8 seeds in pairs using several different methods.
2 with the paper towel method, then 1 into soil, the other into Root Riot cubes.
2 in a glass of water, then one into rockwool,the other into coco.
1 Directly into soil,
1 Directly into Coco.
1 directly into Rockwool,
1 directly into Root Riot cubes.
Environment
Lighting
I will be using a couple of 25W cfl's for providing heat for germinating and once cracked, they will all go under a 300W dual spectrum CFL.
Those going into soil and root riot cubes, will just be using water ph'd to 6.5
The soil is Westlands John Innes seed starter soil with around 30% perlite. I find this a very good seed soil which never burns and provides a good home for those delicate roots.
The Root Riot cubes will be soaked in water with ph 6.5.
Nutrition
For the inert mediums rockwool and coco, I will be using 1l of water ph'd to 5.8 that has the following:
a couple of drops of Superthrive (for the vitamins), 0.5ml
1.5ml of Formulex (baby plant food)
0.5ml of Nitrozyme
The Rockwool and coco is soaked in this water for 24 hours to stabalise the ph and to get a little nutrition into the mediums. The nutrient isnt to provide food for the seedlings, it is to help stabalise the ph. I find the buffers in the nutrients help with this.
The water will just be de-chlorinated tap water, ph'd for the appropriate medium, 6.5 for soil/root riot cubes and 5.8 for the coco and rockwool.
Scurrification.
Occasionally, if a seed fails to germinate using one of the other methods, this can be a useful method.
With old seeds, it can be best to "scurrify" them first. In nature, seeds are distributed throughout an area by being eaten by birds & animals who then deficate them out elsewhere on their travels, ensuring the seeds spread far & wide.
While the seeds travel through the creatures gut, they go through stomach acid and goodness knows what.
To simulate this process, old time growers would use a matchbox with a layer of medium grit sandpaper on the bottom. The seed is then placed inside the matchbox and shaken.
You will no doubt have read about rubbing the seed case with a piece of sandpaper, this is a far easier way to do it.
A common misconception among growers is that seeds like very high humidity, they dont, 40% to 55% is about right. Once the seedling it starting to grow, a rh of around 50-60% ensures good growth but propagators/humidity domes are not needed. The biggest drawback with humidity domes, propagators or covering with clingfilm is that they all create perfect conditions for fungus spores to take hold. SO you can end up battling problems before your plants life has really begun.
With these seeds, due to the pc case they are being germinated in needing high air flow to keep the temps down to 78f, these cause the rockwool and root riot cubes to dry out within a few hours, so I am covering all the mediums with cups so the moisture is retained, NOT to create high humidity.
I do not put them in place until the seeds have cracked.
Heat mats are another "tool" I have seen used when germinating seeds. These too should be avoided unless you are germinating outdoors (greenhouse) over winter. The biggest issue with these is the substrate dries out from the bottom, making it more awkward to tell. This can result in the roots dying off while the surface of the substrate appears moist.
On to the start.
Glass of water method.(GOW)
Quite simply, the process here is to soak the seeds in a glass of water, ph'd to 6.5
This method is most useful for older seeds which can often take a while for the water to penetrate the outer shell. As a seed ages, the amount of water in the hull decreases, meaning older seeds may benefit from this form of germination.
This method should not be needed with fresh seeds of between 3 months and 3 years old and ideally should be a last resort use.
Once the seeds sink, it means that the water has got inside the shell and they need to be removed from the water ASAP to prevent "drowning".
I have some seeds that are over 15 years old. They have been kept in cool, dry places, so they should germinate. I occasionally grow one out but since they are real old school seeds, I like to keep them for posterity and providing the conditions are stable, these seeds can last for a very long time. I have read of seeds several hundreds of years old germinating, so these little things are indeed time capsules.
Paper towel method.(PT)
A piece of kitchen rool is folded over and the bottom dampened with some prepared water.
The seeds placed in the paper towel, which is then folded over to stop light getting to the seeds and another little bit of water poured over the top.
It is important that access water is drained away so that air can also get to the seed.
As with the GOW method, this is not an ideal method to use since transplanting can shock the seedling and of course, damage to the tap root may occur.
The other big drawback with this method is that lack of air can lead to the seed "drowning" and pathogens can take hold such as fungus.
The big advantage of this method is that new growers are usually impatient. So being able to see signs of life after a day or two from your seeds is just great.
Also, as with the GOW method, you dont waste medium on dodgy seeds.
Though Rockwool or root riot cubes are only around 10p each, soil/coco, probably the same, (I have never worked it out), over the years, adding in cuttings etc, this can add up. I hate throwing away something I do not feel I have had use from (miser/ebeneezer and yes I hate xmas).
Direct Soil method.
My preferred method when growing in soil.
I use party cups for this method, prepared the same way as the ones used for the coco.
The reason for party cups is simply they are small, so not much medium is needed as opposed to going straight into large pots.
When using large pots for seeds, it is very difficult to guage your watering. Although larger pots are better suited to auto's so they dont have to be potted up, I would still use this method, even for auto's.
2 clear plastic party cup have some holes drilled in the bottom to provide drainage.
One is then covered in duct tape to prevent light penetrating it, the other is filled with the soil.
The soil is then "tapped down" by simply tapping on a firm surface.
Water is then added to the soil and tapped down again.
The reason for clear cups is so you can see into the cups.
2 reasons for this. 1, so you can see if there are air pockets in the soil and 2, as the plant develops, you lift out the inner cup and can see root development. This means you can choose the correct time to pot up.
I am also using both Trichaderma and mycorrhizae in soil and coco. These little fun guys (get it?) attach themselves to the root structure as it forms and extend the roots, if done properly, by as much as 100% opr even more. More roots = more flowers = more bud.
The use of these is a little sub experiment, I have places layers in the soil & coco, so it is a layer of medium, then a layer of myco, then more medium, then trichaderma, then more medium, then the seed, covered with medium. SO as the roots grow, they will come into contact with the funghi. Dont know if this will work but felt it was worth a try.
Directly into Coco method.
Simply a process of filling the cup with coco, tapping down to remove air pockets, then placing the seed and covering with coco.
It is recommended to plant the seed as deep as its length. These seeds are all planted around 1/4" (6mm) deep.
On the pages of this forum, there are often comments about the seed case being stuck to the cotelydon or the membrane holding the cotelydon together, preventing them from opening.
This is because the seed wasnt planted deep enough. The seed NEEDS to force its way through the medium to remove the shell and membrane and strengthen itself.
Overall, this method is more or less the same as directly into soil. The main difference is once the cotelydon (false leaves) start to discolour/pale, it is time to start applying some nutrients. Formulex will be used as a starter nutrient.
As with soil, Tricky & Micky are being used in the same method.
Directly into Root Riot cubes.
Simply a process of placing the seed into the pre-drilled hole. Many growers make their own hole but I have never found issue with doing this. Once in place, I tear off a small piece of cube to cover over the hole so the seed begins life in darkness. This is not squashed into place, simply "placed" there.
The biggest issue with root riot cubes is the speed they can dry out at if there is a lot of air extraction/low humidity.
As the picture shows, I cover the cube with duct tape, simply to help prevent the drying out. Even if using the cups as covers as I do, they will still dry out in around 48 hours.
For this reason, I would not use them for seeds. They are ok for cuttings, especially if your end medioum is to be coco or soil.
On the other hand, though they can be used for hydro methods, I would not recommend because of their tendency to become soggy and retain too much water, which can lead to stem rot(sr). I like my immediate root zone next to the stem to dry a little, simply to encourage the plant to send out more roots and prevent SR.
Directly into Rockwool method.
There is little more to say about rockwool that hasnt been said already about the other methods.
The positive at this stage is they can retain moisture better than Root Riot cubes and are ideal if your end method is hydro.
On previous experience, I expect this to be the slowest method. I find rockwool great for cuttings but not so great for seeds. However, I may be doing something wrong in the process?
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