Germination Question

Hey Guys!
I've been growing hydro, generally from seed, for a couple years now with pretty good luck. I just can't seem to get the germination down to a science. The method I use is this, I put the seeds in a glass of water for a couple days to get them started, then transfer to a paper towel until they're about a quarter inch long then transfer to rockwool, which go under my little humidity dome.

Sometimes I get 100% sprouts and sometimes 0%. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

Does the temperature of the water I use matter?

I've tried it with both Tap water (around 200 ppm) and RO water (maybe 12 ppm) with the same varying results. I've used I've tried a couple drops of root excelurator as well and again, I'm not sure if it helps or not because the results seem to vary so much.


I generally get my seeds from the attitude.

Does anyone have a good, steady germination method going?

Thank!

Heat at 25c/77f matters very much ..I suspect you may well be drowning ur seeds

there are 3 distinct phases for germing and it worth ur while studying it up

1: the soak or imbibition, soaking the seeds, scarify if necessary first

2: once the seed has sunk, an indication that water has entered the seed

3: move to ur heated damp plate for the 'wait' waiting for the seeds to crack and the radicle/tail to emerge

4: to the pot damp and at 25c/77f

more here on my blog: if I ever get if completed ..lol

https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/germination-101.31319/

good luck

vostok said:

Heat at 25c/77f matters very much ..I suspect you may well be drowning ur seeds

there are 3 distinct phases for germing and it worth ur while studying it up

1: the soak or imbibition, soaking the seeds, scarify if necessary first

2: once the seed has sunk, an indication that water has entered the seed

3: move to ur heated damp plate for the 'wait' waiting for the seeds to crack and the radicle/tail to emerge

4: to the pot damp and at 25c/77f

more here on my blog: if I ever get if completed ..lol

https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/germination-101.31319/

good luck

Click to expand...

Thank you Vostok, I appreciate the response. I'm not sure if follow. So say I'm at 2: seed sunk. I'm lost at 3 and 4. lol Sorry I may be a sandwich short of a picnic But "move to your heated damp plate"? What's a heated damp plate? Is this where I'm transferring the seed to a paper towel on a warm plate? and then to a pot? This is hydro....

Seeds know what season it is. Environmental temperature is very important!

The seeds once soaked up need to rest... best is on a damp paper towel on a plate at 25c/77f

or you may go direct to the damp rockwool ..at 25c/77f just leave them on the top with a dome on top until the radicle shows

important is the heat for this I made a heater box from an old dvd player, runs of a temp controller

https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/heater-box-diy.32582

good luck

There is no seed on this earth that is designed to germinate on a plate,I never germ on a plate or plastic bag or anything,if the seed is old soaking for 12-18 hours can speed up the process by softening the husk.plant the seed,in rockwool,rapid rooter or just straight in the dirt.It doesnt have to be this complicated,if you are having bad germ rates its my contension its because you are fucking with them too much or get impatient for them to sprout...in which case...you start fucking with them again.

vostok said:

The seeds once soaked up need to rest... best is on a damp paper towel on a plate at 25c/77f

or you may go direct to the damp rockwool ..at 25c/77f just leave them on the top with a dome on top until the radicle shows

important is the heat for this I made a heater box from an old dvd player, runs of a temp controller

https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/heater-box-diy.32582

good luck

Click to expand...

Whoa that's pretty cool Vostok! I just put my hand on my modem and realized how hot it is! lol I DO have a regular Agromax seed starter heat mat but was just concerned that it was keeping them too warm. Again thank you for the advice!

you know what i had the same problem but with only one strain. while in cali theses beans that i had gotten directly from a friend from Tehran in Iran, the sprouting ratio was something like 5%. Now that im in a diff state (desert like Iran) the germination rate is near 100%. The Tehranian Kush is my profile pic, the beans i speak of. Maybe that will help you come to a conclusion. Ive figured if it is too much of a drastic change of weather/atmosphere of the original origins than its difficult for said bean to survive. Not to mention the ones that did sprout we had problems with the entire cycle.

As some one who used paper towels but got away from them because of the potentiality to damage the tap root my recommendation for seedlings if you don't mind spending a little $ is this set up. ( Bonus you can use all of this as a cloner as well just need some rooting hormones I like clonex )

-The low intensity white light is a great starter for the fragile seedlings and allows for early low light growth conditions preventing light stress that could potentially slow your growth rate early on.
-These lights work well until the 2nd or 3rd node then you should transplant them under a more intense grow light.

-Its also very easy to transplant them into soil / soilless and hydroponic grow media

-50 Rapid rooter plugs - 14$

-Clone dome + heating pad and small white light florescent shop light - 50$


-Temp / humidity monitor 14$


-Root Nutes take your pick 10-20 $
-PH test kit 5-20$

All Around 100$

these just popped up recently for me and they are looking great

all of them popped in 4-5 days no pre soaking

whatever happened to the moist paper towel and a ziplock way? am i the only one left doing it that way?.. you crazy kids

I put them in a cup of non ph'd water and let them sit until sprout some take a few days some take a few weeks, never had any bad luck doing this, the paper towel method can fail if it gets dry, this method you can't fail

T

srh88 said:

whatever happened to the moist paper towel and a ziplock way? am i the only one left doing it that way?.. you crazy kids

Click to expand...

This is how ive been doing it, pretty decent.

Beauknowsdiddly said:

Hey Guys!
I've been growing hydro, generally from seed, for a couple years now with pretty good luck. I just can't seem to get the germination down to a science. The method I use is this, I put the seeds in a glass of water for a couple days to get them started, then transfer to a paper towel until they're about a quarter inch long then transfer to rockwool, which go under my little humidity dome.

Sometimes I get 100% sprouts and sometimes 0%. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

Does the temperature of the water I use matter?

I've tried it with both Tap water (around 200 ppm) and RO water (maybe 12 ppm) with the same varying results. I've used I've tried a couple drops of root excelurator as well and again, I'm not sure if it helps or not because the results seem to vary so much.


I generally get my seeds from the attitude.

Does anyone have a good, steady germination method going?

Thank!

Click to expand...

why are you transferring them? Leave them in the cup until they sprout at least 1/4", use regular non filtered or ph'd water

Resinhound said:

There is no seed on this earth that is designed to germinate on a plate,I never germ on a plate or plastic bag or anything,if the seed is old soaking for 12-18 hours can speed up the process by softening the husk.plant the seed,in rockwool,rapid rooter or just straight in the dirt.It doesnt have to be this complicated,if you are having bad germ rates its my contension its because you are fucking with them too much or get impatient for them to sprout...in which case...you start fucking with them again.

Click to expand...

I agree. My method is near 100% and all I do is soak my rockwool cubes and plant my seeds. Set them on a plastic plate on a horticultural heating mat under some T-5's and wait. Simple and effective. I would only soak seeds if they were super old or had some very bad problems germinating. Good Luck Dude