The best way to get a seed to sprout?

dahooker

dahooker

Member
Hi guys and girls I have a germinated white widow auto seed just yesterday put in soil, and a northern lights x big bud auto that's still germinating..

I have a 1x1x2m tent with a 600w HPS and fans (very loud fans though, doesn't half make my anxiety worse) and I also have 6 x 23w CFL's but only in 2700k vegging spectrum as that's the shops standard around here.

Down to the point I'm hands up a little confused and lost as to what the best method is to get that first sprout up and out once the germinated seed has been put into the medium. Weather it is best going the 'natural way' and putting the seeds in medium straight under light, or in dark, or whatever other way..

I won't lie and I'm sure you'll hate me for this but I'm on a very tight budget, the tent kit plus previous CFL's, pots, medium, nutes and seeds it has come to over 300 so far and really can't afford another set of 6500k CFL's or a high powered CFL lamp, not until I can prove to myself I can grow something actually smokeable for 300 anyway lol plus I can't order things online (long story, and a pain in the ass)

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated, I'm new so be brutally honest if needs be.

Thanks people :)
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
dahooker said:
Hi guys and girls I have a germinated white widow auto seed just yesterday put in soil, and a northern lights x big bud auto that's still germinating..

I have a 1x1x2m tent with a 600w HPS and fans (very loud fans though, doesn't half make my anxiety worse) and I also have 6 x 23w CFL's but only in 2700k vegging spectrum as that's the shops standard around here.

Down to the point I'm hands up a little confused and lost as to what the best method is to get that first sprout up and out once the germinated seed has been put into the medium. Weather it is best going the 'natural way' and putting the seeds in medium straight under light, or in dark, or whatever other way..

I won't lie and I'm sure you'll hate me for this but I'm on a very tight budget, the tent kit plus previous CFL's, pots, medium, nutes and seeds it has come to over 300 so far and really can't afford another set of 6500k CFL's or a high powered CFL lamp, not until I can prove to myself I can grow something actually smokeable for 300 anyway lol plus I can't order things online (long story, and a pain in the ass)

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated, I'm new so be brutally honest if needs be.

Thanks people :)
Click to expand...
I have thousands invested in my grow over the years. Just get what you need one upgrade at a time. With what you have you should be able to run plants to harvest. One thing that is really important that most noobs overlook or is an afterthought is your soil. Get a huge bag of good soil & your plants will grow. Don't spend money on crappy nutrients! Just get a bag of good soil formulated for mj like fox farm ocean forest or sunshine mix & then all you'll need is water. When your plant gets too big for the pot get a bigger one & add fresh soil. You will need some nutrients eventually; when your plants are ready to bloom they will likely need some cal/mag & a bloom booster but you can get this later or use organic amendments to get you through to harvesting. Wish somebody gave me this advice before I wasted so much money on chemical nutrients so that's why I forward this advice to you: learn about organic living soil & start a worm bin if you can. Then your garden will be totally self sustainable & you'll never have to buy much of anything to keep a never ending supply of herb rolling your way. Good luck & happy growing!!!!
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Just realized I really never answered your Q:
Seedlings are very delicate but they will grow out in a few weeks if you observe a few tips:
Use a starting medium that contains no fertilizers & has good drainage. If you see water puddling up on the top of the soil or add some perlite to the mix to lighten it up.
Seedlings sometimes need some extra humidity to propagate quickly. Use a ziplok Baggie or Sarah wrap as a mini greenhouse by covering the top of your pot; I use solo keg cups for this. Seedlings like it to be room temp or slightly higher.
Keep seedlings under CFL for the first few weeks. Once they get a few sets of leaves they can go under your hid lamp. You can go 24 hrs comtimuously or 18/6 light cycle during this time it's up to you.
Popping seeds is also a matter of preference but I found this method works well for me: put seed in a shot glass half full of tap water. Let it sit overnight; next day stir the water. If it floats leave it for another 24hrs; if it sinks to the bottom it's cracked- pour it into a solo cup full of start mix. Should sprout up in a couple days.
Once a seedling gets a few nodes you should transplant to a nice big pot & water as normal. Adding worm castings to the top layer of soil & mulching it will ensure a healthy plant as will adding granular mycorrhizae to the root system during transplant.
 
TopDogTHC

TopDogTHC

Well-Known Member
When I put my seeds to germinate (damp cloth in ziplock bag method), I watered (no nutes) my soil that I'd put in 8" pots so it would be moist when the seeds popped. Checked seeds 48 hours later and they'd popped. Poked my finger into the middle of each pot, placed the germinated seeds a few milimeters deep shoot side down then covered lightly. Did not pat down the soil! Put the pots into my tent and just left it zipped up in the dark at room temp. Took around 36 hours for all of them to push through. That's when I hit the lights (400watt HPS at around 40"), started my 18/6 cycle and turned on the extractor fan (4" with carbon filter). I had no hygrometer or desk fan at this stage but they all seemed to come on fine. Tent temp was probs between 35c-40c.

It's only my first grow, all seeds germinated and are now nearing the end of the seedling stage. Suppose I'll find out on the next grow if it was beginners luck!
 
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dahooker

dahooker

Member
Richard Drysift said:
Just realized I really never answered your Q:
Seedlings are very delicate but they will grow out in a few weeks if you observe a few tips:
Use a starting medium that contains no fertilizers & has good drainage. If you see water puddling up on the top of the soil or add some perlite to the mix to lighten it up.
Seedlings sometimes need some extra humidity to propagate quickly. Use a ziplok Baggie or Sarah wrap as a mini greenhouse by covering the top of your pot; I use solo keg cups for this. Seedlings like it to be room temp or slightly higher.
Keep seedlings under CFL for the first few weeks. Once they get a few sets of leaves they can go under your hid lamp. You can go 24 hrs comtimuously or 18/6 light cycle during this time it's up to you.
Popping seeds is also a matter of preference but I found this method works well for me: put seed in a shot glass half full of tap water. Let it sit overnight; next day stir the water. If it floats leave it for another 24hrs; if it sinks to the bottom it's cracked- pour it into a solo cup full of start mix. Should sprout up in a couple days.
Once a seedling gets a few nodes you should transplant to a nice big pot & water as normal. Adding worm castings to the top layer of soil & mulching it will ensure a healthy plant as will adding granular mycorrhizae to the root system during transplant.
Click to expand...
TopDogTHC said:
When I put my seeds to germinate (damp cloth in ziplock bag method), I watered (no nutes) my soil that I'd put in 8" pots so it would be moist when the seeds popped. Checked seeds 48 hours later and they'd popped. Poked my finger into the middle of each pot, placed the germinated seeds a few milimeters deep shoot side down then covered lightly. Did not pat down the soil! Put the pots into my tent and just left it zipped up in the dark at room temp. Took around 36 hours for all of them to push through. That's when I hit the lights (400watt HPS at around 40"), started my 18/6 cycle and turned on the extractor fan (4" with carbon filter). I had no hygrometer or desk fan at this stage but they all seemed to come on fine. Tent temp was probs between 35c-40c.

It's only my first grow, all seeds germinated and are now nearing the end of the seedling stage. Suppose I'll find out on the next grow if it was beginners luck!
Click to expand...

Cheers for the thorough info buddy, still very new to it all. I got it wrong the first time round I meant I've only got 2700k flowering CFL's and really can't get hold of 6500k vegging one/s. I've wasted around 120 on crappy equipment and seeds, time to spend a little more so I can get something worthwhile. Also I was told the Gold Label Special Mix has nutes already in for vegging stage and he gave me 1L of Growers Ark Bloom feed for when they start flowering also, not sure if the nutes in the Gold Label would harm the seed mind..

I've got one White Widow Auto that germinated 3 days ago, as I didn't know this information at the time, as soon as the germinated seed was put in Gold Label Special Mix it went under the 600w HPS on it's 18/6 cycle straight away, I imagine that's a gonner.

I have a NL x Big Bud Auto that's been in the germination pot for 3 days with no taproot, it's only just cracked slightly (think it might be a dud, looks a bit brown inside)

Glad everything is going well TopDogTHC looks like you know what you're doing :) I've spent nearly a year reading and learning, even bought the Jorge Cervantes series of books which was a waste of money. It's just tough as everyone has their own way and even in the books it never mentions what to do between the time of putting the germinated seed in the medium till it sprouts out, so both you guys have given me valuable info i appreciate it greatly.

Do you guys recommend I buy of 3 or 5 of the same strain (non-auto this time) and start over? do it the proper way by putting them in the tent WITHOUT the light on until they pop up, and then wack the HPS on?

I've also been told by the hydro guy who sold me the stuff to put them in the 18L pots straight away to save having to transplant?? lol I'm not listening to anybody but you guys now, what you say goes..

Thanks again!
 
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Labs Dexter

Labs Dexter

Well-Known Member
dahooker said:
Cheers for the thorough info buddy, still very new to it all. I got it wrong the first time round I meant I've only got 2700k flowering CFL's and really can't get hold of 6500k vegging one/s. I've wasted around 120 on crappy equipment and seeds, time to spend a little more so I can get something worthwhile. Also I was told the Gold Label Special Mix has nutes already in for vegging stage and he gave me 1L of Growers Ark Bloom feed for when they start flowering also, not sure if the nutes in the Gold Label would harm the seed mind..

I've got one White Widow Auto that germinated 3 days ago, as I didn't know this information at the time, as soon as the germinated seed was put in Gold Label Special Mix it went under the 600w HPS on it's 18/6 cycle straight away, I imagine that's a gonner.

I have a NL x Big Bud Auto that's been in the germination pot for 3 days with no taproot, it's only just cracked slightly (think it might be a dud, looks a bit brown inside)

Glad everything is going well TopDogTHC looks like you know what you're doing :) I've spent nearly a year reading and learning, even bought the Jorge Cervantes series of books which was a waste of money. It's just tough as everyone has their own way and even in the books it never mentions what to do between the time of putting the germinated seed in the medium till it sprouts out, so both you guys have given me valuable info i appreciate it greatly.

Do you guys recommend I buy of 3 or 5 of the same strain (non-auto this time) and start over? do it the proper way by putting them in the tent WITHOUT the light on until they pop up, and then wack the HPS on?

I've also been told by the hydro guy who sold me the stuff to put them in the 18L pots straight away to save having to transplant?? lol I'm not listening to anybody but you guys now, what you say goes..

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
The guy was right about the 18ltr pot because it's autoyou have to minimise the shock of transplant or any type of shock/stun..
if not auto you can upgrade the pot size as the plant grows. Hope this helps and good luck buddy..
And seedlings are best under cfl untill you get three nodes or so...
I'm no pro by the way
 
Cobnobuler

Cobnobuler

Well-Known Member
Fella, the seed popping part of the journey isn't hard to do. Seeds will pop in damned nearly anything as long as your temps are not too far out of range.
They don't need any kind of light until they break the surface and then, a simple CFL or 2 will get you through the beginning stage. Myself, I use 1 CFL for each seedling and they get a nice start that way. A couple weeks later you can fire up the MH or HPS or whatever your going to grow under.
I use a wet paper towel in a bowl with plastic wrap on top. Many dispute this but I dont mess with what is somewhere around 99 percent success rate.
If it were me ( which it ain't ) I'd start over again simply because I dont care for Auto plants. But again, this is the easiest part of the journey you'll have. Real issues and real headaches can come later on :)
Best of luck and always remember to keep it fun !

Welcome to RIU

wel.gif
 
dahooker

dahooker

Member
Cheers guys!

When I next get paid i'll go and get a pack of 3 or 5 standard fem seeds so I can transplant and also get more potent/larger yield , germinate them the same way, but this time once germed I'll put them in small 10cm square pots I have with the Gold Label, but I'll stick a sandwich baggie over the top and obviously will leave in the dark, may leave above the fridge for a little extra heat with it being so cold at this time of year (6'c outside 16-18'c inside)

I'm slowly but surely getting there, again I really appreciate all your guys help, google searching and book reading is just mind boggling due to amount of different methods, you all seem to agree on roughly the same method which is cool, I'll stick with that.

I have 6 x 23w CFL's Cobnobuller buddy but they are all in the completely wrong spectrum lol around here the all shops sell 2700k as standard 'home lighting' and a maximum of 23w which is annoying, and due to me not having a proper debit card at the moment I can't order online which is annoying, and expensive, also again I'm really not tight but I don't earn much and have literally 4 days ago spent around 300 so I'm hoping the Duel spec HPS will be ok once sprouted in the dark then I could probably justify buying a 150w 6500k CFL from the hydro shop or something similar.

Thanks people
 
Labs Dexter

Labs Dexter

Well-Known Member
dahooker said:
Cheers guys!

When I next get paid i'll go and get a pack of 3 or 5 standard fem seeds so I can transplant and also get more potent/larger yield , germinate them the same way, but this time once germed I'll put them in small 10cm square pots I have with the Gold Label, but I'll stick a sandwich baggie over the top and obviously will leave in the dark, may leave above the fridge for a little extra heat with it being so cold at this time of year (6'c outside 16-18'c inside)

I'm slowly but surely getting there, again I really appreciate all your guys help, google searching and book reading is just mind boggling due to amount of different methods, you all seem to agree on roughly the same method which is cool, I'll stick with that.

I have 6 x 23w CFL's Cobnobuller buddy but they are all in the completely wrong spectrum lol around here the all shops sell 2700k as standard 'home lighting' and a maximum of 23w which is annoying, and due to me not having a proper debit card at the moment I can't order online which is annoying, and expensive, also again I'm really not tight but I don't earn much and have literally 4 days ago spent around 300 so I'm hoping the Duel spec HPS will be ok once sprouted in the dark then I could probably justify buying a 150w 6500k CFL from the hydro shop or something similar.

Thanks people
Click to expand...
If your gonna use the 600 hps from sprout check up on the distance mate...
That way you will not fry her lol.. But good luck and hope all goes well
 
dahooker

dahooker

Member
Labs Dexter said:
If your gonna use the 600 hps from sprout check up on the distance mate...,That way you will not fry her lol.. But good luck and hope all goes well
Click to expand...
Thanks man and the tent is 2m tall and it's a good 5ft feet away, I don't mind a little stretching for my first time.

Just gone in to check on the W.W Auto guys and we have a sprouter :) the two strange leaves that make you think you've been scammed when seeing for the first time and the two tiny tiny real leaves.

Just out of interest how does everybody water? I'm familiar with how often and symptoms of over and under watering/feeding. As the Gold Label is pre-fertilized for veg I have been using a spray bottle to spray around 500ml of water to soak the top layer and around the stem but not on the actual leaves, every 4-5 hours and it dries out on top, I've seen people pouring loads to the point where the drip tray is full, mines dry, just scared of over watering, I know it's easily done...not sure about this one.

Top lads!
 
Cobnobuler

Cobnobuler

Well-Known Member
dahooker said:
I'm really not tight but I don't earn much and have literally 4 days ago spent around 300 so I'm hoping the Duel spec HPS will be ok once sprouted in the dark then I could probably justify buying a 150w 6500k CFL from the hydro shop or something similar.
Click to expand...
Hey brother I know what it's like to try to grow on a very limited budget. I'm in a much better way these days but that wasn't the case when I first started. Do you have a Wal Mart wherever your are in the world ? I know they have daylight CFL's that are at least 5000 K that work just fine for vegging.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Cobnobuler said:
Hey brother I know what it's like to try to grow on a very limited budget. I'm in a much better way these days but that wasn't the case when I first started. Do you have a Wal Mart wherever your are in the world ? I know they have daylight CFL's that are at least 5000 K that work just fine for vegging.
Click to expand...
They do. And 2700k. Got some nice led bulbs cheap.

The cfl are 4 in a box for less than ten bucks. 23w.

You can get a box of 12 of the size down for twenty bucks.
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
best advice I can give for autos is

Take a good size sack or pot say 10 to 20L

Fill it with light mix soil

put like 3 to 6 seeds in that one pot

water it with water

leave a bag over it in your grow room for around 3 to 5 days

put your lights on 18/6 or 20/4 or 24/0 (ironically I once had a funny batch of auto seeds that would go male if exposed to over 18 hours daylight but I would think that`s very rare)

by day 5 to 10 you`ll have some small plants under that bag

Take the bag off, they`ll want a weak amount of cool light for 1 to 4 weeks and then hit them with the bright lights

Most autos don`t get really big unless your really good with them

the bigger pot means they grow a huge tap root

and grow bigger but putting 2 to 4 in a 20L pot is fine

If they get real big you can always put them in a bigger pot

I don`t do this with normal seeds, normally with normal seeds I germinate them in a 1 to 4L pot or some rockwall or a grow cube or something like that

but the faster you get them into a big pot the faster and bigger they grow

the problem is once autos hit the edge of the pot they will often stop growing even if you transplant them but growing 1 little seedling in a 10 to 30L pot is just a waste I mean it`ll take forever to drink all the water so now days when I do run autos I take a 10L to 60L sack and put around 1 seed for every 2 to 10L of pot

Auto`s are great if you have extra space in your veg tent

or if you run just one tent I find that popping a few autos while you have some trees flowering is good as you finish the trees and set the lights back long for veg your autos can finish under that while your vegging up your next lot of regs

Plus if you run veg and bloom tents you can just chuck them where ever there is space and move them between tents as you need



but saying that I normally do indica dom autos so they are pretty small

I`m sure some of the more sativa autos maybe able to get upto some pretty large sizes in 80 to 120 days but I normally like a nice 50 to 60 day auto NL or something

So wish autos could do the 40 days from seed to bud like many of the breeders try and say they can, lol
 
dahooker

dahooker

Member
whitebb2727 said:
They do. And 2700k. Got some nice led bulbs cheap.

The cfl are 4 in a box for less than ten bucks. 23w.

You can get a box of 12 of the size down for twenty bucks.
Click to expand...
THE KONASSURE said:
best advice I can give for autos is

Take a good size sack or pot say 10 to 20L

Fill it with light mix soil

put like 3 to 6 seeds in that one pot

water it with water

leave a bag over it in your grow room for around 3 to 5 days

put your lights on 18/6 or 20/4 or 24/0 (ironically I once had a funny batch of auto seeds that would go male if exposed to over 18 hours daylight but I would think that`s very rare)

by day 5 to 10 you`ll have some small plants under that bag

Take the bag off, they`ll want a weak amount of cool light for 1 to 4 weeks and then hit them with the bright lights

Most autos don`t get really big unless your really good with them

the bigger pot means they grow a huge tap root

and grow bigger but putting 2 to 4 in a 20L pot is fine

If they get real big you can always put them in a bigger pot

I don`t do this with normal seeds, normally with normal seeds I germinate them in a 1 to 4L pot or some rockwall or a grow cube or something like that

but the faster you get them into a big pot the faster and bigger they grow

the problem is once autos hit the edge of the pot they will often stop growing even if you transplant them but growing 1 little seedling in a 10 to 30L pot is just a waste I mean it`ll take forever to drink all the water so now days when I do run autos I take a 10L to 60L sack and put around 1 seed for every 2 to 10L of pot

Auto`s are great if you have extra space in your veg tent

or if you run just one tent I find that popping a few autos while you have some trees flowering is good as you finish the trees and set the lights back long for veg your autos can finish under that while your vegging up your next lot of regs

Plus if you run veg and bloom tents you can just chuck them where ever there is space and move them between tents as you need



but saying that I normally do indica dom autos so they are pretty small

I`m sure some of the more sativa autos maybe able to get upto some pretty large sizes in 80 to 120 days but I normally like a nice 50 to 60 day auto NL or something

So wish autos could do the 40 days from seed to bud like many of the breeders try and say they can, lol
Click to expand...
whitebb2727 Cheers man but like I've said I already own 6 x 23w 2700k CFL's but that's literally ALL they sell in shops round here in terms of temp colour, I think it's because of 2700k being standard home lighting, a part from that it's a 'buy online' job. I'd probably be Ok if they where sitting around the 5000k range but they are as red/yellow/warm as you can get :/

THE KONASSURE Thanks very much for the thorough info buddy! I bought 3 different auto seeds one Nirvana Short Rider auto germinated and sprouted under them CFL's but took two and a half weeks and it wasn't even on the real leaves, still about 2-3 mm just out the soil. I then bought all the tent/light etc.. made the mistake of putting the light on for 20 minutes before the extraction fan, ended up at 40'c and the seedling fried, completely my bad.

There is a Dinafem White Widow auto that I started germinating whilst I had the kit, germinated insanely fast maybe 14 hours and the tap root was 1/4 inch. Obviously didn't know the 'dark place, plastic bag on top' method so just stuck it in the Gold Label and straight under the HPS on a 18/6, luckily it sprouted and it's going well, today is day 4 from taking the seed out the packet and into the wet tissue and it's around an inch tall with the two strange leaves and two real leaves.

However the only auto I have left is the NL x Big Bud auto and that is on day 4 as well but still in the germination pot with wet towel and still no germination just a little swollen and cracked open, no tap root, yet it sinks in water so apparently it's 'still good', not sure what to do with that one just yet.

Since I'm new and the seeds are very expensive for me along with electricity (getting slightly worried at how much it's using, thinking about doing 4 plants instead of 2 next time to make up for it, As easy as auto's are though I'm 100% going for standard feminized next time round, any REALLY heavy indicas suggested are appreciated, love a gold ol' couch lock before bed time.

Also is all info safe and sound on here? Anything I say that 'isn't appropriate or putting myself or others at risk' then please let me know, I've read the rules and I don't seem to be breaking any. Already on medication for anxiety and can't help but be slightly worried when posting this sort of info online, unfortunately none of my friends cultivate and quite frankly i'd rather not tell any one, apart from you guys of course.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
dahooker said:
whitebb2727 Cheers man but like I've said I already own 6 x 23w 2700k CFL's but that's literally ALL they sell in shops round here in terms of temp colour, I think it's because of 2700k being standard home lighting, a part from that it's a 'buy online' job. I'd probably be Ok if they where sitting around the 5000k range but they are as red/yellow/warm as you can get :/

THE KONASSURE Thanks very much for the thorough info buddy! I bought 3 different auto seeds one Nirvana Short Rider auto germinated and sprouted under them CFL's but took two and a half weeks and it wasn't even on the real leaves, still about 2-3 mm just out the soil. I then bought all the tent/light etc.. made the mistake of putting the light on for 20 minutes before the extraction fan, ended up at 40'c and the seedling fried, completely my bad.

There is a Dinafem White Widow auto that I started germinating whilst I had the kit, germinated insanely fast maybe 14 hours and the tap root was 1/4 inch. Obviously didn't know the 'dark place, plastic bag on top' method so just stuck it in the Gold Label and straight under the HPS on a 18/6, luckily it sprouted and it's going well, today is day 4 from taking the seed out the packet and into the wet tissue and it's around an inch tall with the two strange leaves and two real leaves.

However the only auto I have left is the NL x Big Bud auto and that is on day 4 as well but still in the germination pot with wet towel and still no germination just a little swollen and cracked open, no tap root, yet it sinks in water so apparently it's 'still good', not sure what to do with that one just yet.

Since I'm new and the seeds are very expensive for me along with electricity (getting slightly worried at how much it's using, thinking about doing 4 plants instead of 2 next time to make up for it, As easy as auto's are though I'm 100% going for standard feminized next time round, any REALLY heavy indicas suggested are appreciated, love a gold ol' couch lock before bed time.

Also is all info safe and sound on here? Anything I say that 'isn't appropriate or putting myself or others at risk' then please let me know, I've read the rules and I don't seem to be breaking any. Already on medication for anxiety and can't help but be slightly worried when posting this sort of info online, unfortunately none of my friends cultivate and quite frankly i'd rather not tell any one, apart from you guys of course.
Click to expand...
What country you live in?
 
H

harris hawk

Well-Known Member
if you want some good tutitorals sites let me know. way to much information to tell you - you must go to "learning (how -to) and study and learn. But the information noted o your post is good information - but going to a "learning" site will cover what is missed. PM me !!!!
 
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