Too many seeds not germinating recently, need help

Recently I've had problems with seeds germinating. Don't know if my method is at fault or the high humidity of the tropical summer in my city is to blame.
My method is this:

Leave them floating in a glass of water overnight, sink them in the morning, let them sank for 1 hour, transfer to the paper towel method, check every 2 days, if the root is 1 cm then transfer to a moist jiffy pellet.

I don't know if humidity pathogens are screwing them up too. I have Southern AG GFF, can it be used as a fungi preventive method?

Also I have used jiffy pellets, should I soak them on a SAG GFF mix for pathogen prevention too, or something and then use them to germinate future seeds?

Skip the paper towel and plant directly.

xtsho said:

Skip the paper towel and plant directly.

Click to expand...

And the water sinking is good?

avillax said:

Recently I've had problems with seeds germinating. Don't know if my method is at fault or the high humidity of the tropical summer in my city is to blame.
My method is this:

Leave them floating in a glass of water overnight, sink them in the morning, let them sank for 1 hour, transfer to the paper towel method, check every 2 days, if the root is 1 cm then transfer to a moist jiffy pellet.

I don't know if humidity pathogens are screwing them up too. I have Southern AG GFF, can it be used as a fungi preventive method?

Also I have used jiffy pellets, should I soak them on a SAG GFF mix for pathogen prevention too, or something and then use them to germinate future seeds?

Click to expand...

How old are the seeds?
Agree with xtsho. Plant directly in your substrate or get a light peat based mix (something like ProMix) if you can.

avillax said:

And the water sinking is good?

Click to expand...

Some sink some don't. That's not a reliable way to determine viability of seed. You don't need to soak for more than 6-8 hours. I skip the soaking and paper towel and just plant directly to soil.

Another thing is the seeds. I don't know where you acquired yours but there are lots of old seeds being sold and if they've been sitting around too long without proper storage methods it's possible they are no longer viable.

You shouldn't need any fungicide product to germinate a seed. It's a "Just add water" process.

No need to germ in towels. Imo all that does is give you the chance to infect or break the taproot.

If your having this issue now but haven't had an issue germinating in the past than id have to agree w xtsho you got/have junk seeds

I never understood all the seed germination methods when you can just drop them in the dirt.

Plant direct to media (soil/coco), keep it moist (like wrung out sponge) not wet, don't let it dry out, under mild lights, keep stable temperature 78-80 24 hours per day, uncovered. Don't pre germinate. No need to soak unless the seed is old, then a 12 hour soak in diluted h2o2 works wonders. Here is a good guide: https://www.mandalaseeds.com/Guides/Germination-Guide

Rurumo said:

Plant direct to media (soil/coco), keep it moist (like wrung out sponge) not wet, don't let it dry out, under mild lights, keep stable temperature 78-80 24 hours per day, uncovered. Don't pre germinate. No need to soak unless the seed is old, then a 12 hour soak in diluted h2o2 works wonders. Here is a good guide: https://www.mandalaseeds.com/Guides/Germination-Guide

Click to expand...

So grateful for this advice, thank you. Yes it seems that the problem was that these were fresh seeds and I should have sow them directly in the final soil avoiding the glass of water and the papertowel, but this worked in the past, and I was wondering if it had to do with the fact that I planted many of the seeds before after almost 1 year of receiving them, so they might have been a bit dry and responded better to the extra water treatments, whereas this new batch I tried to germinate after 1 week of receiving them, so directly on soil would have worked better.

By the way, I havent't tested my soil but I buy it in a local nursery and it has proven to be excellent in previous grows, as in no issues whatsoever ever.

Some premixed soils are too strong for clones but for seeds, it should be fine. I might try thinning down your mix [for starting only] and try that with a few seeds. good luck...

I do the same thing but I only check the paper towel once or twice a day. I had one seed that was in a wet paper towel in a zip lock bag for two weeks without germinating. As a last ditch effort I tried something I read here which is gently crack the seed with your teeth as if it was a sun seed. Two days later she germinated with a long taproot and helmet completely off.

Green Refuge said:

I do the same thing but I only check the paper towel once or twice a day. I had one seed that was in a wet paper towel in a zip lock bag for two weeks without germinating. As a last ditch effort I tried something I read here which is gently crack the seed with your teeth as if it was a sun seed. Two days later she germinated with a long taproot and helmet completely off.

Click to expand...

Whoever taught you this is a genius. I just cracked a seed that hadnt germinated in 7 days with my teeth, placed it in the wet towel and voila! Seems like it will make it. Tap root and have just potted it.

Is that rot on the roots?

Don’t the shells usually come up stuck to the cotelydons?

or is that only sometimes? I can’t remember seeing the plant side come Out first like those two.

A.k.a said:

Don’t the shells usually come up stuck to the cotelydons?

or is that only sometimes? I can’t remember seeing the plant side come Out first like those two.

Click to expand...

Only 1 side seems alive, the other one looks to be what was going to become 1 leaf

They look weak, oversoaked, could be too warm.

I would reduce soak to 4 hours and plant straight to final medium see if that don't induce 100% germination.

A.k.a said:

Don’t the shells usually come up stuck to the cotelydons?

or is that only sometimes? I can’t remember seeing the plant side come Out first like those two.

Click to expand...

Happens usually when planted too shallow.

@ OP - high sodium content in your media can lead to poorer germination rates

UPDATE: The seed I cracked with my teeth seems to be thriving, perhaps developing true leafs? But doing so really really slow

avillax said:

Whoever taught you this is a genius. I just cracked a seed that hadnt germinated in 7 days with my teeth, placed it in the wet towel and voila! Seems like it will make it. Tap root and have just potted it.

Click to expand...

Wow that's awesome glad to hear it worked for you. Mine emerged from the dirt in the same fashion as yours. I dug around the base and found the second leaf growing right under the dirt. It seems like the seed get a little confused when assisted in the cracking process.