Germinated seeds not sprouting in soil

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bluefoodie

New Member
Hi all, it's been 6 days since I put my seeds in soil and they haven't sprouted yet. This is making me really anxious because it's my first grow and it may be over before it started.

I germinated 2 seeds on wet paper towels until the taproots were about 1/4" long, then planted them root down, 1/4" deep. They're in 1-pint pots filled with Sanctuary Soil Empire Builder. I put them 6 inches below 2 26W CFL's running 24/0, and I misted them every day so the soil stays moist but not soaking wet.

I think I used the wrong kind of soil because it has an NPK of 0-0.07-0.52. I heard that seedlings need high nitrogen in the medium. The fact that both seeds of 2 different strains are not sprouting makes me think something is wrong with the medium/environment.

What do you think I should do now to possibly save the seeds?

1. Leave them alone and wait it out. I don't like this since this just gets more and more hopeless every day.
2. Water with a nitrogen-containing nutrient. I have the General Organics Go Box and a 5-1-1 Alaska fish fertilizer.
3. Dig the possibly weak seeds out and transplant into some Rapid Rooters I got today.
 
kryptoniteglo

kryptoniteglo

Well-Known Member
If your temperatures are on the low side (under 70F), growth takes longer. When I sprouted seeds at 80F, they broke through the soil in 2.5 days. When I did it with the same technique and same strain at 70F, it took 4.5 days. So if you're lower than 70F, it might just take a few more days.

I wouldn't add any nutes at all at this stage -- they're too harsh for the sprouts, which have all the nutes they need internally for the first couple of weeks.

Good luck!
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
Yeah, most definitely do not add any nutes... you'll burn them out for certain.

One of my white widows that are now in flowering took nearly nine days to break soil after using the paper-towel-in-a-ziploc method of germination.

Ride it out...

-spek
 
topfuel29

topfuel29

Well-Known Member
bluefoodie said:
I germinated 2 seeds on wet paper towels until the taproots were about 1/4" long, then planted them root down, 1/4" deep.
Click to expand...
You sow seeds 1/8"-1/4" under the soil. Not sprouts.
If you sprouted them in paper towel. You don't need to plant the sprout a 1/4" under the soil.
You all ready did that step with the paper towel.
Tap root down with the seed flush with the top of the soil. You want to see the top of the sprouted seed.

don't add nutrients to the soil for the first 3-4 weeks.
 
B

bluefoodie

New Member
It's pretty warm where I live (78F indoors and 82F in the tent), so I don't think that's the problem.

But just to update, both of my seeds are dead and I think either bugs chewed them up or it's some kind of rot.

After reading topfuel's advice I used tweezers to very carefully move aside the top layer of soil to expose the seed. But just moving dirt to the side caused the seed to shift. It turns out the seed had become detached from the top of the root. At first I was freaking out thinking I'd accidentally popped off the head of the seed, but after seeing the same thing with the other seed (it just "fell off" the top of the root), something must have been very wrong with the soil environment.

I opened up the seed coats and saw no cotyledons. Under the loupe it looked mushy and moldy. I also noticed some tiny white bugs moving around in the soil near where the seeds were. On the inside of the seed coat there was a patch of small, white, sesame seed-shaped specks that I think might have been egg cases. Does anyone know what the problem was?
 
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