germinating question

Alright RIU I could really use some nube help here. I've been growing from clone for about a year now and decided I would like to start a few Blue Dream seeds for my next grow. As I've never successfully started straight from seed i decided it would be a good idea to practice on a few bagseeds first before throwing in the good stuff. I'm not having any problems getting them to sprout and push through the top of the soil after trying both the paper towel method and placing the seeds directly in the soil. I've been using a humidity dome over the pots to help keep the rh high during germination. However, every time they sprout and i take the dome off they start to droop and fall over. If i put the dome back over the plant they perk back up a bit but if i leave it on they start to grow little white fuzz which im pretty sure is some type of mold. Not really sure what i'm doing wrong so i'm reaching out to you and asking for help. +rep for any help. Thanks and happy growing

well, you didn't mention what type of light you are using for them, but i would suggest trying a small watt cfl, maybe like a 23 watter, and keep it about an inch away from the top of your seedlings after it pops out of the soil.. i personally don't use humidity domes for seedlings or even clones for that matter.. once they are in the soil, i just let em rip like that.. i have found that cfls work great for very early veg/ seedling stage as they don't produce too much heat and can be placed very close to your seedlings to help prevent any stretch that can occour sometimes when using hids and having to have them farther away from the plants to help with heat issues.
hope this helps some.. and don't fret.. i feel that the seedling stage is the hardest part of growing mj, and once i manage to get a seed to around four or so nodes, i am pretty much sure that its gonna make it..

Wow. quick response racerboy. Thanks for that! I havn't been placing them under the lights just yet. I read in a few posts here that you should wait until they sprout their first set of leaves and loose the shell before placing them under the lights. Do you germinate your seeds under the cfls from the start? I have some 23 watt 6500k cfls i was going to use once they actually sprouted out their first leaves. I'll try to put the seedling under them for a bit and see how they react. Thanks bro +rep.

yah, some people will say wait till you see the seedling break the soil, and others will say put it under the lights right away.. six of one, half dozen of the other really as i haven't seen anykind of major difference doing it both ways.
i was having major problems killing my seedlings in the beginning because i was putting them right uner my hps as soon as the popped and it was just too much for them.. ever since i have now switched to using either my t5 or a 23 watt cfl like you have, i have been having much better luck with them..

Well right now I've got 3 seedlings that have popped up. I just threw them in the cab with 2 23watt cfls about 2 inches or so away from them. we'll see how they pan out. the plan as of right now is to veg them for a while under the cfls then throw them under my 400watt HPS for flowering, if they make it that is. Blue Dream to follow as soon as i get a little more confident with the germinating and sprouting. thanks again for your help man. going over to check out your thread now.

Absolutely no disrespect meant twords racerboy, but does anyone else have a differant opinion or suggestions. As previously stated many people have their own way of doing things and I would liketo try and take in as much as possible. If I am mistaken and this is the main way it is done then by all means let the stupid newbie comments fly! I'm here to learn and can definately take any criticism thrown my way. Lol. Thanks again for stopin by

Recently successfully germinated my first batch of seeds. I was a bit confused by the whole not giving them light until they appear above the surface thing. I decided to go with light and had a 21w cfl right above the soil, also had a cut off plastic bottle over them until they popped above the surface, then removed it when they did. They had one day under the cfl and then I moved them straight to my 400w dual spectrum lamp. One thing I was very careful with was the moisture levels, if they are too wet then the plants will droop, even more of a problem if the roots are not yet established - so careful with that. Remember - Moist not Wet!

What I use is cotton, keeps humidity better, and has a awesome germinating ratio. Except for the ones sold by shitty webshops......

2 layers of cotton, seed inbetween in a deep bowl, have a lid on, keep dark for 12-48hrs (if they don´t germ. within those hrs they wont...). I prepare the pots before germinating with plain water so soil is humid when planting. Mist soil (never water, and also by advice here use a "clock" (bottom of a plastic bottle with holes for oxigen) to keep humidity up) for the first week or so and they grow fine! My problems comes later

My Dad recently germinated some seeds, mainly Dutch Passion Holland's hope which germinated within 24 hours. There was a cole train seed free with them, this took 96 hours in kitchen roll to germinate - but it did, and has now sprouted and is looking fairly healthy. So be aware they still might germinate after a long time.

Bigby said:

My Dad recently germinated some seeds, mainly Dutch Passion Holland's hope which germinated within 24 hours. There was a cole train seed free with them, this took 96 hours in kitchen roll to germinate - but it did, and has now sprouted and is looking fairly healthy. So be aware they still might germinate after a long time.

Click to expand...

I for one will keep that in mind, thxs!

Btw, think your Dad is the kind of Dad that I wan´t to be for my daughter (that if he has been a good one ovviously ).....

Here is the technique that i use for germination.

I start by allowing some water to dechlorinate for over 24hours.

I then ph it to 6.

I fill a shot glas half full of the water and place the seed ontop of the water.

I allow the seed to soak for 6hours then i prep my medium which it will be planted in (i use coco coir)

I then place the seed 1/16 of an inch into the medium with the knot side of the seed facing up.

I then cover the seed with the medium lightly place a small humidity dome ontop and then place the hole thing under 18/6 using a 6400k 24w T5.

Within 24 hours i see taproots heading down into the medium.
After 48 hours the seeds have broken the surface.

At this point i pierce some holes in the humidity dome (which are just bottoms of clear plastic bottles) to lower the humidity a little bit.

After a couple of days i remove the domes.

Hope this helps.

J

Do what he said, but I'm not sure what he meant by the knot. You should be planting with the point or root tip growing UP towards the surface. I know this doesn't sound normal but it's what the seed wants to do naturally.

jondamon said:

Here is the technique that i use for germination.

I start by allowing some water to dechlorinate for over 24hours.

I then ph it to 6.

I fill a shot glas half full of the water and place the seed ontop of the water.

I allow the seed to soak for 6hours then i prep my medium which it will be planted in (i use coco coir)

I then place the seed 1/16 of an inch into the medium with the knot side of the seed facing up.

I then cover the seed with the medium lightly place a small humidity dome ontop and then place the hole thing under 18/6 using a 6400k 24w T5.

Within 24 hours i see taproots heading down into the medium.
After 48 hours the seeds have broken the surface.

At this point i pierce some holes in the humidity dome (which are just bottoms of clear plastic bottles) to lower the humidity a little bit.

After a couple of days i remove the domes.

Hope this helps.

J

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did with the exception of pre soaking the seeds. All 3 seeds that sprouted 4 days ago are still surviving at this point. They have shed their shells and are still standing tall. Got them in the cab under 3x 23watt cfls right now. If they survive the next few days i will be starting a journal on here for all of you to enjoy/criticize and help me along the way. Thanks for all of the helpful posts. +rep for all!! ß

Glad to hear this worked for you.

The reason i soak my seeds for a little time is something which i read about after my first lot of germination disaster rates lol. i had a rate of 2 out of 7 lol really bad

Using this technique my last germination which is my 2nd time growing from seed but 3rd grow overall was a rate of 4 out of 4. So not bad. I am not going to say this method is 100% successfull simply because it hasnt had enough testing yet. When i have grown from seed a few more times and use this method maybe then it will prove that it works well enough.

If you have fresh seeds then the pre soaking usually isnt required from what i have read but i will still be using this method when i grow my White widow mother plant from seed and she will be from a fairly fresh seed.

Keep us up to date with your progress.

Happy growing


J

Definitely Will keep all up to date. Like i said in the beginning I've just been trying things out with a few mid grade bagseeds before popping my 2 Blue Dream seeds. I'll try the pre soaking on the next round. Thanks again for all of your help and input. If you have a journal going post it up or pm it to me so I can check it out.

newbieharvester said:

I for one will keep that in mind, thxs!

Btw, think your Dad is the kind of Dad that I wan´t to be for my daughter (that if he has been a good one ovviously ).....

Click to expand...

We are those parents, most people that know think we are crazy. My son is 16, str8 A student, works 30 hrs a week and we have allowed him to smoke for almost a year now. When I first found
out he was smoking I almost had a heart attack, my husband is a recovering alcoholic and I have not frank or smoked for over 15 years due to all of the pain meds I have to take. It was a mix of my brother and my son that made me decide to grow and try to use cannabis to get off of the ridiculous amounts of narcotics I am on.
My son is a great kid so its easy to allow him 2 smoke, might be harder if he wasnt.....

TheJointProject said:

Definitely Will keep all up to date. Like i said in the beginning I've just been trying things out with a few mid grade bagseeds before popping my 2 Blue Dream seeds. I'll try the pre soaking on the next round. Thanks again for all of your help and input. If you have a journal going post it up or pm it to me so I can check it out.

Click to expand...

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/325988-4-plants-seed-experiment.html

This is my latest experiment.

Had a few issues but as i said i am only on my 3rd grow.

Had a few heat issues which burnt the plants due to the unpredictable UK weather and we had temps in excess of 26C and i setup my grow room during the winter and didnt allow for temps like these.

BUt check it out it show my germ technique too.

PLenty of pics and installations etc. I am just in the process of installing a new cooltube system

J

jondamon said:

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/325988-4-plants-seed-experiment.html

This is my latest experiment.

Had a few issues but as i said i am only on my 3rd grow.

Had a few heat issues which burnt the plants due to the unpredictable UK weather and we had temps in excess of 26C and i setup my grow room during the winter and didnt allow for temps like these.

BUt check it out it show my germ technique too.

PLenty of pics and installations etc. I am just in the process of installing a new cooltube system

J

Click to expand...

Headin to your page now. thanks!

I just use an inch of water in a glass for 12 hrs then put a paper towel on the plate wet it cover it wet it again. Keep it moist until the taproot pops out a little more than a 1/4 or 1/2 an inch.

I always put the taproot downward because like in Whiteflowers pic the root always pops out then turns downward and the top of the seed goes a 1/4 under the soil. Then right under some 6500k cfl's and keep the top moist. I have had like 98% success with this.

LadyKimi said:

We are those parents, most people that know think we are crazy. My son is 16, str8 A student, works 30 hrs a week and we have allowed him to smoke for almost a year now. When I first found
out he was smoking I almost had a heart attack, my husband is a recovering alcoholic and I have not frank or smoked for over 15 years due to all of the pain meds I have to take. It was a mix of my brother and my son that made me decide to grow and try to use cannabis to get off of the ridiculous amounts of narcotics I am on.
My son is a great kid so its easy to allow him 2 smoke, might be harder if he wasnt.....

Click to expand...

Sry to hear about your problems, and for not seeing your answer before.... But being open is far better than surrounding issues with guilt, shame and strictness.... He will surely grow intelligent, openminded and clearly will not have more probs than others with mj or alcohol. Think of it, he will grow up with a healthier perspective!

I grew up in southern europe, drank wine mixed with water from I was 5-6, then we transferred to scandinavia with their strict alcohol politics.... Always been the most sober of my friends.... Make things illegal and people will be drawn towards it.