what is your favorite germination method?…and why

Hello again,

I’m germinating again, and want to see if there is a better way. In the past, I’ve used paper towels & it worked very well. I stopped due to the possible problem of having the sprouts grow into them.
Then, I have now used the water in the glass method…..I’m not sure, but think I’m not getting as high a percentage to germinate (only a few don’t, if any).

Thought I’d look into it & found far too many to look at on You Tube. I’ve looked at four so far & all of them start with water & transfer to paper towels in a baggie afterwards. This is new to me & it may be the best way, but thought I’d check with y’all first.

what do you do & does it work well?

thanks!

Paper towel method. I can see what the issue is with out harming it if not sprouting in 3-5 days.

You do have to be extra careful. If it grows into the paper I just gently split the paper in half around the root. It should be mushy enough to do anyway or its too dry.

I keep in higher humidity like 45% and above to make sure it dont dry out overnight and conveniently stay wet for a few days.

I just cant help but stick to what works for me. I plant when it looks like the photo. I assist gently taking off the seed if its stuck, happens often.

I get nearly 100% everytime.

I just stick it in a small pot with coco on a heating mat.

paper towel in plastic bag

MickFoster said:

I get nearly 100% everytime.
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Boom !

Solo cup of mild soil or recycled / sow seed in .. let nature take over.

To be honest - 1000 ways to skin a cat or pop a seed.

Whatever works for you. Rooter plug / peat - jiffy plug / direct planting / solo cup / zip bag / grodan rockwool etc.

The bottom line - find a method that requires less handling ( to not damage the fragile tap root ) .

Its just a seed , no different than any other .

Susanne said:

what do you do & does it work well?

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12 hour soak in bottled water, then to soil, sometimes I just go straight to soil.
Have high success rates doing it this way.

If the roots grown through the paper towel just cut out around the root and plant the piece of towel with it.

Ancient Shaolin method - Peemination

Dribble the Dank !
Tinkle the Terps !
Punch out the Profiles !

We pop em right in the soil. Soaking the seeds helps and so does scuffing them with sandpaper. It’s not always the best practice but I put a ziplock bag over the top of a solo cup and place it on a heat mat. The baggie is pulled off the second a sprout emerges. High humidity can cause damping off; only use a dome or bag until germination. Once the seedling pops off it goes under LED light in the nursery with all the others at 18/6.
A solo cup is the perfect size for about the first 20-30 days after germination. Popping seeds is one thing but I think the choice of starter mix more important for seedlings than many bother to worry about. Sure you can pop seeds in a jiffy pot or straight coco or any inert medium but adding compost to your starter mix provides fungi and meager nutrients for starting healthy plants. Vermiculite holds moisture while perlite provides drainage. Adding a sprinkle of granulated mycorrhizae and oozing a little vera gel from a fresh aloe leaf into a starter mix promotes fast root development, retains moisture, and acts as an antiseptic for healthy white fluffy roots. A tiny bit of humid acid helps keep ph slightly acidic for happy young seedlings.
This is the recipe I use for starting seedlings:
Coco coir 1 part
add Aloe Vera gel from a fresh aloe leaf to gallon of water and use it to hydrate the coco in a bin or cooler or something. Then
Add 1 part worm castings and/or compost
1/2 part perlite
1/2 part vermiculite
Sprinkle in 1 tsp of humid acid
Mix well
Sprinkle granular mycorrhizae into each container after filling almost to the top & cover over with thin layer of starter mix.
Plant some seeds
Works for weed and tomatoes and peppers or what have you
Once roots are established then you can piss on em or whatever

I soak mine in Distilled/Reverse Osmosis water
78f-80f.

As soon as I see them cracking the shell, they are removed.

I put them in either an 18oz cup, or 32oz Uline Deli Container, filled with Promix BX.

I then, Spray the top of the Promix, until an inch, or so is wet. I make a very very shallow hole, in the medium, and put the Sharp End of the Seed, Down, where the root tip, will emerge.

I push the seed down, with a tooth pick, until the top is covered with about 1/16th inch of medium. Enough to keep the seed covered, when I spray it again.

I spray again, and then, I get some Saran Wrap, and cover the cups. I spray the Underside of the Saran Wrap, and that helps keep the plastic, stuck to the cups. I then spray the outside of the Saran Wrap, for extra weight.

I then, have a small breeze going, and I use a 1000w Hortilux Blue, or, a 1000w Hortilux HPS, to germinate, and for warmth. I keep temps, under 84f. 78f-83f.

HPS is kept at 24in, and the Hortilux Blue is at 20 inches. i keep a slight breeze going by pointing a Box Fan, between the tops of the cups, and the bottom, of the bulb.
As soon as I see a seeding emerging, I remove the plastic.

Not long ago, I started 105 seeds, and 101 of them, came up. I also feed them at 10% strength, as soon as they need more water.

Plant it, water it, heat mat.

I dont like paper towel personally. If the seeds being annoying I'll put in a shot glass for a few hours then re-plant.

RO water in a cup, toss beans in....don't know why anyone does it differently honestly...seems like just extra work to me, seeds I germinated this year out of the the 15 I only lost 2, and those germinated and popped but never popped out of my solo cups

seeds in a shot glass with water,24 hrs later usually showing tails ,always put a few drops hydrogen peroxide in ,then into soil with dome and heat mat,easy and has worked for me for a long time

I do a scuff inside of a film canister first,
Then h202 pre soak for 5 minutes. I use strong h202 so I do probably a 1:10 ratio of (I don't know what %) h202 to water

Then after that transfer it to a cup of water. Prod it once or twice a day to see if it sinks, usually after a day fresh seeds pop a taproot and I transfer it to the pot I'm growing it in (coco coir inside seedling airpots)

The tap water I use has chloramines in it which helps versus dampening off.

When I go organic I'm going to try out an organic sprouting approach involving castings

I find there's a direct correlation between how much I can mess with the seeds and how well they germinate. That being said, the paper towel method and root riot plugs is my go to because it takes out the guess work.

I just dropped a baby food jar that I was soaking seeds in and three out of four went down the garbage disposal drain in the sink. My wife was able to save them somehow. I hate dropping seeds! I drop the damn things all the time, especially when trying to germinate!

I have been trying to soak them in 1% hydrogen peroxide/water solution. This is supposed to result in better germination. I put one unit of 3% peroxide in a container and add two units of water.

After about 48 hours I dump the liquid and replace it with tap water.

Once I see a root of a couple millimeters in length, I put the seed in a peat pellet. This is another opportunity to drop a seed. My fingers are not able to do this worth a damn. I have to use tweezers and they are not much better than my fingers.

A lot of times a seed that seems to be healthy will just die before it sprouts out of the peat pellet. I think it might be a result of damping off. This is pretty frustrating. I have resorted to spraying the pellets with fungicide but can’t tell if it helps yet.

Susanne said:

Hello again,

I’m germinating again, and want to see if there is a better way. In the past, I’ve used paper towels & it worked very well. I stopped due to the possible problem of having the sprouts grow into them.
Then, I have now used the water in the glass method…..I’m not sure, but think I’m not getting as high a percentage to germinate (only a few don’t, if any).

Thought I’d look into it & found far too many to look at on You Tube. I’ve looked at four so far & all of them start with water & transfer to paper towels in a baggie afterwards. This is new to me & it may be the best way, but thought I’d check with y’all first.

what do you do & does it work well?

thanks!

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I usually put my seeds in a glass of water over night then put them in wet paper towels.