GERMING NATURAL:-

The Best way to Germinate seeds is the natural way.
In small pots apx 10 cm deep & 8cm in diameter with a fine soil medium + fine perlite & vermiculite mix.
(D.I.Y or B&Q compost finely sieved.)

Prepare your pots of soil mix & label them + mix a couple drops of bleach in a glass of water apx cm deep.
make a small hole in the soil mix apx 5-10mm deep with the blunt end of a wood pencil or similar item.
Drop a seed in each hole.
Apply one drop of weak bleach solution per seed in its hole with a drinking straw. Utilise the thumb on straw to suck up the solution from the glass the same way as using a pipette.
This is done to prevent mould or infection.
Now you can Cover the seed delicately then tamp with the thumb.
You do not need to sand Afropips seeds as they are pre-scarified during the sorting & packaging process.

Use a fine mist water sprayer & apply apx 20 hand pumps per pot.
Do 10 pumps per pot in rotation allowing the water to soak in before the next 10 pumps
This water will soak in apx 2 cm deep. Do not overwater or allow water to drain out the bottom of the pots at this stage.

Sandwich the pots inbetween sheets of glass & place them in a warm airing cupboard, propagator or similar warm place.
(the seeds do not need light to germ & prefer darkness as in nature)
Water will condense on the glass directly above each pot when the temp' is warm enough , apx' 25 degrees C.

Check on the pots for sprouts after 48 hrs & then every 24 hrs when applying another 10-20 hand pumps as needed of fine water mist from the hand sprayer to maintain a damp soil medium.
Most sprouts will be up in a week.
Remove the pots with the yellowish sprouts to a warm sunny windowsill.
Sprouts which still have the seed shell still attached should be left alone to shed the shell naturally. Use the fine water spray on these sprouts moved onto the windowsill to loosen the seed shell without uneccesary stress. The sprouts will start to turn green & as the first seed leaves grow the seed shell will fall off naturally.
You can now use a squash bottle with dribbler sprout spray or similar applicator to give the sprouts soil the first watering so the water comes out the bottom of the pots. Do not water on top of the sprouts as they are still delicate & can be damaged, bent easily.

Seeds that fail to germinate in the first week should not be dug up or thrown away.
Put these ungerminated seed pots in a cool room & check them occasionally & keep watered. Some seeds need this stratification process to germ.
Seeds that have failed to germ' after a 2 week statification can be either placed back in the warm closet/Propagator or placed outside weather permitting.
I have had seeds germ several months after planting using this method.
Not all seeds germ immediately & it is a natural inbuilt survival mechanism
so as to ensure some plants make it even if some germed seeds are destroyed by adverse weather conditions. 100%+ Germ' percentages can be easily realised utilising this method. Certain Afropips varieties seeds produce twins regularly.


TRANSPLANTING:-

Transplant each sprout to the large pots a couple of days after they have been removed from the airing cupboard especially before the root tip of each sprout reaches the bottom of the pot & has to bend.
This method is said to increase the female plant percentage.

The Best way to transplant the sprouts into the large pots is to make sure the soil medium in the small pots is damp all the way to the bottom of the pots by watering thouroughly allowing water to escape from the bottom of the pots.
Do not over drench the soil in each small pot with water.

Prepare the soil mix for each large pot & place & level it in the pot by shaking it down & lightly tamping it with the hands.
Take an empty small pot the same as the ones you have germed the seeds in
& use it to create an inverse sandcastle in the soil medium.
Use the water sprayer to spray the inside of the castle walls
to keep them from caving in.
Use the water bottle with dribbler spout to apply water to the bottom of each inverse sandcastle. Do not fill the complete hole with water but apply in small amounts to every pot in succesion allowing the water to soak away gradually in small amounts until it reaches to the bottom of each large pot.

It is now time to transplant by removing the soil medium with sprout in one lump
to the watered inverse sandcastle holes. Spread the soil medium on top of each large pot to accept the sprout & fill any gaps or holes.
Try to be delicate as possible when doing this.
Transfer your variety label from the small pot to the large pot.
You can now apply water to the tops of each large pot of soil from the hand bottle dribble sprayer so it covers the soil surface & soaks in apx a couple inches deep.
Apx' 0,25 to 0,33 litres of water per large pot applied in a circular motion around each sprout to avoid them being bent over or damaged.
The last fine mist spray on the sprouts can now be applied.
The large pots of sprouts are now ready for the 12/12 light cycle.


I Hope that Helps + I will add photos & ammend edit ASAP.

Cool Runnings..........

Hi Afroman,

Thanks for that. I didn't realise your seeds were pre-scarified, perhaps it explains the 100% germination rates I've always had with your seeds.

Nice one geezer,
Felix.

The plants should be fine in the 8x10cm pots for a fiew weeks.
I find its best to let the roots fill out the pot before potting up, this saves the soil getting over damp.
Nice post though, its always good to see other peoples tecniques and if it works well for you im sure it will work well for others.