Germanating seeds

[RatFaced_Killah]

Has anyone got any tips for germinating seeds? without use of a propagator.

[dustin boles]

het kiilah, i soak my seeds in a glass of water for 24 hours, or until they sink, then put them in a paper towel and usually see a tap root in less than a day. some people just take them directly from the water and plant in their medium, whatever fits you best. i put them in paper towel o9nly before, but soaking them cause germination much faster.

[BuddyBoris]

Germinate mine in an empty CD box. Three sheets of Andrex sprayed then close the box and shake out the excess water then add the seeds and one sheet of Andrex on top. Then place in a cool dark cupboard. Got the advice from Indoor Jungle and all 6 seeds I started with poped within 24 hours. Nice.

[RatFaced_Killah]

ive already done what you said buddy boris and one of the northern light X haze seeds has already cracked open

[Baba Ku]

Are they for soil or hydro? If they are for soil then I recommend those little Jiffy peat pellet things, you get in garden centres. I started using them a couple of grows ago, and I have had brilliant success with them. I seem to germinate more seeds, though I don't keep records so I can't be exact. You can leave them for at least a week, sometimes two, before you need to pop them into a pot, with no root disturbance or stress. I just fill a standard seed tray with clear plastic lid with them, and put them under a light to warm up. You have to be careful not to over water them though, they can look quite dry while holding a fair bit of water inside. Hope this helps.

[RatFaced_Killah]

hey hey not too shabby all 5 seeds germinated! one of the NL X haze is showing above ground.

its like being being a father , but better cuz you youll be able to smoke yer child

[Bud Brother]

Congratulations! your now a Cannibal Dad.

Just remember they are at their most delicate time in their life, I try to put my seedling in a propagator or under a clear plastic bag for a week until they harden off and get their first to second set of proper leaves this helps them from getting scorched buy the lights also the soil can dry up quick if in small pots damaging the young roots, not good!

All the best,

Bud Brother

[Glowy]

Hi,

I am a little in the dark on this germination thing. I am starting my first grow with Northern Lights, I soaked my Rockwool starter cubes in PH 5.5 water and a bit of Rhizotonic over night and then popped my seeds inside. I have left them in a bedroom for now, would they be better in a dark place say under the stairs?.

I don't have a propagator, but was going to wait for them to sprout and then I was going to put them in my grow room and stick the light on about 3 feet from the cubes and spray them with a water, Rhizotonic and Oxy-Plus mixture.

Is that going to work?

Glowy

[Baba Ku]

There must be almost as many methods for germinating seeds now as there are varieties available to germinate! Whatever method you choose, the thing to bear in mind is what you are trying to replicate. All successful germination requires you to do is to replicate Spring. When the snow melts, the ground softens and warms up and the rains come, and the days get lighter and lighter, seeds know the time has come for action. As far as I can tell, all the germination methods seem to pretty much just that in the end, however they go about it.

[Baba Ku]

I think I read somewhere that if you put them straight into large pots, the roots spread out to the side of the pot and don't get such a compact system going.

You've been misled. When a Cannabis plant germinates, it sends down a tap root, a single, quite thick root that acts like a drill, straight down to the water. As soon as the tap root establishes other more fibrous roots will spread out to gather nutrients, which are often more abundant towards the surface of the soil. Generally, Cannabis will make the most of ALL the available space to spread roots, which is why square pots are always a good idea. When you re-pot a plant, the tap root will not necessarily extend any further than it already has, but the plant will increase it's fibrous root structure to take advantage of the extra space.

The only time this won't happen efficiently, is if the plant is too far on in it's life cycle, i.e. it's gone into flowering, and is therefore concentrating on making the most flowers for seed with the root it has already established, so never pot a flowering plant on, it's a waste of time and just stresses it.

Similarly, if you leave the plant in too small a pot for too long, it's roots will eventually coil around the base of the pot, and end up spiralled around each other. When this happens, and you pot the plant on without VERY VERY GENTLY disentangling the roots, they will continue to grow in the spiral pattern and ignore any available space. As I say, the way round this is to tease the roots out so they will spread out in all directions once potted.

My advice to anyone would be always pot on sooner rather than later, and never pot on more than once. My own preferred method now is to put the seeds into jiffy pellets to germ, then into about 5 litre pots till sexing, then the females go into 10 litre pots, having NEVER had their roots exposed or damaged. Seems to keep them happy.