New Grower 95% success germination guide.

[WEEDOSHI]

Just deciding to contribute my mixed (using 2 methods) germination guide. I've personally had only 1 bean fail on me when using this method.

Enjoy. :tiphat:


1. Get a glass of water, leave it in the sun for 24 hours to remove all chlorine from the water.
2. Get seed, place into glass of water.
3. Wait 2-3 hours and tap the seed so it sinks. (have had 99% sink within the first 3 hours).
4. Once it sinks, wait 48 hours. It should by then "crack" and you should see a crack in the seed, this is where your tap-root will form.
5. If there is no "crack" after 48 hours, still proceed with the procedure.
6. Get a paper-towel & a sandwich bag. Plastic, non-powdered gloves are excellent also. Also get a small clean dish.
7. Put your gloves on, empty the water in a dish, and leave a tiny-bit in your glass so you can easily remove the seed without damaging it.
8. Wet your paper towels and take your seed out of the glass by emptying all the water in a dish. Use the same water you poured from the glass into the dish to wet the paper towels.
9. Once your paper towels are wet, and your seed is in the dish, put the seed in the center of the paper towels and fold it. Do not compress or tighten.
10. Place your wet-folded paper-towel inside the sandwich bag and make sure there is some air inside, close the bag.
11. Leave in a dark and warm-place for 3-5 days and you should see a tap-root.
12. Once you see a tap-root, place into growing medium.

Placing the seed in the cup of water allows more water to reach the inside of the seed promoting the chemical reaction needed to begin germination faster, hence the reason for using this method. Do not leave seeds in the water longer than 48 hours as it can starve them of oxygen and the seeds can die. Some seeds crack faster than hours, so check every 12 hours for a crack, as soon as you see a crack, transfer to the paper-towel method.

For those new growers, this is what a crack will look like -

Hope this helps you all. Hop digityHop digity

 

[CGR]

:thread:......:tiphat:

 

[Bgrow82]

Thanks for this. Just good people here, I tell ya!

 

[dingo]

The above is all I do with 99% germination rate, except that I use distilled water in a shot glass for 24 hours max.
I never let the tails get long in water as I could accidentally damage the tap root when potting in soil.

Also depending on the climate temps, the water should be close to room temps to germinate best. Generally no colder(ambient) than 18C and not warmer than 30C. The colder temps will slow down germination, the high temps are less of a problem whilst submerged in water.

 

[lr2jd]

I used to work that way too, but after damaging too much seeds and roots (I get shaky when I drink too much coffee) I tried another approach. Here's my personal way of doing things (worked every time, but not with dead seeds as one might expect) Instructions: obtain 1 cup of water, add 1 spoon of hydrogenperoxide 3% (H2O2) - what kind of spoon you ask? Doesn't matter. Teaspoon, regular spoons, wooden spoons, all seemed to work. 0.75-1.5cc is best. Put seed in water, wait 24-48 hours. Seeds should stay afloat, those bubbles you see are pure oxigen, promoting root growth. Benefits to the original method: the low PH keeps virusses, molds and pests at bay (and makes nutes beter available/transportable). Also it dissolves the fatty protection layer of the seed, and allows water to pass more freely. Another thing: this solution is antibacterial, you have only 50% of the handling compared to the OP method, so I think it is safer in terms of 'accidental' damage done by moving paper sheets etc. Germination will take place faster, as far as I've reported. Some seeds pop/crack in less than 16 hours. Just let them swim until you're ready to plant them. They will not drown, also there's no need to change the water when it still produces bubbles. Any type of water can be used, straight from the tap. If this fails, your seeds were non viable to begin with. I've had a 100% succes rate thus far. It's a small scale hydroculture, works at any temperature above 15C, however, a bit warm and cosy works best.

 

[chrisp]

I will count myself lucky. I have had about 30 of my last 33 germ by just dropping them 1/4 in soil and keeping it warm and moist. I guess with seeds being $10 bucks, 99% germ rate would be nice. Prior to the last 33 dropped , I didn't really pay attention. If one didn't pop, I would just drop another one in its place.
Good advice above , thanks for the info.

 

[sunkist]

My own guide to success germinating would be to feed the plants as regular until it's d-day for the seeds, meaning after a good five weeks since pollination. I continue watering and fertilizing as regular with a plant food that is high in micronutrients, or those "trace minerals" such as Boron, Molybdenum, Magnesium, Manganese, etc.

After I let the seeds sit for at least a month, I scuff them up a bit in a matchbox lined with fine grit sandpaper to "open up" the seedcoat to let moisture in.

I can't remember the last time I didn't get 11 of 12 to pop... heck, I barely remember the last time I didn't get all twelve to sprout... that's in peat pots, rockwool, or even regular dirt compost stuff.