New Grower Bad Seeds

[9bear]

I recently purchased The Ogre ( Joint Doctor) seeds from Dinafem as I wanted to try my hand at autoflower . I proceeded in my usual way of germinating them in a damp piece of paper towel which I have done in the past with 100% success . Upon germination I place them in a peat Jiffy pot and wait for the little suckers to transform themselves into seedlings I then transfer them to a 5 gal.grow pot . Only one graduated to seedling the others calved their liver and died . Dinafem says they don't warranty other peoples products and the Joint Doctor gave me some mumbo jumbo about damping-off being the problem and that I should have treated them with a bleach solution and planted them in a sterile medium ?? I of course have yet to see an advise on this type of preparation on seeds . Your input would be appreciated on this topic . :no:

 

[blue]

Hi 1939bear!

Welcome to AFN!

I should have treated them with a bleach solution

That sounds a bit extreme to me. I've only ever germed and planted and has worked out fine 99% of the time.
I had mixed results with jiffy pellets, possibly my fault for letting them over dry, but didn't use them since. Just Germ and then straight to a pot.

Hey - why not pop up a hello over at introductions for a nice warm welcome from our members. Let us know If you need any help finding your way around the forums, and we'll do our best.

Happy growing
Blue ^_^

 

[Anthropolis]

I second that jiffy pellets are giving me mixed results and am transitioning to going straight to the pot. My seed crack and tail sprout rates have always been 100% but then the problems start right when they go to the pellets. Just managed to kill two TH Seeds Bubblegum Autos that cracked and had healthy tails, and fizzled out in the peat lol. One is fine and healthy.

I'm going to be trying something I've been reading up on. Since my organic soil is still potentially too rich for the seeds directly, I'm going to be taking some of my Premier peat and making a little divot in a prepared pot and putting the Premier peat into the divot and then the seed into the peat. This should protect it enough for the week or two for it to root through the peat to the real soil Seen it done, should work slightly better than the Jiffy peat pellets.

Just a thought

 

[ukfreak]

into soil 98% germ i normally let soak in the morning to night and then pot into soil only ever lost 2 not spouted

 

[Son of Hobbes]

I second that jiffy pellets are giving me mixed results and am transitioning to going straight to the pot. My seed crack and tail sprout rates have always been 100% but then the problems start right when they go to the pellets. Just managed to kill two TH Seeds Bubblegum Autos that cracked and had healthy tails, and fizzled out in the peat lol. One is fine and healthy.

I'm going to be trying something I've been reading up on. Since my organic soil is still potentially too rich for the seeds directly, I'm going to be taking some of my Premier peat and making a little divot in a prepared pot and putting the Premier peat into the divot and then the seed into the peat. This should protect it enough for the week or two for it to root through the peat to the real soil Seen it done, should work slightly better than the Jiffy peat pellets.

Just a thought

I've done that before; reused some old soil once and put a majority of it in the pot, then dug out a softball sized scoop out of the top middle and put in some fresh Pro-Mix BX. Let the seedlings thrive while they root out and by the time they hit the more "nutrient rich" substrate they are well off enough they can handle the change in nutrient content (at least much better, anyways.)

 

[Muddy]

I've seen a lot of people get mixed results with Jiffy pots and they generally aren't recommended. If your seedlings got brown stems that were very thin and they just fell over and died, then you had damping off. Damping off is the reason I stopped using Rapid Rooters. Even after soaking them in a hydrogen peroxide solution, which is supposed to kill off the bacteria that causes damping off, I was still having some die. Now I just soak until the seeds crack and then straight into my grow medium. 95% germination and no more damping off.

 

[Anthropolis]

Yeah those are all good points. I would probably germ in pro mix bx, just only found their premier peat locally, and use it in part of my base and ammend with myco. It's really darn nice, like fine pure brown powder in the bag only used about half the block so far lol, that's in two huge soil batches. When I need to re-up, I'll probably pony up the money to get the bx shipped.

Oh in regards to the Jiffy pots (not the pellets), you all know, it's the brown cardboard type pots that supposedly you can plant directly with... Yeah F those things lol. I had about 20 of them going in my very first grow trial, and every one got this NASTY white and black mold and/or calcification on the outside. It was so gross. I didn't dare plant them in, so I had to rip the plants out of them to repot into the final pots, ripping some roots off.

I'll never use them for canna again, and after hearing other moldy reports, would have to recommend against using them. Not even sure I'd start my tomatoes or peppers in them lol!

 

[unixhelp]

my first three grows i tried a bunch of methods germinating seeds...paper towel, shotglass,rockwool,coco and every method didn't germ 100%. I read somewhere about GH rapid rooter plugs and i tried it and haven't lost a seed since

 

[Gooba]

I have tried 3 different ways to germinate seeds & the only way that I know I will achieve 100% success every time is by planting directly into rockwool without pre soaking.

As per the grodan YouTube video: soak the starter cubes for 15 seconds in Luke warm water ph'd to 5.5. Pop the seeds in the hole & cover loosely. Keep in a warm place 22-25 degrees & keep moist (I have to spray 3 times daily with an atomiser) until they sprout. Within 3-5 days they should all surface & almost be fully rooted. As soon as they appear place under a cfl or dimmed hps & keep an oscillating fan blowing on them to help them start strong. Easy.

 

[The Elvis]

I use the wet napkin . I just let the tail come out just a bit so i know its ok and i plant mine kinda shallow . I never touch the seed i take a pin and just flick it in the hole from the napkin.
It works for me. Ive herd of this bleach method and it just sounds crazy but Who knows.