Help With Jiffy Pellets, Please

[elcolombiano]

first, i apologize if this should be in another section (infirmary??)... since there are no plants grown yet i assumed it would be better here.

Now, long srory short, I thnk i have a fungus/mold growing in one of the jiffy, what can i do? better toss it away and start again? I keep the jiffy around 75 F.

Long story: back then when i used to grow cannabis indoors i used mix of peat moss and coco they sold here germinate my seeds. I wasn't able to find that product again, but there were these small version of jiffy pellets so i bought a dozen of them.
Followed all instructions i found, but they are not working.... i mean , none of the seeds have sprouted, and i even have mold that began in one and is passing onto another i think. I have 7 jiffies right now. I treated the one with the mold thningy about 3 days ago with h204 at 3 %...
1 has two seeds I planted the 22nd Nov., no sign of them at all. The others have 1 seed per jiffy and were planted on the 28th of nov. They are old seeds, so I'm ready to wait up to two weeks for them to sprout, but the mold/fungus thing is new to me. What should i do? The mold/fungus thingy appear a night I decided to put adome on that first jiffy, nextday it was covered with that white spore thing. Haven0t done the dome thing again obviously.

 

[elcolombiano]

tried taking pictures of the one grwoing mold/fungus again, but it doens't show on the photos. Just like many little white hairs grouping on top of the jiffy.

 

[JWM2]

I quit using jiffy pellets personally. They do work but they are not ideal imo. One thing to do if you want to keep using them is soak them in some lime water when hydrating them. Then squeeze off the excess moisture so they aren’t too wet.

Imo you should start your seeds before putting them in any growing medium. To do so just use the paper towel method.

Take a sheet of paper towel and get it damp with warm water. Then wring our the excess so they are damp and not wet. Then put your seeds in and fold the paper towel over them so they are encapsulated in damp paper towel. Then insert that into a ziplock bag. Blow a little warm air into the bag and close it. Then put it in a warm spot and usually within 24-48 hours they’ll crack and show a tap root. I like to wait for the tap root to get about 1/2-1” long and then carefully plant that into your growing medium.

You may need to poke a hole in the medium to not damage the tap root and then using the tool push a little growing medium around the tap root. Just be sure to plant it tap root down.

Personally I’ve started using a mixture of BioBizz light mix, coco coir and perlite to start seedlings and freshly rooted clones. It gives them a little nutrient to work with and then you can start feeding almost right away. With seeds I’ll wait a week or two before their first feeding. With clones I start feeding right away.

I use the small clear solo cups as my container for seedlings and roots with holes punched in the bottom for drainage. Then insert the small solo cup into a larger solo cup and wait until the roots have filled the bottom of the small cup before transplanting to another container.

To remove the rooted plant from the solo cup you can lightly squeeze the bottom of the cup to loosen the roots and soil from the edges. Then they just slide right out. Don’t worry if you lose a couple small roots, they’ll grow back.

 

[JWM2]

 

[JWM2]

 

[JWM2]

Btw the plant inside the solo cup with a dome lid was a freshly rooted clone. I like to keep them hydrated this way until I can see roots. Once I see roots the dome lid comes off and they’re off and running.

 

[elcolombiano]

I quit using jiffy pellets personally. They do work but they are not ideal imo. One thing to do if you want to keep using them is soak them in some lime water when hydrating them. Then squeeze off the excess moisture so they aren’t too wet.

Imo you should start your seeds before putting them in any growing medium. To do so just use the paper towel method.

Take a sheet of paper towel and get it damp with warm water. Then wring our the excess so they are damp and not wet. Then put your seeds in and fold the paper towel over them so they are encapsulated in damp paper towel. Then insert that into a ziplock bag. Blow a little warm air into the bag and close it. Then put it in a warm spot and usually within 24-48 hours they’ll crack and show a tap root. I like to wait for the tap root to get about 1/2-1” long and then carefully plant that into your growing medium.

You may need to poke a hole in the medium to not damage the tap root and then using the tool push a little growing medium around the tap root. Just be sure to plant it tap root down.

Personally I’ve started using a mixture of BioBizz light mix, coco coir and perlite to start seedlings and freshly rooted clones. It gives them a little nutrient to work with and then you can start feeding almost right away. With seeds I’ll wait a week or two before their first feeding. With clones I start feeding right away.

I use the small clear solo cups as my container for seedlings and roots with holes punched in the bottom for drainage. Then insert the small solo cup into a larger solo cup and wait until the roots have filled the bottom of the small cup before transplanting to another container.

To remove the rooted plant from the solo cup you can lightly squeeze the bottom of the cup to loosen the roots and soil from the edges. Then they just slide right out. Don’t worry if you lose a couple small roots, they’ll grow back.

Thanks!
I have never tried the papertowel method (never liked seeing the root or handling it), but I will try it right away. I'm feeling desperate now to try any germination method. I already have 8 seeds ready to try it.
These are 6 + years old seeds.
Should I have presoaked them or scared them before putting them in the towel/ziplock (I didn't do either, just followed your directions hehe)?? The ones in the jiffys were presoaked in warm water unitl they submerged (took like 4 hours for all to submerge). Going give the jiffies 1 more week to see what happens.

 

[JWM2]

Yeah go ahead and ride these out. There’s not much you can do now really. You can dig away some soil and see if there has been any activity with the seed(s). Maybe they are just growing slowly.

 

[elcolombiano]

Yeah go ahead and ride these out. There’s not much you can do now really. You can dig away some soil and see if there has been any activity with the seed(s). Maybe they are just growing slowly.

ok, thanks! Will try to ride this germination out. But will begin some tests, too!!! got plenty of seeds to test while i decide on my light (and what good is my light without seeds to grow)! So in case anyone else is interested in how I will be testing how to germinate these 6+ y/o seeds, here it goes.

So, first:
I took the oldest jiffy, the one that has 2 seeds in it (soaked the 22nd, put on jiffy the 23rd) and has got the spores forming on top, and dug out the seeds. Nothing, not even a mini crack to be found. They just look swollen... bigger than before. So maybe, the embryo is growing but the shell is too hard for it to crack open? Decided to keep the seeds (put them in the soil outside with other random plants) but threw away the moldy pellet. Let's hope they at least pop in that soild outside.
I wont bother looking at the other jiffy seeds (soaked and put in individual jiffys the 28th). I'll give em another week, hope they don't get moldy, and them dig em out to see what is happening if they haven't sprouted, but i have a good feeling about them.

Second:
I have 12 seeds now trying the paper towel method...
8 were just put/wrapped in the warm moist towel, introduced the towel in a ziplock, blew a bit of warm breath into the ziplock, closed ziplock, and placed it over my cabletv decoder. condensation is already forming inside the bag, so i guess all is well so far.
the other 4 seeds were also placed in the papertowel/ziplock/decoder method but in a different ziplock than the other 8, AND ALL these 4 were lightly scared/scrapped using a razor blade. Let's see which germinate first.

My further plan is to transplant the germinated seed into coco coir to grow in hempy buckets. I like the double cup method @JWM2 shared, so i might try that instead of passing straight into the bucket.

Thanks again!

 

[Erick31876]

Btw the plant inside the solo cup with a dome lid was a freshly rooted clone. I like to keep them hydrated this way until I can see roots. Once I see roots the dome lid comes off and they’re off and running.

I like your trick of using the clear cup as a humidity dome.im gonna have to give it a try

 

[JWM2]

ok, thanks! Will try to ride this germination out. But will begin some tests, too!!! got plenty of seeds to test while i decide on my light (and what good is my light without seeds to grow)! So in case anyone else is interested in how I will be testing how to germinate these 6+ y/o seeds, here it goes.

So, first:
I took the oldest jiffy, the one that has 2 seeds in it (soaked the 22nd, put on jiffy the 23rd) and has got the spores forming on top, and dug out the seeds. Nothing, not even a mini crack to be found. They just look swollen... bigger than before. So maybe, the embryo is growing but the shell is too hard for it to crack open? Decided to keep the seeds (put them in the soil outside with other random plants) but threw away the moldy pellet. Let's hope they at least pop in that soild outside.
I wont bother looking at the other jiffy seeds (soaked and put in individual jiffys the 28th). I'll give em another week, hope they don't get moldy, and them dig em out to see what is happening if they haven't sprouted, but i have a good feeling about them.

Second:
I have 12 seeds now trying the paper towel method...
8 were just put/wrapped in the warm moist towel, introduced the towel in a ziplock, blew a bit of warm breath into the ziplock, closed ziplock, and placed it over my cabletv decoder. condensation is already forming inside the bag, so i guess all is well so far.
the other 4 seeds were also placed in the papertowel/ziplock/decoder method but in a different ziplock than the other 8 AND 2 were scared/scrapped using a razor blade, other 2 were untouched. Let's see which germinate first.

My further plan is to transplant the germinated seed into coco coir to grow in hempy buckets. I like the double cup method @JWM2 shared, so i might try that instead of passing straight into the bucket.

Thanks again!

You’ll do well with this method. I’ve done it for years on many strains and have always had great luck. I’ve lost very few seeds.

If you do have a seed that doesn’t want to crack. (After about 4-5 days in a paper towel) I’ll pop the seed in my mouth and using my fang teeth I’ll gently squeeze the seed (along the ridge) until it cracks open. Then back into the paper towel.

Of course I wouldn’t suggest this with your seeds in growing medium as you said there was mold growing on top so that wouldn’t be healthy. But in the paper towel they shouldn’t have that problem.

 

[JWM2]

I like your trick of using the clear cup as a humidity dome.im gonna have to give it a try

They also make full sized solo cups in clear for taller plants. Otherwise a zip lock bag can also work as a makeshift dome. Either way you just want to make sure they don’t lose too much moisture until they can take up moisture in their root system.

 

[JWM2]

And if you need you can poke a few holes in these to let out some air and allow some fresh air in so it doesn’t get moldy. I have both sitting around and use whichever one I need.

 

[elcolombiano]

So here goes a little update on my 20 seeds (+/-6 y/o) that are germinating, for those who might find this info useful. Here´s a little context first:

1. 6 seeds were putin jiffys. 2 were thrown away due to mold forming in the pellet after a week. 4 remain in pellets. these 4 have been in the pellets since nov 28th.

2. I put 16 other seeds in the paper towel method: 4 of those first got their shells scrapped with a razon blade then passed to the paper towel+ziplock; 4 other of those got their shells scrapped with arazor blade, the soaked in water until they dropped to the bottom, then passed to the paper towel+ziplock; the remaining 8 were put directly into the paper towle+ziplock bag without any prior soaking or scrapping. This was done between the 3 and 4th of dec.

Restults so far:
1. The ones in jiffy pellets (4) haven't sprouted, neither has the mold thing appeared again in any. I will wait two more days to dig them out and see if they have at least craked the shell.

2. Oh lord... first i must say I didn't like this method before, but it's the one working so far with these old seeds and at speeds i did not expect at all. Only modification i would do is maybe use a tupper ware next time... putting the paper towel inside the bags without having the seeds move around while I do it has been difficult. But other that that, it's been great!
So, in a few words, of the 16, only 1 has germinated, 1 is cracked, and that's it.
In detail: of the ones (4) that were scrapped and soaked, none have even craked.
From the ones (4) that were only scrapped, 1 already has a 1 inch white tail!!!!
From the ones (8) that wer put directly into the papertowels without any soaking or scrapping, only 1 seems to be craking the shell but craked 2 days ago and is still looking the same, maybe the crack looks just a tinny bit bigger than before.
Here are a copule of pcitures of the seeds. I plan to give them 2 more days to see if any others will crack. The one with the tail i plan to leave one more day there imn the towels.

 

[elcolombiano]

oh, and after these tests, i plan to try out dipping the seeds in veg oil first as someone suggested i try (will try dipping then towel, and scraping-dippin-then towel). the theory is that old seeds have lost their oil and thats why it's hard for them to crack. with some oil and prper moisture they should have it easier to crack the shell.

any other suggestions are welcomed.

 

[Madmax]

Ive had old seeds .put some in warm water bud..not luke warm..warmer than that and put cup somewhere where it will stay warm..just try it you gou nothin to lose.if not cracked in say 18 hrs make it even warmer.and see how you go..

 

[elcolombiano]

Ive had old seeds .put some in warm water bud..not luke warm..warmer than that and put cup somewhere where it will stay warm..just try it you gou nothin to lose.if not cracked in say 18 hrs make it even warmer.and see how you go..

yes, thanks! i actually use warm water (75 F) for both the soaking parts and for the moist paper towels. and i place everything in a room at 75-80 F.

 

[Madmax]

To keep mine warm i put on the outer panel of the wood heater lol..stays real warm..its still cold when i start my grows outside...ive never used the paper towel method...

 

[JWM2]

Old seeds are always a crapshoot. Glad you got a few to pop though.

 

[Madmax]

Your not wrong there.i had some in a glass and frocked if they would shoot.opened the front door and discarded them on the front lawn.like 12mnths ago.i dug up front lawn and resown it and well wadda ya know one of those seeds sprung up.i was going to keep it but to my horror the ol girl mowed the lawn and cut its head off haha..