How do you start your seeds?

[Redskywalker]

Just wanted ta hear how everyone starts seeds? I know a lot of you guys start your seeds in wet papertowels, but then what do ya do? I will explain how I do it and we can all compare.
I personally don't do the wet papertowels, I like ta try and mimick mothernature as much as possible so put them in dirt. I take some beer cups make small holes then put in a table spoon or 2 of wormcastings at the bottom. Then I fill the cup up half way with damp soil and pop a bean in then cover with a tiny bit of dirt. Then I place all the cups under a 1000W MH and hang it 2 feet from da cups. I'm telln ya I get almost 100% germ. everytime and I never get seeds that shoot up tall and fall over. How bout you peeps?

 

[THECALI.KID]

i put my beans in a plastic cup filled with a 1/4 of soil then put a baggy over the top with a rubber band happy grow

 

[THECALI.KID]

o yea and then i put on a heat pad to 80 F most will pop in 5 days some take 10 The Cali. Kid good luck and happy grow

 

[Devilsharvest]

I put my seeds in the deep freeze 24 hour before I gem them this make's them think winter has ended... they will start fast .. 24hous to 3 days they should gem in paper towels

 

[capegrower]

I place my seeds in a wet paper towel which then place inside a ziplock back. Gently blow into the bag making a tent, leave in war dark space. works good

 

[Redskywalker]

Sweet I don't think I need a heating mat due to the heat from da 1000 watter my always pop up anywhere from 3-7 days. Back when I used a florescent I did use the mats with great results. But I found that no mttsr how close I put the light the seedlings wud shoot up into thm then fall over. That's the main reason I switched to a 1000W MH. I figured if my friends in Jamaica could start seeds under the sun then why not a. metal halide light. Ant the little bggers love it

 

[Redskywalker]

It seems lots of people do the papertowel method with slite variations. Thing is why take the chance of stressing the seedling out or damage the root when you're moving the fragile little guys/gals? Again I know lots of ya do it but I would like ta know what the benefits are? Thanx

 

[highroller]

Rapid Rooters work great. Just moisten them, pop the seed in and keep them moist. Once the seedling comes up bury the RR in your soil mix and that's it. Very high success rate. Low stress.

 

[growlife]

i put mine in a warm cup of water on a heat mat and most of them pop over night

 

[Redskywalker]

Rapid Rooters? Are those like peat pellets? I use peat pellets that same way when I'm startn more than 50 seeds at a time and then put the sprouts into beer cups and bury the pellet. It does work great.

 

[JH420]

-Drop seeds into RO water for 24 hours
-Put seeds into wet jiffy's approx 1/4 down, cover seed but somewhat loosely
-Jiffys in a tray with dome, heat mat with some towels between (since I don't have a t-stat for the mat) until a couple pop
-then under t5's (about 8" away) without dome
-transplant to small soil container once roots start poppin out the jiffy (maybe I shouldn't wait for roots, I'm no expert here)


Just started 21 seeds on 6 days ago, last one came out the jiffy on day 4.

THE KEY IS TO NOT LET THEM DRY OUT, and a big part of that is too keep the heat in check...learned the hard way but sometimes that's the only way. And be very careful with heat meats, the can dry up your medium super fast. I am a rookie here, but I can get 100% success with this approach all day long...just keep it simple, dont Let em dry out. I do pre-soak for 24 hours just to kick start em a bit, but don't wait for tap roots.

IMVHO the paper towels and plates is a waste of effort and only further complicates a simple process...seems that most of the master growers just drop a seed in damp soil, keep it damp and wait.

 

[grandaddypurple]

Past three seasons I have used a folded paper towel that has been ran under water, placed in something with a nice 1 inch to 2 inch walls. Cover with another paper towel ran under water.

I then sit in a window sill, and over the 3+ days it usually takes to germ them I make sure the dish has some water on the bottom of it and make sure both towels are damp.

*note all my seeds have always been bagseeds. From past observations, this method has worked very well, the only seeds that did not germinate were the suspected ones (pale seeds in color, just did not look like it had potential).

 

[highroller]

Rapid Rooters? Are those like peat pellets? I use peat pellets that same way when I'm startn more than 50 seeds at a time and then put the sprouts into beer cups and bury the pellet. It does work great.

They are similar to peat pellets, but much better. They are a peat compost mixed with a polymer that gives them a sponge-like characteristic.

Put them in a tupperware in a 1/4" of water and they pull up the right amount of water to germ seeds without rotting them.

 

[FastForward]

Seed -> Small pot 1/4 full of coco -> heated prop -> bingo

or Pre-soak -> Seed -> Small pot 1/4 full of coco -> heated prop -> bingo

or rapid rooters/root riots....it all works, just avoid paper towels and the like imho....but the principles of being warm and damp are the same. I just don't like transferring beans from towels to coco when they're really vulnerable, plus seed -> medium is how nature designed it and it works bloody well :)

 

[Mother Chucker]

I place my seeds in a wet paper towel which then place inside a ziplock back. Gently blow into the bag making a tent, leave in war dark space. works good

same here.
I like to see the taproot before I put it in dirt.
IMHO, I like the ability to be more selective of each group of plants at each and every stage of the process.

 

[Redskywalker]

Yeah I can see how being able to see the seed crack and the tap root pop out would save space and resourses from not planting duds but I'm always afraid of damaging the tap root when putting in soil

 

[Friendo]

First put them in a cup of water then...

Then after a day in water do the wet paper towel thing untill they crack. Also "very mild" heat under the wet paper towel helps. Fox Farm (and others) have sprouting soil that includes benificial fungi etc. to get those babies rock'in. A beer cup full of this soil for each is good enough to start........good luck
Friendo

 

[Sirius]

my favorite method involves paper towels because im not tryin to waste any time on seeds that arent crackin... if poppin a lot of beans this could save a lot of time... you can even weed out the weaklings to obtain a more vigorous group of plants... then into jiffys which fit perfectly into small cubes... after they blast off you can do anything you want with them...

 

[shortylo959]

i just use jiffy pellets pop them in with in 3 days there seeking for light i have the paper towel and it takes 2 days sometime 3 days for them to crack and another day or two too come out the soil thats way i use pellets heat mat and humid dome works every time

 

[CheebaMonkey]

I follow the soil germination faq
soak for 12 hours
plant and let sit in darkness for 6 hours, then keep the lights on until they sprout.

I don't like waiting for a taproot.