Need Help on Germination...PLEASE!!!

[ReconMan]

I would appreciate any input on a sure fire way of germinating some good beans. I have been cloning with great success but for some reason I have the worse luck starting fresh. Put it this way about a year ago I wasted 13 White Widows that never germinated, I then moved to some feminised God...started with 12 and only had one gernimate which actually turned out to be a great plant, have been just cloning this strain, and growing them in Grodan, hydroponically with extreme success for the past year and want a little change. I had tried all kinds of techniques but don't know which is best...Do I soak them for 24 hrs prior to germinating or no soak at all?
I have tried the paper towel method but they usually turned black and died. Someone mentioned Jiffy pots so I bought some. If I do this method do the Jiffies go on top of a heating pad or no heat...light or no light? Actually, let me add this...the paper towel method did work for me on one bean but I had to manually crack it, in retrospect I should have cracked others to see if it would have worked. Anyone heard of cracking or scuffing prior to germinating? As u can see I have heard of a bunch of methods but this is the first time for me to post this on this forum(all the info that I have gotten on this site has been the best!!!) These Beans are expensive and I don't want to screw them up. If it helps they are C-13 from DNA. Thanx everyone!!!

 

[rounders02]

Reconman i too had the same problem when i first strated cracking seed few months ago but got some advice and now get great sucess with this firsticuffaittleweretheseed cracks,then i put seed in glass of water to til they sink which could be in a few hours to 24 hours after they sink i get a plate put moist paper towel on it then the seed another put moist paper towel over seed and cover with another plate a place it semi warm area ya should see tails in the next day or two, i knowthere is few different ways peeps do it,but this works real well for me.

 

[ReconMan]

So what can I scuff them with? And is there an optimal temperature for the paper towels...I would get 2 foam plates with paper towels compressing the seeds but it seemed they would get black and die! I will definately soak them...thanx for the reply!!

 

[rounders02]

i usaully scuff them with my girls paper nail file its like sand paper,and dont soak paper towel to much just a little moist.just put in cool area is fine as long as its not hella hot you should be ok... glad to help:D

 

[ReconMan]

Cool thanx for the help...hope it works. I would have never thought of a nailfile, interesting!

 

[FastForward]

Personally I'm into coco, so I plant directly into coco and get fantastic results using a heated propagator. For hydro why not use some root riot cubes? Pre-soak them with some rhizotonic and formulex solution, squeeze them out so they're not too wet, put your seeds in a few mm under the surface (I put mine in 'hinge up' so the little seed hinge is in the right direction). Put them in heated prop....wait a day or two...move to fluoros when they break the surface. Using the root riots I had 99% success 13 Pandora's Box, 2 G13 Haze, 2 Lemon Skunk, 2 Kushberry and 2 Lowryders (1 of 5 lowryders failed, that was the only failure). Then just wait for them to root and off you go...

 

[hererisssh]

My 2 cents on germing technique:

Black out a small piece of tupperware (with lid) using a marker.

Fold three paper towels into one square, then fold that square twice more to 1/4 the size of the original. (nice and thick)

Moisten the paper towel with water that has one drop of bloom fert in it.

Unfold the paper towel like a clam, put the seeds in the middle and cover them up.

Place the tupperware on a warming/seedling/cloning mat in a dark place. Check in an hour to make sure it's not hot.

Usually 24 hours and most viable seeds will have sprouted.

 

[hailstone]

After having a few problems with the paper towel method I've started using Mandala's germination recommendations: http://www.mandalaseeds.com/html/germination.html.

So far it's been working great for me.

 

[Art]

put seeds about half inch down into a jiffy pellet and place in propagator at 20-25 deg c until lift off thats it. :flower

 

[mr. revolution]

all advice sounds good though i have heard mixed opinions on the jiffy pellets.i myself have never used them. most important is not to have seeds to moist as they will turn to mush

 

[moggggys]

i wrote this at another site on how to germ older seeds

stick um in the freezer for a couple of days before trying , on the day wizz um out and allow to sit untill room temp then into a shot glass with a drop of 3% hydrogen peroxide ( H202 ) at a warmish temp , allow to soak a day then remove and crack them , then into the usual paper towel , the reasons behind all this are as follows

freezer means tricking them into believeing winters over and its spring time hence grow time , allow to room temp will perpetuate this

H202 is a mild bleach , it kills off any nasty pathogens on the seed husk thus allowing a clean venture into the world , also it has an extra oxygene molicule so therefore its imposible for the seed to drown

the days soak is to trigger the growth , when they get wet they sprout and its this day thats so very important in getting good results from germing

cracking is after the soak , the soak also softens the waterproof outer layer on the seed , cracking allows the water to easly penitrate the shell whilst giving the easiest possible exit for the seed , cracking is hard to describe but what the hell ill have a go , grab the seed between the thumb and index finger on the left hand , have the point of the seed toward your right hand , using the thumb and index finger nails of the other hand squeese the seed , you need to aim toward the front of the seed so about 2/3rds along the seed toward the point and right arcoss the seam , you will feel the seed give and open up or even hear a crack as you apply pressure ,,,,,, some people use there teeth but i wouldnt recommend this as ive eaten a few , also if you smoke then this is a major nono with teeth , another way is to scarify the seed ( good word that ) , it can be done 2 ways , get a knife and simply scrape the side of the seed toward the pointed end , being a midget with microscope vision helps with this , or get a match box , turn it inside out and glue it with sandpaper ( 400 grade is good ) then reverse it so the sandpapers on the inside of the matchbox , stick your seed into it and shake a short while , dont like this method myself

once there in the towel a tap root can grow and its easy to transport to soil , do allow a few mm of tap root from the seed before potting up , when you pot up use a pencil to plant them , dip the sharp end of the penci into the soil upto the painted part , gentally place the new one into the hold and push the soil upto the seedling , if the seed is then exposed at the soil sprinkle a tiny amount of soil over the top to just about cover it , what you dont want is all the vigour going into getting the bastard out of the ground , nothing worse than getting them to sprout to find they run out of vigour and die , use potting soil or soil thats not had anything added to it , none of this FF or MG soil rubbish , anything saying slow release is a real nono , normal potting soil or compost with a 30% perlite mix and nothing else , not even lime or anything , water with old tapwater ( minumum 24 hours stood ) or rain water but no food whatsoever untill 3 weeks old

the only reason i type this is so others may use the info as i guess you know almost all of it anyway , there may be a trick or 2 in this post to be picked up by others hence its so dam long

manadalas stick um in the ground and they will grow works for most seeds , its the naturel way of germing , we can do better than this , im not interested in 75% germ rates and always aim for expect 100% and why not , if your paying for um then do all that you can to get the bastards out of the ground

 

[Markus76]

good page

http://www.mandalaseeds.com/html/germination.html.

thanks for this page

 

[ReconMan]

Hey thanx Hererisssh...yea I have done that too without success, I think i kept them too wet and too Hot as they turned black and died. I do appreciate Hailstone's advice...I checkedout out that link and learned everything about germination...it told me all I need to know with fact to back their findings. Thanx a bunch Hailstone, smoke one fore you, and thanx everyone else.

 

[ReconMan]

By the way nice picture Mogggys...got pay a compliment where it is deserved!!!

 

[4substitution]

I have germinated 99% of probably fifty seeds by just sticking them straight in the soil and watering them with 25-50mL every day. Like Mandala says these plants have evolved for probably hundreds of thousands of years to germinate in soil.

 

[dbahsee]

after they crack and sprout tails? what next

I have sucessfully germed many seeds with a couple of paper towels and a cd case and within 24-48h hours time i had plenty to p[ick from. But my question is after they sprout tails and you have succesfsfully planted them for instance in soil for an indoor grow , how do u make them pop out of the dirt if you have no actual sunlight indoors? right now in my growbox I have eight 60w solar cfls
I have been searching for the method to do it in the forums but have found nothing at all in reference to what dto do after planting. Anyone have any suggestions ?