Seed Germination Using Hydrogen Peroxide

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BigBlonde

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I'm interested in seed germination using hydrogen peroxide and would appreciate some advice about how to do it. (The plants will be grown in soil.)

I found this on Leafly:
Begin germinating your seedlings by soaking your seeds on a paper towel with a water to hydrogen peroxide mixture (â…” distilled water to â…“ 3% hydrogen peroxide). Place your seeds folded in their paper towels in a dark and warm location for 24-48 hours.

Is a 2:1 solution of water to 3% H2O2 best?

Is distilled water necessary? In the past we've used water that has been boiled.

I have seen many and often conflicting recommendations. Some use a more diluted solution. Some soak the seeds in water + H2O2 for times ranging from a half hour to a whole day before placing them in the folded paper towel. Some don't use paper towels and plant the soaked seeds directly in soil. Some suggest putting the paper towels in a sealed plastic bag. One person on YouTube said to tape the plastic bag to a sunny window. Others say to put the paper towel and seeds in a warm and dark place. Some don't put the paper towels in a plastic bag.
 
Moe.Red

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lol - yeah there are tons of ways to do it.

Why do you want to use H2O2? Something wrong with the seeds?
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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lol - yeah there are tons of ways to do it.

Why do you want to use H2O2? Something wrong with the seeds?
I'm just curious. I've read claims that it has some benefits, but I have found very little mention of it here in this forum. I thought I'd ask in case someone might have some good advice. If not, that's okay.
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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Got a link? I'm struggling to come up with any potential benefits other than sterilizing the seed. Always willing to learn tho.

If it's to another forum PM me, I'll help you understand the science if there is any. For example, I do tissue culture which involves strict sterilization processes which makes perfect sense. I would never think to sterilize a seed I was about to germ tho, especially since as soon as you pull it out of the H2O2 it no longer is.

The downside of H2O2 is that it kills cells by actively stealing electrons from cell walls. That's why guys that run sterile hydroponics have brown roots and the live res guys have white ones. It kills the bad, but some of the good too.

If you have extra seeds and want to try it, I would recommend just doing some of them and keeping track so you know if it helped or hurt.
 
Deadstill

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A little short on time so without getting into all the science I'll just say yeah, it's a thing people have been doing it for some time now. I do not know all the details but from what I understand the H2O2 helps break down the seed wall a little faster and that is about the only reason people do it. As I understand it. I've never found myself reaching for peroxide to germinate seeds, myself, however.
 
MrSloth

MrSloth

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I'm interested in seed germination using hydrogen peroxide and would appreciate some advice about how to do it. (The plants will be grown in soil.)

I found this on Leafly:


Is a 2:1 solution of water to 3% H2O2 best?

Is distilled water necessary?

The whole point of a H2O2 and water soak is to help pop the helmet off as it grows to the surface. No other benefit to me. I tried it but the seed helmet was to stubborn to pop.

As for Distilled? I am a Soil grower only and I use my crappy tap water. Distilled water needs nutrients immediately vs tap water. My pH is around 7.2 and I do not use pH Down nor Up.

I’m about as a Natural grower as you can get and not be considered that. What I mean is my last 3 grows I use as little amount of nutrients as possible. I find the buds smoke cleaner. I let the plant cannibalise the fan leaves for nutrients.
 
JKash

JKash

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I have had 100% success rate at wetting a paper towel and placing seeds in middle of towel and fold over seeds... set in plastic baggie in a drawer... make sure bag stands up as gravity will pull the root downwards.... I have been able to pop seeds within a 12 to 24 hour time period everytime...

I've noticed Nirvana seeds have very great/strong genetics
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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Got a link? I'm struggling to come up with any potential benefits other than sterilizing the seed. Always willing to learn tho.

If it's to another forum PM me, I'll help you understand the science if there is any. For example, I do tissue culture which involves strict sterilization processes which makes perfect sense. I would never think to sterilize a seed I was about to germ tho, especially since as soon as you pull it out of the H2O2 it no longer is.

The downside of H2O2 is that it kills cells by actively stealing electrons from cell walls. That's why guys that run sterile hydroponics have brown roots and the live res guys have white ones. It kills the bad, but some of the good too.

If you have extra seeds and want to try it, I would recommend just doing some of them and keeping track so you know if it helped or hurt.
I have read several accounts from different sources. I'll try to put some links together.

Yes, sterilizing the seed is one of the benefits mentioned. Another benefit mentioned is softening the seed wall, which is supposedly best for older seeds. Some folks claim it improves the sprout rate, and that's what interested me the most. I've had my share of duds and seeds can be costly.
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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A little short on time so without getting into all the science I'll just say yeah, it's a thing people have been doing it for some time now. I do not know all the details but from what I understand the H2O2 helps break down the seed wall a little faster and that is about the only reason people do it. As I understand it. I've never found myself reaching for peroxide to germinate seeds, myself, however.
I have never done it. I've just been working with H2O2 lately due to a spider mite problem I'm having. That led me to reading about H2O2 and cannabis, and eventually using it to help sprout seeds.
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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The whole point of a H2O2 and water soak is to help pop the helmet off as it grows to the surface. No other benefit to me. I tried it but the seed helmet was to stubborn to pop.

As for Distilled? I am a Soil grower only and I use my crappy tap water. Distilled water needs nutrients immediately vs tap water. My pH is around 7.2 and I do not use pH Down nor Up.

I’m about as a Natural grower as you can get and not be considered that. What I mean is my last 3 grows I use as little amount of nutrients as possible. I find the buds smoke cleaner. I let the plant cannibalise the fan leaves for nutrients.
I prefer soil growing and lean toward organic gardening. I also use tap water. I just didn't see a reason to start seeds in distilled water, especially if H2O2 has been added.

For other plants, like tomatoes, it's common to reduce or stop feeding nutrients as the plant enters the fruiting stage. The main reason I've seen for doing so is because nutrients can adversely affect the taste. (I made that mistake with a crop of tomatoes once. They looked great but tasted awful.) I think that's probably true of cannabis, as well.
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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I have had 100% success rate at wetting a paper towel and placing seeds in middle of towel and fold over seeds... set in plastic baggie in a drawer... make sure bag stands up as gravity will pull the root downwards.... I have been able to pop seeds within a 12 to 24 hour time period everytime...

I've noticed Nirvana seeds have very great/strong genetics
I had not thought of hanging the bag vertically--till now. Thanks so much for that idea! (I was focused on the guy in the YouTube video hanging the bags on a window.)
 
JKash

JKash

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I had not thought of hanging the bag vertically--till now. Thanks so much for that idea! (I was focused on the guy in the YouTube video hanging the bags on a window.)
Seeds need darkness to germinate... why are you exposing your "root" to light? That's my question for the YouTube vid... not saying it's wrong but I've never heard of germinating in lighted area
 
Peat_Phreak

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The reason to use distilled is because most tap water contains ions that cause the peroxide to decompose faster.

This is what I do - a 3% soak for 2 minutes. Then soak in 1 part 3% peroxide and 4 parts distilled water for as long as it takes to crack the seed open and spout a tiny bit. This usually happens within 18-36 hours. Then put the seed in a wet paper towel until the root is about as long as the seed. Then plant.

Zero duds since I started doing this. YMMV.
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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Seeds need darkness to germinate... why are you exposing your "root" to light? That's my question for the YouTube vid... not saying it's wrong but I've never heard of germinating in lighted area
It seemed wrong to me, too. The guy in the video explained that light from the sun warmed the seeds. Of course, there are many ways to warm seeds and the sun doesn't shine all the time. A window would get cold when the sun isn't shining, as well. He had many things close to right, though. The paper towel in the zip-lock bag was solid.
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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The reason to use distilled is because most tap water contains ions that cause the peroxide to decompose faster.

This is what I do - a 3% soak for 2 minutes. Then soak in 1 part 3% peroxide and 4 parts distilled water for as long as it takes to crack the seed open and spout a tiny bit. This usually happens within 18-36 hours. Then put the seed in a wet paper towel until the root is about as long as the seed. Then plant.

Zero duds since I started doing this. YMMV.
Perfect. Thank you!
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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@Peat_Phreak I used your method, and it worked great. I germinated two Amnesia Haze seeds. They are both doing fine. I used my 2x2 tent with the heater on and the lights off when they were in the paper towel & zip-lock bag. I set it to 80F. Both seeds sprouted quickly and are growing at almost the same rate. We're really looking forward to this grow! Thanks again.
 
Choppr

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Ive always used Jiffy Peat Pellets, soaked in PH'd plain water, no dips no sprays no hormone. the kiss method, 20+ years 99% germ rate. If im scarifying my old seeds, I use 3000 wet sand paper just a couple light scuffs then I will use h2o2 - 2 min soak (same formula as @Peat_Phreak explained above), a scuffed seed will imbibe quickly, then right into peat pellet. After seeds pop I cut the fabric off the bottom of the pellet and plant, I do use mycellium in the Pre Wetted Planting Hole. (great white)
 
BigBlonde

BigBlonde

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Glad it worked for you. It's still sprouting 100% of my seeds.
They sprouted fine, but today they don't look like they're going to survive. I'm not sure what happened. I have eight other non-cannabis plants (tomatoes, basil and peppers) in the same soil and they're all doing well. This morning the Amnesia Haze plants look like they're going to die. I added some water and put the domes back on them to see if that would help them. I've been having a terrible time with young plants lately.
 
Peat_Phreak

Peat_Phreak

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They sprouted fine, but today they don't look like they're going to survive. I'm not sure what happened. I have eight other non-cannabis plants (tomatoes, basil and peppers) in the same soil and they're all doing well. This morning the Amnesia Haze plants look like they're going to die. I added some water and put the domes back on them to see if that would help them. I've been having a terrible time with young plants lately.

I haven't had anything bad happen from using peroxide to sprout. But it's possible to over expose the interior of the seed and basically fry it. That is why I remove the seed shortly after it cracks open. Before the white stuff gets over exposed. It would probably die before sprouting if that happened. I had one that looked like it was harmed a little. It grew weird for a bit, then made a full recovery. But that's it.
 
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