I had a question I have had a few grow under my belt and did it with the water soak and paper towel method. This time around I tried Rockwool cubes and have had one seed pop and is beginning grow a nice tap root how ever my other one is not both have been in the Rockwool for roughly 48 hr or a little more can I take the one out that is not popped and put it in a paper towel to get going or will that cause problems?@Kronic
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I would probably leave it another day… The tap root will probably appear today/ tomorrow or it is probably a dud.
I generally soak in water with a tiny bit of kelp for 12 hours and drop the seeds right into the soil and throw a baggie over the solo cup. I have about 100% germ rate like this and feel like they come out stronger and I gain a day over using the paper towel method… Generally I see green within three days and pull the baggie. Anything with a humidity dome and heat will make them germ faster but 72-96 hours is not abnormal depending on how wet the seed is and how hard the husk was.
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Awesome, ok will do!
Thank you so much for the quick response
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np! Good luck. Btw… I think the key is the water soak regardless of how you germ. You just need to soften the husk.
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Exactly correct. The seed only contains so much energy if the husk resists when the seed tries to open, the seed simply runs out of steam. Monitor humidity in the tent, and keep the seed damp until it pops. I keep a dropper bottle of water in the tent, same temperature as the seedlings, and wet the seed/sprout down with several drops of water every couple of hours during the first few days. Until I get a pair or two of real leaves, I think of the seedling as living on borrowed energy.keep it wet and warm until it can make its own.
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Perfect good to know I will monitor it over the next few days I started to free seeds I got I think for safe measure I’m going to do one more.
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I had temps of 75 with RH at 34 this place I’m at is a new place and seems to be less humid as my last place so I have my humidifier in the tent now seeds are in the dome soaking and on a seed make my light is 24 or so inches away @50% strength I hope the humidifier helps.
thanks a ton!
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Yup. That dry air is a killer for baby plants, and our constant harping about overwatering works against seedlings.
We need to think of seedings almost like animals rather than plants. Until they establish a working root, a seedling uses nutrition stored within the seed, and gets water by absorbing it directly. Directly dampening a seed is not only necessary for germination, but continues to be necessary for at least several days after sprouting. Of particular interest is keeping the shell moist until the sprout shucks it. If the hinge dries out, the seed cannot shuck the shell, cannot deploy its nascent leaves, and starves.
So just at the part of the life cycle where we think of our plants as most delicate, they’re in some ways the most resilient. The top is quite happy to be treated to an eye dropper of water directly on the top, basting the tissues to ease unfurling. A couple of months hence, we will be guarding against dampness, keeping humidity in the thirties.
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I took your advise made sure the Rockwool stays wet and added a humidifier and wouldn’t you know it the diesel has sprouted really well and the lemon gelato I was having an issue with has started it’s tap root not I also just had my Russian sink to the bottom of the glass. So that one will be going in to a towel today. And will be ready soon. I’m looking forward to it
Thanks for the advise I was worried
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Very good! I also think pampering sprouts from germination until the root gets established so they can drink from the soil makes a difference all the way along. Any organism that’s been abused loses not only the time while they were distracted, but also end up with diminished development compared to their potential given a good start.
Rather than sweating the twelve bucks we spent on a seed, making survival the goal, we need to be thinking about nurturing a healthy, hungry, happy plant that thrives rather than merely surviving. How many threads do we see about runts and lousy yields and mismatched pairs, and other indications of underdevelopment? As I learn, my focus is on giving a seed as close to an ideal ride as practical. The thinking is they’ll get a strong start, develop a strong network of roots, and the vegetation to bank bunches of good stuff that eventually will become nice, fat buds. Any beating we give them likely reduces production overall. So yeah. Choose your method, choose your medium, and choose a variety to specialize in. Run a few crops, paying close attention to health at every stage, and see how it goes.
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I have realized that growing is not just a task but it takes dedication and loyalty to your grow I appreciate every opportunity I get to grow. Speaking of growing mediums I have used coco coir this time around I’m using fox farms happy frog is there a medium that is best I’m not exactly ready for a hydro system
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Hey there! Sorry I just got back to ya now, I was traveling this last week and been busy building a new project for our community! I prefer to pop taproots then place in soaked cubes, it makes for the easiest experience of getting a taproot into water. I keep my cubes wet daily with a nice soak of Germ Genie to water at like 1 drop per cup of water. Hope this helps 
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Awesome ok I will have to get some! @Kronic just as a side note REALLY fantastic potcast, I have bing listening and hav followed you on Spotify insta and YouTube
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So an update on of my seeds have germinated really nicely then there was another one I had I too allow the tap root has not grown and now there is brown inside of the seed where the tap root extends from the base should I be concerned?
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I have two seeds that germinated and grew their first pair of true leaves. Now they have not grown for two weeks. Temp is 70-78, RH is 50%. I don’t want RH to go higher due to air born fungus problems, etc. I have seeds of other strains growing normally. I think that seed bank put two good seeds in a lot of 6 seeds and the other four seeds are just too old / bad. I’m feeding these two seedlings 1/4 strength Clonex and they are still not growing; they are in their first week of veg. The strain is Wild Thai Stick.
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If u can start all ur seed in a paper towel transfer them into your medium of choice this way ur not waiting on something may not pop up