After reading about a few different germination techniques on this forum, I believe that this method needs to be posted: Rockwool Germination! It's really easy, and you don't have to risk damaging a fragile taproot. This method employs the controversial method of just planting the seed With a little luck and a good grasp of this method, you'll be able to achieve 90%+ germ rates Note: Whenever you are handling cannabis plants or seeds, make sure you are CLEAN!!! Wash your hands, take a shower, just make sure you aren't putting your oils and dirt (and possibly bugs!) on your plants. There are two main initiators of cannabis seed germination. Imbibing is the process whereby the seed soaks up water, which eventually results in the seed coat splitting. The second initiator is light. Incorrect pH, seed exposure, seed depth, high nutrient content, physical damage, and fungi can inhibit germination. If you follow this guide correctly and purchase viable seeds, you shouldn't have any of these issues. Rockwool is an excellent medium for germination. It is made up of fine fibers that are capable of drawing water up to the seeds. It is dense enough that only small air pockets form (large air pockets are bad- they stop capillary action). This air is essential because seeds cannot germinate in an anaerobic environment. Here's what you need: -rockwool starter cubes (around 1.5" cubes, around $8 for 24 of them) -water -container for water -pH down -pH meter -humidity dome Now we have our supplies, let's get to germinating! You'll want to put your water in your container and get it down to a pH of 5.5. Rockwool tends towards a high pH (alkaline) so we need to get it down to a pH that our little seeds like. You can soak it for just a few hours, but I like to play it safe and soak overnight. After soaking, take your rockwool cube and give it a good shake. This gets rid of excess water and aerates the cube. Place the cube in your humidity dome (or whatever you germinate in). If the cube does not already have a hole in it, go ahead and poke a small hole about 1/4" into the center of the rockwool cube using a screw driver (or whatever lol). Now take your seed and just drop it in the hole, pointy side down if possible. The seed will orient itself correctly regardless when it pops, it just can't hurt to help it right GENTLY brush the rockwool over the hole, covering the seed (this is important, you want to cover the seed, but if you apply too much force you can make it difficult for the seed to sprout). Cover your humidity dome (you need some sort of high humidity environment so if you don't have a humidity dome use clear plastic or glass to cover) and place under light. Note: Acceptable temperature for germination is between 68-86 F. Daily, open up your humidity dome and check the rockwool cubes by gently touching them with your finger. If the cube feels dry, dip the lower half of the cube in 5.5 pH water for 5 seconds. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. No longer Don't allow the cube to become either dry or waterlogged, find the happy medium. Within 10 days, your seeds will sprout out the top and you'll see those cute little cotyledons! When the tap root shows out the bottom of the cube, you may transplant the rockwool cube into your growing medium- whether it be soil or hydroton or whatever. You don't have to touch your fragile plant, just the cube! Note: When I transplant the cube, I cut the plastic lining off of the rockwool. That's all! Pretty simple right? You don't need germination hormones or vitamin B-1 or nutrients or whatever lol. ALL YOUR SEEDS NEED IS WATER, AIR, WARMTH, AND LIGHT. The best advice I can give is to sit back and relax. Don't disturb your seedlings- they are fragile. They'll sprout on their own time- nothing you do with the cube will speed that process up. Anything you do has potential to kill them, so take it easy. Advanced Techniques: These techniques are not required for normal germination. They are techniques used to germinate particularly difficult seeds and/or speed up germination. -Scarification: The goal of scarification is to break down the hardened seed coat and allow water to enter, speeding up (or permitting in the case of a particularly hard seed) germination. This can be accomplished by nicking the hard coat of the seed with a SHARP, CLEAN knife. An alternative method is to shake the seeds in a jar lined with sandpaper. Just be careful not to chop your seeds in half, you only want to make the outer coat thinner! I hope this helps everyone, feel free to ask any questions you may have. Happy growing Sources: Green, Greg. The Cannabis Grow Bible 2E. Green Candy Press. 2010. Brickell, Christopher. The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening: Revised and Expanded Edition. DK. 2003. Experience
Just because people do not post does not means it's not awesome!! This is a great guide for beginners it's good that it's just one less step for people to damage their taproot as a side note that has to be the biggest rockwool cube ever. Outside plant?
he said he uses 1.5" cubes maybe he just has really really small hands. LOL not really. my 1x1's go in a 4" x 4" cube and sit on an 8" x 32" slab
LOL no... I just didn't take a picture at that point so I found a tap root poking out of the bottom of a cube on the internet
as soon as the tap root starts to come out of the bottom of the 1" cube it is placed in the 4" cube. rockwool holds a lot of moister so if it's a drip system twice a day works.
When the seedlings are little, they don't need very much light at all. Many people prefer to use CFLs to start their seedlings off for exactly that reason. So to answer your question, you want to play it safe- don't risk scorching your seedlings with a high-wattage light. Make sure that the light is high enough above the seedlings to where it isn't overwhelming them. The general rule of thumb is to place your hand at plant level, palm side down. If you feel any sort of uncomfortable heat on the back of your hand, you should move the light up. Happy growing
Used nearly same method but prior to putting in cubes I allow my children to take a soak for awhile. I use distilled water approx 1/2 gallon mixed with a little under a cap of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Then put about an inch in the bottom of cups drop the seeds in for their bath. The remaining mix is used to soak my cubes with. The cubes stay in their bath over night to soak. Next day pull the cubes and squeeze out some of the water to the point where if give the cube a little flick there will be no water coming off them. From there cubes get placed into sterilized glass cup individually and covered with plastic wrap. For sterilization I use disinfecting wipes and let them sit for awhile to dry off. ( I have always tended to be extra cautious when it comes to keeping stuff clean specially when they are young) ..................... Just did 4 seeds with the above method 2 blue mystic (Nirvana), 1 Yumboldt 47 (World of Seeds), and 1 Strawberry Blue (also World of Seeds). Yumboldt 47 showed it tail at 18 hours Strawberry at about 24 hours Figure the Mystics will be coming in the next 12 hours or so, Nirvana seeds always seem a little behind. Sorry to hijack thread just seemed like a good place to share
One mystic at approx 36 hours the last at 48 (sorta seed cracked no tail yet) doesn't matter they are spooning with the reptile heater now. Note: usually use some glass cups serialized then have a heater between them gets to about 80f
I'm currently cloning, and have the lights about a foot from my clones (covered in two litre bottles aka plastic dome heh) I am running lights 24/0 for my clones. I recently got some WW seeds I'd like to germinate. Would this current lighting situation work to germinate the seeds?
Yeah, the seedlings can take 24 hour light, you just don't want to blast them with a 1000W HPS from 6 inches away Way to be clever with those 2 liters!
Just keep them in the dark till they pop from ground. I use the clear solo cups myself they defuse some of the light and keep the humidity up. They out grow the cups quick but by that time comes about they are good to go be in the room on there own.
68 - 86 degrees is fairly arbitrary, it's not really an 'ideal' range, it's more of the wide range in which the environment for germination indoors is acceptable. For instance it will take much longer to germ at 68 degrees, than at 86, possibly even by days. And as high as 86 degrees can invite bacteria and fungi to breed and multiply faster than the seedlings rate of growth. It's an acceptable range, but in an indoor environment, both the high and low end can cause issues. I gently crack the seeds open with my teeth (controversial, I know) or a pair of tweezers and then push them 1/4" under the (fresh, ph'd) moistened medium under their light source, until 18-24 hours later, when I have my first set of young leaves appearing I'll take their protective food 'hats' off for them too, as they arrive.. I'm a good host like that I've been doing it like this for years with 100% success, I never lose a fully formed seed, and can manage to get most of the light colored 'preemies' to mature and germ as well this way. No soaking over night, just near-instantly popping seeds, fresh from the pack. None of which are left too weak for whatever reason to break the shell, and it happens faster than most infections can begin within the shell, so you're never left with seedlings whose vigor suffers during early veg, due to delayed popping. And if the room isn't ready yet, I'll just crack them in a paper towel on top of the fridge, takes the same amount of time, but with the added effort of transferring the seedlings to your medium.. %100 germination in less than a single days time, with much less hassle, and worry, and much less environmental control required, than starting right out in rock wool cubes
Yea, that's exactly what it is haha an arbitrary range I'm just trying to give a rough guideline letting people know it's difficult to germinate seeds in the extremes. You know what, I omitted scarification because I wanted this to be a beginner's guide but what the hell I'll add it in an "Advanced" section lol. Thanks man great input.