OK, so I'm trying to germinate seeds from a real cheap bag of weed, using paper-towels (There are green and brown/black seeds. Is one better than the other?) The first attempt, I put four seeds in one air-tight container and eventually only one sprouted a tap-root, but never sprouted after planted in soil The second attempt, I put ten seeds in the same container used as before. Enough time has passed to make it clear that this attempt isn't working, as no tap-roots have appeared, and there's actually spots of mold in there now. So, I have a couple questions Is it a bad idea to put put that many seeds in one container ? (there's enough space for them to be about 5cm apart) Is it possible to permamently kill seeds from overwatering, suffocating, too much heat or leaving the paper-towels dry for too long ? And is it likely that some (or most) of the seeds from the bag are useless ? thanks for any help
1) no 2) no, you cant permamently kill the actual seeds from overwatering. but once the taproot appears it needs a little oxygen to survive, it needs to be kept moist (dont let it dry out), warm (around 28-30 degrees) and kept in a dark place. 3) yes, especially from unknown breeders.
I agree with John but a good tip for finding out if seeds are useless is in Grandpa's grow guide (http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/73015-grandpas-grow-guide.html) Grandpa provides a good way of testing seeds take a glass of luke warm water and a drop of Super Thrive. Put your seeds in the glass and let stay overnight. The seeds that have sunken the next day are the seeds you want to continue with. Seeds that kept floating are probably ‘dead' seeds.
Signs of likely viable seeds are: - grey or brown in color - do not crackle when you roll them firmly between thumb and forefinger Signs of likely non-viable seeds are: - green, white, or black in color - do crackle when you roll them firmly between your fingers Things that don't mean anything: - size of the seed - if it has spots, or stripes, or not You cannot tell the strain, potency or gender of a seed by its outward appearance. And just remember that "bagseed" simply means it is unidentified. The fact that you don't know its origins doesn't necessarily mean it is poor genetics, poor quality, or not viable. You should be able to grow out bagseed to be at least as good, and probably better, than the bag it came from.
I'd keep all the seeds and figure out later if they germinate or not. Worse case scenario, I need to germinate some more seeds a second time a few days later because of unsuccesful seeds from the first time. At least I give them all a real chance. If they hatch, they passed my test. That's just my suggestion. I dont see why you'd want to figure out which ones work before germinating. Then I'm sure there are situations where it's useful to know in advance... not that I can think of one.
OK, thanks I think I'm going to do that thing with the cup of water The viable seeds should still sink without the drop of Super Thrive, right ? And I think some of the seeds might have mold on them, If I wash it off, they should be good as new, right ? (if they were any good before the mold, that is)