Do they need light?

no they don't

 

imo, you should have the light on and ready for when they break ground.

 

I also leave them under a light waiting

 

that's ok just make sure its not to hot bro

 

I left them under a light waiting my first attempt at germing. The soil kept drying out fast than I would have liked, and I was never sure if it was too dry or moist enough. Caused a lot of over/under watering and I never saw any sprout. I retried leaving them out of the light and soil stayed a perfect moisture. When I saw soil move I put them under lights

 

well your supposed to put a baggie or humidity dome over an unsprouted seedling to keep the soil moist. (derp) had you done this your soil wouldnt have dried out.

 

My seedling has just popped out this morning...can i put it in the grow room yet with the light a good distance away? Im using a 400w hps.

 

might be better off to use a few cfls for the first week. but you can use hps

 

I dont see why people let the seed sprout outside of anything if they're using soil. I never let mine "develop" in the bag... all I do is drop them in a capful of some water for 24 hrs.. most will pop and you'll be able to see the inside... then I just stick them in an inch of soil and tadda... the ones that dont pop I put on a wet paper towel inside a bag... but again.. as soon as I see the tap root I drop them in dirt...

Maybe I just dont know but what are the advantages of doing the whole baggie/towel thing to the point you see root/stem ???

 

For me the advantage is certainty. I hate wasting time waiting and wondering if my seeds are gonna sprout. My first attempt at germinating, I just put the seeds in some moist soil and tried to get them to sprout, but they wouldn't. I took the seeds from the same batch, did the paper towel/baggie technique and planted when the root tip was about 1 cm long, maybe less. Every seed that I started this way sprouted, so I decided it was the method for me.

 

I just tried germinating about 25 seeds via paper towel method (take 3 sheets, fold them length wise and saturate with water you have let set out, put seeds on and scattered them throughout the wet paper towels, put another 3 sheets, folded, saturate again and place loosely loosely in a plastic shopping bag (hannafords, wal-mart, etc) and let sit for a day or two. I just checked mine this morning, 18 actually sprouted so immediately i put them into my grow medium in box, in my closet. No lights yet but will do as soon as i see any sign of one sprouting atop the soil.

 

Seed in soil, water, heat mat, humidity dome. Just about 100% success. Why mess with mother nature?