Never thought id have to post here about such a noob topic, urgh how embarassing, but...Even with 4 years of growing experience, this year im running into weird problems with my sprouts for the first time. (always had 100% success before this) I use the exact method of germination stickied here btw. But after the germinated seeds are planted into my seed starter mix, they barely sprout. They grow just a tiny bit but cant penetrate the seed case. After a week of no progress at this point I throw them out. Sometimes the taproot never got properly installed into the soil and sometimes there is a freakin rootball but they just refuse to grow! At first i thought the soil wasnt damp enouph so i tried again making sure the soil was more damp but i encountered the same problem. What makes this even more frustrating is that these are bought seeds (purple cross, super nova, hashplant) and they are all going to waste. anyone ever had this problem? Any help would be appreciated
try germinating in a ziplock bag with a moist paper towel for about 4 days, the tap root should be pretty established by day 4, and from there just drop it into your soil, and then lightly cover it up with some more, and spray the soil down with water from a clean spray bottle.
If your seedlings are having a hard time breaking through the seed shell, you can try scuffing them before you start the germination process. Just line a small match box with fine grained sandpaper, and place a seed inside. Shake it for a few seconds, and then start germing them, using whatever method you like.
scuffing is the business if your seeds cant penetrate the seed coaing as this weakens it, remember not to shake em to hard though u dont want to damage the seed
for the record...i removed one of the sprouts who wouldnt take, then re germinated it in paper towel then planted it again and is now growing great.
hy you could try a tup box and papr towls with right amount fertilizer in water to dampen then hide dark place. mine came within 2 days