I am a new grower, currently in the flowering stage of my very first grow. But I also germinated more seeds today and here are my thoughts. For my current grow and the seeds I just planted I just used the water method, I had previously tried the paper towel method with no luck. I understand that people have plenty of luck with the paper towel method, but sometimes I hear germination taking a couple days with that method. My method is using shot glasses filled with distilled water, placing them directly on my heating mat, put the seed in the water (tap it lightly a few times to get it all wet) then cover it with a couple Solo cups to keep light out. When I come back to check on it if it hasn't sunk to the bottom I tap the seed to see if it has cracked, if it sinks I plant it, if it doesn't I check back later. Blue Venom: Cracked within 18 hours. The Church: Cracked within 5 hours!!! Original Skunk #1: Cracked within 10 hours. We all have our own methods, but can germination get any easier/quicker than this? Now, obviously your tap root won't be sticking out at this point, but you can only speed this process up so much. Just wanted to share my experience.
You had me at "Blue Venom".. If you do a grow journal, I'm in! EDIT: Jumped the gun, your signature has what I'm lookin' for!
ha, yeah, it's very resistant to my n00b mistakes. I have a lot of learning to do as a grower, but I love this learning process. My BV has suffered from deficiencies of one kind or another almost the whole grow and it seems to be doing fine in general. I just ordered some Cal-mag yesterday because I got all my PH issues straightened out a few weeks ago and it still seems to have some mag problems. I'm going to try to get some photos later today, not a huge update yet, still waiting on the flowering to kick in.
Is it better to keep your seeds room temp or warmer. I was thinking setting a heating blanket down under where i let my seeds germ. I use the same method so the blankets heat would keep the water at a warmer temp.
I like to always preface my advice by stating that I am still very much a growing n00b, but like I said, I use a heating mat which means that it will be warmer than room temperature. Room temperature is generally somewhere around 70F, my heating mat doesn't have a thermostat but I believe it probably takes the shot glasses with the seeds up to around 80-82F.
I'm new to this and only on my first grow, but I've been practicing germination for when I get better seeds to ensure I have a good turn out. Heres the best way I found. Out of 12 seeds I had 11 germinate and my strongest was up and going in 2-3 days and all are averaging .5 growth a day if not more. This is what I do. Take a shotglass and put some water and your seeds in. I use a different shotglass for each seed type. Take those seeds and put in a dark warm area. I used my closet in my laundry room because it gets a little toasty in there. I also read putting them on water heaters works. Then let them sit there for a day. The next day go back and see if the seeds have fallen. If they haven't take tweezers and gently push the water around the seeds. They should then sink on down. They are now ready for phase 2. Take an egg crate not the plastic ones but the ones that are bio-degradable and cut it in half. Feel both with your soil of choice and water. Then take a pencil tip and make a hole 1/4-1/2 inch down and using tweezers (NEVER USE YOUR HANDS UNLESS VERY CLEAN) place a seed in each one. Cover seed up with soil and place two toothpicks or q tips in the middle of each crate to assist in the next step. Place these trays in a plastic baggy big enough for both or a different one for each and then seal them all the way except leave a small hole to breath air into. Breath into the baggy and seal all the way. Place this in your dark warm place and let sit coming back every 6-8 hours or so and blowing more CO2 in. In 2-3 days you should have at least one up. I had 4 within 5 days and within 8 the rest had came up. Once they break soil though transplant and add light. Hope this helps someone.