Best way to start germinated seeds?

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SolRosenberg

Active Member
I just received my seeds from highgrade (really good by the way) they gave me 15 for the price of 10. Now I have enough room to grow 15 plants so I want the best results possible.

I have:
1" grodan cubes
Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil
Roots Organic Soil
Schlutz All Purpose Plant food (10-15-10) I realize this is terrible for weed but it was free so I took it.

I am wondering what would be the best method to plant the germinated seeds in?
I would like to use the rockwool cubes so I can maintain proper moisture levels easily but I am not sure if rockwool is nutritious enough and the only fert I have is the Schultz.

For the soil, I have a hard time telling when it needs watering and how much water to add so I am scared I will kill them with over or underwatering.
 
GoldenGanja13

GoldenGanja13

Well-Known Member
Paper towel method is much safer and as for the Roots Organic, well that stuff is made right here Eugene, Oregon and it sucks ass. Stick with Fox Farm soil.
 
cannofbliss

cannofbliss

Well-Known Member
DO NOT USE JIFFY STARTER MIX>>>>>>> It will stunt your seedling and also make it extremely susceptible to damping off aka (stem rot). Plants just do not grow in them and you'll be 3 wks (if its still alive by then) and still have a seedling w two leaves and wonder wtf! and why is it not growing. You can however, use peat pellets aka (hockey pucks) in canada lol ;) and jiffy makes them as well and they are ok to use but not the best. Make sure it is the ones that are bigger like for tomatoes and not the little quarter sized ones. If you do use the paper towel method, be sure to use VIVA (why? because it retains water the best without over soaking the seed and or drying out too fast) secondly use a capfull of hydrogen peroxide in a 20 oz sprayer bottle and shake it up real well and spray the paper towels with that to prevent any fungus from forming on the seeds during germination. Other than that you can always just put them straight into your FFOF soil 1/2 in deep and pre-water your soil then to keep moist put a dome over the top of your container, and just skip all of the steps of pre-germination, cause if you know they are good and viable seeds then you dont really need to pre-test them on papertowels to see if they are going to germinate ;) but hey either way is okay.
 
cannofbliss

cannofbliss

Well-Known Member
Oh and P.S. when you germ them in a paper towel a little trick is to have the seeds rest in the paper towel in a way that they can sense gravity like putting the wrapped papertowel sideways against a bowl and cover up with another bowl to keep humidity but still allow the seed to breath(as in dont keep them sealed in a ziplock baggie or saran wrap either) otherwise you will have a greater chance of them rotting or having health issues down the road later in the plants life.
 
cannofbliss

cannofbliss

Well-Known Member
As far as watering goes once pre germinated you should give the soil a good enough watering till moist then drop them in gently, make a hole about 2 times the depth of the seed+taproots length + enough to have the seed cap 1/4-1/2 inch under the soil. You dont need to water again till about 7 days later once the seedling is 7 days old or so (5 days after sprouting, but dont water until soil is pretty dry(dont worry they arent dying for water ) if you kept it humid the soil wont evaporate much water if any. Use a 20 oz bottle of water cut it in half and poked with about 5-10 holes all around it, and enclose on top of the seedling once sprouted to ensure it is humid enough for it yet still able to breath. Also just take it off and spray the inside of the bottles with water when dry every now and then ;) (heres another tip when pre germinated...if the taproot has made a u-turn around the seed (you'll know it when you see it) then plant where the tap root is pointing down so it will be the end of the taproot's point will always go down towards gravity, but dont plant it facing up if it has grown out from the seed quite a bit like 1/4 to 1/2 an in or so cause it will have to use up some vital energy to right itself back towards the bottom, possibly stunting it badly.

Now if you plant the seed directly into the soil w/o pregermination then it really doesnt matter tip up down sideways whatever, you think in nature that the seed wont know which way is up or down lol it is highly debated though LOL
 
Waggs

Waggs

Active Member
Plant the seeds in your fox farms soil. You ever see a plant in nature sprouted in a paper towel? lol Mix some perlite with your fox farms soil and water till you have some runoff, then dont water again till your pot is light again. Thats for your watering question.
 
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SolRosenberg

Active Member
the question isnt really how to germinate but where to put them once germinated. IE should I put the seed thats sprouted in the rockwool or soil? Does the rockwool require fertilizer?
 
S

SolRosenberg

Active Member
Waggs said:
Plant the seeds in your fox farms soil. You ever see a plant in nature sprouted in a paper towel? lol Mix some perlite with your fox farms soil and water till you have some runoff, then dont water again till your pot is light again. Thats for your watering question.
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And when I do water, do I top it off? My current seedling is drooping very bad, the cup was SO light so I added water till I seed some dripping out of the hole to ensure it was water all the way through.
 
Waggs

Waggs

Active Member
Use the soil.. least I would. sounds like you did fine on the seedling you did just water.
 
cannofbliss

cannofbliss

Well-Known Member
SolRosenberg said:
And when I do water, do I top it off? My current seedling is drooping very bad, the cup was SO light so I added water till I seed some dripping out of the hole to ensure it was water all the way through.
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thats good to water like that everytime aka almost like flushing, but dont let the seedling or plant in later stages droop too badly and or let soil end up like the desert ;) let it droop a little and soil go till almost very dry then rinse and repeat as your plant will tell you when to water and when it is thirsty by drooping a little.
but yeah what waggs said just pop them straight into your soil they'll do just fine in ocean forest despite what some say it being little to hot (too much nutes) for seedlings.
 
cannofbliss

cannofbliss

Well-Known Member
Oh also, what do you have for ventilation (fan/window giving it fresh air) cause the spotting on it looks like it could be bacteria or fungus spots
 
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SolRosenberg

Active Member
cannofbliss said:
Oh also, what do you have for ventilation (fan/window giving it fresh air) cause the spotting on it looks like it could be bacteria or fungus spots
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It's sitting in my closet with virtually no ventilation. Other than the few times I look at it a day.

My house is very clean, I grow mushrooms flawlessly, I have a 100% sucess record. No contaminations, ever.


I am capable of growing things I just need to learn first. Appreciate the help thus far everyone has been really really helpful.
 
S

SolRosenberg

Active Member
Waggs said:
If you have been growin in that party cup for two weeks, its bout time to transplant. Not sure what your spots are there.. did you have wet leaves under the lights?
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Yeah, its been in the cup the whole time, should I put it into the final container? A 3 gallon grow bag.

And yes, I may have misted it and put it under the light. I had it like 1" from the light but I moved it because I have been doing some reading and felt that was too close.
 
cannofbliss

cannofbliss

Well-Known Member
Oh its not doubted you dont have a flawless record :) but unlike growing mushrooms where sterility and low to no ventilation is key, cannabis still needs to be sterile but by far the best thing for it is for it to have fresh air.
 
S

SolRosenberg

Active Member
cannofbliss said:
Oh its not doubted you dont have a flawless record :) but unlike growing mushrooms where sterility and low to no ventilation is key, cannabis still needs to be sterile but by far the best thing for it is for it to have fresh air.
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Yeah, I got the ventilation running now. I'll keep that fresh air going from here on out.

I am going to wait for the soil to dry up a bit before I transplant it.

I am learning more and more as the days go by.
 
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