Pre-Splitting Auto Seeds

So i read on the web somewhere that auto flowering seeds can fail to germinate due to having a shell so hard that they can't break out of it. I have recently germinated a lot of LowRyder 2 and i tried this presplitting technique out.

I started with 60 seeds, soaked them in Distilled water for 24 hours and most of them sank. Then i moved them to a wet paper towel and let them sit another 24 hours. After this time about 1/2 had popped out little taproots and were moved into peat pucks, I then applied the presplitting technique to the remaining seeds by either rolling them between my finger and thumb till i heard them crack, or squeezing them on the sides with a small pair of tweezers till they cracked. Inside of another 24 hours nearly all the remaining seeds had shot out taproots and were moved to peat pucks.

I remember reading about this technique once and posting in disbelief that i could never do that to my seeds. That was before i started growing LR2 and now i see the technique being a well used tool in my germination rituals. It is scarry but it's not hard to do and once you see how well it works you will be a believer forever. I would assume this would also work on nearly any seed your having a hard time with but i have never had to use it on a non-auto flowering strain. They really seem to have a shell to tough for there own good.

I did it to some seeds today after reading another thread about it. My question is, how long did you let your seeds dry before you germinated them. I have some seeds that are going on 4 weeks drying and they arent germinating yet, so i cracked them to see if i can get them to go. LRDiesel x ak47kush

I heard 4 weeks is the magic number. But i must confess i ran did this run at 2 weeks and all went well for me. I even tried 3 at 1 week and they all germinated aswell. What do your seeds look like? Are they hard & dark brown or are they a light color? I had to Let My LR2 go 11 weeks to get good seeds, how long did you let it go for?

I seems to me that what we are really doing here is an extreme form of scarification, I t may work just as well to lightly sand the seeds with fine grit sand paper before we germ them. But i don't have any sand paper and this technique worked great for me. Maybe you could try with sand paper and just make a few thin spots in the shell.

all but two popped out the root out of 20, that isnt too bad. after i did the splitting, i just did each one in my teeth like a sunflower seed, it was the only way i could be gentle enough, with the pliers i was smashing every other one. out of 20, that isnt too bad. my seeds vary from greenish brown, to brown with black stripes, to solid brown, to solid brown with light brown stripes. Tje seeds are tiny tiny little seeds compared to the diesel seeds, which are about twice the size.

yeah like i said tweezers was the ticket for me. Now that i hear you mention it it seems like auto seeds tend to be bigger then most. I have hundreds of lr2 seeds along with a LR2 x Bc Mango cross i made and the LR2 seeds are all lie 2-3 times the size of the cross. I have a few seeds in my collecton and short of a recent delivery the Lr2 is bigger then all of them. Maybe this is the reason they need to be presplit so much more then other strains.

Never had this problem with lowryder seeds they seem to be just like any other pot seed to me.

NewGrowth said:

Never had this problem with lowryder seeds they seem to be just like any other pot seed to me.

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same here 10/10 with the auto aks i just got in

I never said every seed would need it, but now if you ever run into a tough to germinate strain you have another tool to use. That was my only intention. By all means if your seeds are popping just fine i wouldn't even consider pre-splitting. But if you get some seeds that are huge and tough to germ, give it a shot.

I had this problem till I read this post !Thank you for this . My auto AK47 shells was very hard and my seeds only germinated after pre-splitting.

Very Intresting thread, always good to learn something new

Cheers

mj123

wow im glad i read this thread!! i had an auto seed showing no signs of popping whilst all its siblings had so i cracked it with my teeth. i got really scared that i might have damaged it and also that my saliver would be bad for the seedling inside!! No it sprouted just fine and is growing healthy!! now i had an af AK 47 and it was a big seed it was the first to pop so i placed it in its soil and watered!! when it poped out of the ground the seed was so stuck to that it couldnt open i think this suffocated the
bitch and she didnt grow!! i tried opening the seed for her but when i did her first leaves were white!!! no she didnt survive!! i will be using the sand paper technique on all my AF seeds from now on!!!

I have grown off and on for over 30 years and seed cracking is nothing new. Anytime I have had stubborn seeds, i've always pinched them on the sides until i heard a crack. Almost 100% of the time, i'll get a tap poking out within 24hr.

Anytime I've come across someone having a germ'n problem, I recommend this method and it usually works unless the seeds are no good.

Great info though! I'm sure you've helped out many already and many more to come

the best way i have found is to rub the husk of the shell on sand papper or on the strike part of a matchbox before you put them in water,this helps the water soak into the seed making it easyer to pop it open.this has work well for me.

okay so i tried the sand paper technique with a nail file!! one slide on the seed and it went right through making a hole i placed the seed in watered cotton and it showed signs of life the next morning in the evening it had popped out of the seed so i planted it! yesterday i went to check as it hadnt sprouted and as i slightly watered it i saw the seed i tried to carefully look and see if it had rooted but to my detriment it hadnt i took it out and noticed it had gone bad inside and had perished!! maybe the presplitting technique will work better il try that next time but next time will be in a while....

i will be tring this out thanks

ive been germin a couple fem seeds for like 2 weeks now, i just did this method, crackin it with my teeth, and will check back to say if it worked

Boneman said:

I have grown off and on for over 30 years and seed cracking is nothing new. Anytime I have had stubborn seeds, i've always pinched them on the sides until i heard a crack. Almost 100% of the time, i'll get a tap poking out within 24hr.

Anytime I've come across someone having a germ'n problem, I recommend this method and it usually works unless the seeds are no good.

Great info though! I'm sure you've helped out many already and many more to come

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Boneman and all on this thread
I am struggling with some heritage seeds maybe 5 years old
I tried the sand paper lined matchbox
i saw splits then nothing

I really want these to grow, it was WW Durban Poision cross from an old friend...I have about 70 more...started with the ones stored the worst first

Help please all advice appreciated

no