Sprouting In Soil

Oldreefer said:

I've germ-ed several plants every three weeks perpetually for almost 2 decades .....straight to medium with NO soaking, NO paper towels, NO fertility chants. Just add patience.
KISS.

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Yes sir, straight to medium or rapid rooters for me, and I most often get 100% success rate on germination, unless the seeds are pretty old say over 5-10 years, then just a couple out of every 10-15 seeds might not pop, but that’s about it. Patience is key.

Clearly I'm missing the big deal about starting seeds one way or another?

Grow Monster said:

I have never done the paper towel method and never will. Never understood why folks complicate it. Strait to soil. Clones too. No misting no domes. Kiss all the way! Works great for me. Excellent germination/root rate. I start 4 plants every other month for my perpetual growing.

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Wonderd about Clones. I have Clones now in final Pot and seem to be doing OK.

Said something to my Son about getting a Cloner and he was very negative on it.

Oldguyrealy said:

Wonderd about Clones. I have Clones now in final Pot and seem to be doing OK.

Said something to my Son about getting a Cloner and he was very negative on it.

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I've tried various clones. A cup of water in a south facing window works best for us

Oldguyrealy said:

Wonderd about Clones. I have Clones now in final Pot and seem to be doing OK.

Said something to my Son about getting a Cloner and he was very negative on it.

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Because worry free cloning is too much trouble?
I can drop cuts in mine and go straight to flower with the mother plant knowing in two weeks both will be fine
Better still I can leave those clones in the cloner a couple more weeks if I add nutrients

Nope_49595933949 said:

I've tried various clones. A cup of water in a south facing window works best for us

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Interesting have 1800 Sq. Ft. house and no South window.

Oldguyrealy said:

Interesting have 1800 Sq. Ft. house and no South window.

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I was stoned. I meant northern facing window.

Nope_49595933949 said:

I was stoned. I meant northern facing window.

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OK funny have 4 North Windows but got Grow Lights.

Oldguyrealy said:

OK funny have 4 North Windows but got Grow Lights.

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No I'm being serious. The north windows don't typically get direct sunlight so the plants don't yellow and they eventually root. It works really well and our preferred method.

I believe there is still an ignore button for those children easily offended.

The fuck is going on here stop this crap

Nope_49595933949 said:

No I'm being serious. The north windows don't typically get direct sunlight so the plants don't yellow and they eventually root. It works really well and our preferred method.

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Got 3 Clones in my Tent that are being contrary rooting but they must be doing OK because they are still alive.

Game plan is let them get big enough to Top and I have two other Varieties in there I will Top to. Should work.

I have the best success germinating seeds in wet paper towel in a ziploc bag. Store in a warm spot for a few days and boom they blast out taproots, once the tap root is popped out I gently set them into pure coco and feed with pure water, no nutrients until the seedlings are a couple inches tall.

In soil depending on the blend you can kill seeds from too much fertilizer.

Star Dog said:

there's no guessing/waiting and wasting time that could've been spent on other/new seeds.

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This is the only reason I still use the paper towel method, because it lets me see if they've germed or not. I've had a couple of occasions where I've been just waiting on plants to emerge, but they never germed. In a paper towel in a plastic bag I can hold them up to a light and see if there's a taproot, rather than just sitting around for a week wondering what's going on.

ReubenIsMyDog said:

This is the only reason I still use the paper towel method, because it lets me see if they've germed or not. I've had a couple of occasions where I've been just waiting on plants to emerge, but they never germed. In a paper towel in a plastic bag I can hold them up to a light and see if there's a taproot, rather than just sitting around for a week wondering what's going on.

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Root riot cubes are great for this.

ReubenIsMyDog said:

This is the only reason I still use the paper towel method, because it lets me see if they've germed or not. I've had a couple of occasions where I've been just waiting on plants to emerge, but they never germed. In a paper towel in a plastic bag I can hold them up to a light and see if there's a taproot, rather than just sitting around for a week wondering what's going on.

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I don't quite get this. It takes the same time to sprout both ways and pretty much 100% of seeds germinate.

I have always done the paper towel method, not had any problems with it, so probably won't change. My advice is to do it the way that suits you best.

Horselover fat said:

I don't quite get this. It takes the same time to sprout both ways and pretty much 100% of seeds germinate.

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Right, I'm not saying it's faster, I'm just saying that I can see sooner if there are any failures and pop replacements if need be. Unlike you, however, I've not always had really high germ rates (though I usually do). A few years ago I got a couple of batches of seeds that were just not popping for me. And, having put them in soil, I just ended up waiting and waiting because I had no idea what was going on, so it kind of changed my opinion on it. Pushed my whole grow off by nearly a month waiting for seeds that never popped.

At this point I've started dozens of seeds in paper towels and I've only broken one tap root when planting them in soil, and that was me being dumb after a few too many beers.

I just like that I can know a bit sooner if there's something happening, whether or not that makes sense to you, that's what draws me to the paper towel method. Ultimately I don't think it's more effective, just more easily observable.