Never mist your soil as some people claim. It is unnecessary. Good watering practice involves always allowing a bit of run off. If you did this then dropped your seed in non compacted soil it will take minimum 10 days before first watering and max of 14. The first watering and so on should have a little runoff. This ensures that all soil levels have even saturation and ensures water does not pool anywhere in the container because it creates an escape channel. Place your pot elevated in a bowl and sponge the runoff shortly after watering. Misting soil takes too long and is unnecessary. Always use lukewarm water
That is not true .... we are talking about the initial germ / sprouting stage ( this case a solo cup of soil ) .
Cup needs a couple of simple drain holes at bottom. FFOF is not a compacted soil , being peat based it is very aerated and can be improved with additional perlite , that’s it. A seed would start in about 3 days ( not 10 or 14 - unless older seed stock ) which I will give a tip for below. There is absolutely no reason to water to runoff in a “ solo cup “ .... excess watering stifles it and leaches the medium.
Seeds prefer damp not SOGGY conditions.....
When I said “ misting “ I was referring to the small pocket where seed goes only... as it doesn’t need much ... also when lifting cover you can mist that to keep a little humidity for it. Seedling temps should fall between at least 65 - 75 degrees to activate .
There is also some growers that plant “ direct “ into final pot without much issue. Matter of fact , FFOF can run your plant ( 3 gallon and larger ) for at least 6 weeks “ on its own “ without ANY NUTES , just ph water . FFOF chimes in at 6.3 ph out of the bag.
So by simply ph 6.5 - 6.7 ( allowing for drift ) is all that’s needed. RO water needs calmag at times to put back what may have been filtered out. You can run TAP with this medium , without much effort.
FEEDING : Can be done by simple handful of same FFOF as a top dress at intervals during grow WITHOUT bottled Nutes.
This method simply recharges the medium that the plant is already used to , so burning or other typical issues are gone.
You don’t even need the fox farm trio set for this to work. Flowering can be bumped with kelp / kelp meal either scratched into topdress
or added to water for plant. Plant is not overly fed , cleaner end product.
OLD SEEDS : Seed stock ( 2 yrs or older ) depending on how well they were stored , the following helps.
If using paper towel method .... when you dampen paper towel , add a pinch of myco ( great white , synergy, or recharge ) on that
damp seed .... continue with zip bag process. You can also use a tiny dab of clonex too. Older seeds do take awhile but these methods
improve the odds of germinating. A presoak in shot glass of bottle water ( warm ambient room temp ) can help before these steps.
Some old stock may need a scuff but that is a whole other subject.
Lighting : You can use a simple CFL / FLOURO light to start them without stressing them up front , if that’s what you have on hand.
Just keep those kind of lights close as it will aid in tempering stretch . If light is too far , seedlings get leggy and often need support.
Run 5000k / 6400k /6500k ( higher blue ) to aid in tighter nodes.
GL