First time grower cant get seeds to sprout!

I need help...bad...and i am very embarrest to ask this question but i had to take a deep breath and just go ahead and ask it. Everytime i germinate seeds using the paper towel sandwich bag method.. the taproot comes out curls over itself and when i plant it like 1/2 in under soil they NEVER sprout and i bought seeds online so you can imagine my frustration!

Please please please tell me how to get seeds to sprout everytime so i know how, and dont have to ask these newbie questions. ty

btw i just built my setup with pvc pipe and i have 2 60w cfl over both my plants 1 is a bigbud and 1 is a lowryder#2 . I wish when you sign on this site you get a grow mentor lol....please help


fuzz

what sort of soil? how close are you putting your lights? how long are you waiting for something to happen?

how long have they been under the lights?
and you can just throw them outside till they come up and then put them under the lights. The sun is thebest and cheapest light out there. good luck

MojGniew said:

what sort of soil? how close are you putting
your lights? how long are you waiting for something to happen?

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thanks for the quick replies guys really do appreciate your concern as a fellow grower =) ! Im using scotts premium potting soil . the lights are pretty close ill link a pic...they have been under lights for about 2 days now so ruffly about 32 hours cuz the light schedule i have it on is 830 am - 1230 am . ive been waiting forever i got so angry that i Gently dug around the soil with my finger and flushed around where i potted it and it looked like it was all white but brownish around the tip and edges but the tio was a darker brown is it rotting?

I want to grow a little more but i cant =( becuz my seeds never sprout =( its like a 1 in a million shot and i already lost 4 bigbud plants becuz i dont know how to grow
=( help

it takes a little while. just keep waiting. they should be up in a few days. no worries bro

You should move your clf's closer to your soil. Your newly planted seeds like the heat and energy. You can also get some nutes for seed growth if your really having problems.

What kind of nutes ? post any pics maybe or link it? I had a quick lighting question if you could answer for me would be greatly appreciated. I have 2 60w cfl that screw into a Y socket adapter i was wondering since im about to go to home de pot to return some floros if maybe i could get 4 more Y sockets and get 4 100w eq. cfl's and give them babies little more light? would that short out my socket?

Seedling nutes

More light = better cfl's hardley put off any heat so its hard to burn those girls.

Im no electrition and im not going to pretend to be one so your gonna have to ask the guy at home depot or something. they should have no problem telling you.

brb. going to home depot to pick up more sunshine for these cunts..jk little inside joke me and my wife have lol....tell you the hilarious story when i return

k im back i got 4 100w cfl and 4 Y socket adapters ...will post pics in a bit after dinner. this now should be enough i think for the seeds to pop maybe hopefully im praying, crossing fingers, rabbit foot, and my lucky sox are on =) literally all for 1 fricken seed please lol.

Everybody has their own way to sprout seedlings,but the tried and true way to germ your babies is to place distilled water into a jar with a little phosphorus and add seeds.Then place the jar in a cool dark place overnight and in the morning when the rooster rises(lol),get the jar and any seeds that are on the bottom you then plant these seeds will sprout.

i hope so cuz im running out of seeds and none of my contacts have ne bagseed and i dont buy crap so its hard to find seeds lol...my deal is ,is that i dont when i go to plant them that the soil needs to be moist and watered right then or do i water it a little and let it sit for a day or 2 even...thats a more penetrating question for me . i need to know how to make the soil perfect for them so they sprout when i plant them and not dry up or rot. do i water them while there under soil? do i water them after they pop....questions like that.. that a newbie like me wouldnt know but is second nature to most of you.lol sorry for all the noob stuff, i just want to be successful and have some income with my plants since i will stop smoking and soon do it for enjoyment and financial freedom!

I was having a lot of trouble at first too. I'm still new to but this is the first and most frustrating (for me) part. B/c all my friends are just like "jsut put them in the dirt, worked for me" well you can do this and put them outside, but when i did this with three seeds only one sprouted and died shortly after i brought it inside. I found that it helps if you leave them in the paper towel/plastic bag long enough to start to develop some leaves or a very long tap root. after I get a little green showing or a large tap root just get your soil and pour some water in the and mix the soil with your hands to get it all wet then deliberately overwater the center then barely cover the seed with the soil. I try to leave the green/seed even with the surface or leave a slight hole for light to reach the seed. This seems to work for my newbie ness, but also I have been using bag seed (and its all 'swag' in oklahoma for the most part) and noticed that only like 1 or 2 in ten of my seeds even pop a root at all. But I usually put 4 to 8 of them in a towel and dip it in my evaporated tap water then put it in the plastic bag then put them in the water heater closet for 24 or so hours (at least 24) then i put them on the window sill until they sprout then put them in soil. But i would like to hear more ways ppl do this b/c i was like you praying for just one seed, lol.

im trying that method now so will see. then maybe ill put it outside till it sprouts its first set of true leaves then i will maybe stick it inside after some more veg but i found out that you truely can just water your soil good then make it airated by digging in it with your hands and toss it around without compacting it down then just stick your pinky and push a little hole for a seed to go in and in about 2-5 days you will see that it will sprout thats what ive been told so will see what happens. im excited i actually might of discovered something!

Heres what I've done before each time I use the paper towel method. Put the towel in a ziploc and into a dark warm place. Then I check it every 24 hours with a sterile tweezers and see if it has broken out and created a taproot. I already have the soil prepared so all i do is poke a little hole with a sterile tool like a screwdriver or pencil and place the seed very gently into that hole. Only about a 1/4" -1/2" down in the soil. After that I spray it gently with a water bottle until the top 1/2" is WET. NOT SOAKING! Then I put saran wrap or something similar on the top and rubberband around that so it stays. This will create heat and moisture like a greenhouse. Put it either in an open window or under some cool blue spectrum lighting. Metal Halide or CFL's in the high K range like 6500K not the warm 2700K but they can still work. Pretty much guaranteed 100% in my opinion.

that method actually makes sense with the saran wrap to creat humidity cuz thats what the roots need, just like clones . so now i will try that....i have some in paper towel now and hopefully my mom lets me keep this grow cabinet that i totally mylar'd the fuck out of and mounted everything on after that. looks pretty good imo, ne ways back to sprouts...i dont have ne windows in my room so i cant put it near a window sill the best i can do is put it under cfl's in my grow room but i now only have 1 room its on 12/12 will that mess with this seeds sproutings or can i get away with growing them outside for a little veg boost then sticke them inside under cfl's which i have 2 100w and 2 60w on 2 seperate sides of the box so a total of 4 each with Y socket adapters. so is that too hot or ?

Thats what i meant by "mixing the soil after putting some water in there" it makes it very airy and will make it wet through out but not too wet. I also leave them outside till them get a few leaves on them before i bring them inside otherwise i always kill them some how. But dont put them in with the 12/12 lights. I also just sprouted two this way but put them on the floor with my 6 inch baby that has (3) 100w daylight and (1) 100w soft white and 2 of my 8 sprouted leaves fast and another one has sprouted a tap root. I took the two fast ones out and put them in soil yesterday and left them out side. The have already started their second leaves and are now standing upright.

Hmmm, they die every time you bring them inside? What are your temps like?

How often are you watering them once you bring them in? You shouldn't water them for like a week, just about a tablespoon at the base of the plant. Also what water are you using? Are you pH testing it? If it's tap water are you letting it rest for at least 24hours so it offgasses the chlorine?

I'm a complete newb so I'm just pointing out some issues I had.

Kludge said:

Hmmm, they die every time you bring them inside? What are your temps like?

How often are you watering them once you bring them in? You shouldn't water them for like a week, just about a tablespoon at the base of the plant. Also what water are you using? Are you pH testing it? If it's tap water are you letting it rest for at least 24hours so it offgasses the chlorine?

I'm a complete newb so I'm just pointing out some issues I had.

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its kool we all were at some point like you and i stand now. i keep the temps from like 75-95F it gets hot in there its just cuz its all mylar'd out and i do have a vent fan and a cooling fan letting cold air in. im not ph testing the water and im using unoffgassed tap water by newbie mistake "thanks"! so im pretty much fucking the seeds with chlorine! i just put 2 seeds down in about 1/2 in belowsurface without germing them i want to see if they sprout. all in all i think, i have fucked my seeds from the get go it seems...and to make this all greater!! my mom found my fucking GROW CAB! and turned it off for like 2 days man so it had way to much sleep is that bad, there was 2 veg plants in there 2 !