Germinate seeds under light?

Why is darkness recommended for germination? Doesnt seem to make much sense to me, why would darkness be beneficial to the seed in any way? Just curious. I have some seedlings already but decided to go for a few more plants, so i've put the seeds in the pots in the same room, threw some black garbage bags over the pots to avoid some of the light + it add more moisture..

I've tried germination using a few methods, nowadays i always plant the seeds directly into the large pots. I've noticed that it seems to speed up the development quite a bit. I guess it's becaue it's much less stressful. I don't get those methods of first germinate the seed using paper, then putting it in a cup, then moving it to larger puts etc.. that's seems pretty stupid and is just a hassle imo, the seed and the seedling should be handled as little as possible i think.

You don't need a black bag over them, just treat them as any old seed and stick them in dirt and wait for them to pop out. There is nothing different about germination of a cannabis seed compared to germination of any other similar seed i.e. klip dagga, catnip, fruit seeds etc.

You do not need lights to germinate cannabis seeds and if you do then it is not at all going to help speed up the process; I mean, how are lights going to help your seed absorb more moisture and root?

light kills roots. end of story.

as for germinating, you don't wait on seeds that don't germ to sprout. you only plant root tips. for smaller cups, it's called root building, you get bound in a cup, then transplant larger, to utilize the maximum amount of medium. if you plant in a large container, roots grow to the outside of the pot, then coil, with virgin soil between center and perimeter. big waste, especially if you're paying for the privilege.

Well... At the end of the day it's all up to you and I can't force you to do whatever so good luck. Doing what you are doing will not harm your plants but is unnecessary.

Well my argument was that it seems unnecessary and possibly harmful to go through the paper method, putting it in a cup, transplating (some seems to transplant 2-3 times - very stressful to the plant to say the least). That's a a real hassle when handling a lot of plants.

But yes, each to his own i guess.

NanoBrainz said:

Well my argument was that it seems unnecessary and possibly harmful to go through the paper method, putting it in a cup, transplating (some seems to transplant 2-3 times - very stressful to the plant to say the least). That's a a real hassle when handling a lof of plants.

But yes, each to his own i guess.

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meh, i've handled thousands. tweezers and a gentle hand make for 100% success rate. to each his own.

catofcuriosity said:

meh, i've handled thousands. tweezers and a gentle hand make for 100% success rate. to each his own.

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Agreed, You do it right then you get a 100% success rate and it's not that hard so it's almost impossible to mess up on it unless you have really shaky hands or are just purposely trying to kill them before they even get to absorb some light

yeah never had a plant die on me because of transplant, i just mean it seems like the plant does develop a bit quicker when not under the stress of transplanting several times.. i'm quite sure a lot of the roots are harmed when transplanting, even if very careful, the roots are extremely fragile (newly developed parts)

Find what works for you & stay with it- you don't have to copy others or do what anyone says to make up your own rules

I'm with you 100% on this. I've never understood why so many people/guides insist on putting seeds in the dark while germinating. There's no scientific basis behind this. In fact, for many plants like lettuce, light is required for high success rate and speed.

One experiment that's repeated a lot with lettuce seeds is having a sequence of pulses, either 660nm (R) or 730nm (FR) followed by dark, and what they determined was only the pulse at the end of the sequence mattered. If the last pulse in the sequence was red, most of the seeds would germinate, and if the last pulse was far red, most would fail to germinate.

For example, if your pulse sequence was [R, FR, R, FR, R], it would be equivalent to [R] since R was the last pulse in the sequence and all the seeds would germinate.

Light helps lettuce seeds germinate, so why would it inhibit cannabis germination?

With pot, light seems to contribute little to germination success however.

Theory aside, I've always germinated in the light for years and see no reason not to. I feel like the plant wants to start its life off in the day, and not have an extended period in the dark as its first experience.

NanoBrainz said:

Why is darkness recommended for germination? Doesnt seem to make much sense to me, why would darkness be beneficial to the seed in any way? Just curious. I have some seedlings already but decided to go for a few more plants, so i've put the seeds in the pots in the same room, threw some black garbage bags over the pots to avoid some of the light + it add more moisture..

I've tried germination using a few methods, nowadays i always plant the seeds directly into the large pots. I've noticed that it seems to speed up the development quite a bit. I guess it's becaue it's much less stressful. I don't get those methods of first germinate the seed using paper, then putting it in a cup, then moving it to larger puts etc.. that's seems pretty stupid and is just a hassle imo, the seed and the seedling should be handled as little as possible i think.

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NanoBrainz said:

yeah never had a plant die on me because of transplant, i just mean it seems like the plant does develop a bit quicker when not under the stress of transplanting several times.. i'm quite sure a lot of the roots are harmed when transplanting, even if very careful, the roots are extremely fragile (newly developed parts)

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this is actually a good thing, promoting even more root growth, which is why a common practice is to score the root ball. consider it topping from the bottom, or bottoming...

ha bottoming

ilyaas123 said:

ha bottoming

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figured you're like that one...

Well you were 100% correct on that prediction

I'm just trying to get to 500 posts before I go to sleep

I use a light 24 hour on my humidity dome to keep my RH high and temps under control. Germinating and seedlings love the greenhouse effect. Other then that, I can't think of any reason for lights on or darkness.

catofcuriosity said:

this is actually a good thing, promoting even more root growth, which is why a common practice is to score the root ball. consider it topping from the bottom, or bottoming...

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Yes i know, but anything that harms the plant will stunt growth for a while. I don't top my plants either for that reason.