Germination problem!?

please help! i have read hundreds of articles and followed the directions carefully. but my seeds never work. i put good seeds in water for over 24 hours and they all sank. than i put them inbetween a couple moist paper towels inside a zip lock bag. its been over a week and still nothing! they are in a dark and warm place and the paper towels are still wet. wut should i do this happend to all the seeds i tried (8 good ones) not all at the same time. help please i am stumped!

i started mine on thursday. and my ratio is like 2/3 for succesfull seeds
in a paper towl, ziplock bag, and then the ziplock in a container
make sure your using distilled water, or water without chroline
dark and warm are key

yup i let the chlorine evaporate for over a day. how wet should the towel be?

Yup regular tap water needs dechorinating before you use it.

Sterilise a bowl, moisten the paper towels a lil with some ph'd dechlorinated water, then gently squeeze out a bit of the excess(make sure your hands are VERY clean) so that the seeds wont be sat in a pool of water..
You can either use a sterilised scalpel to lightly scrape the seed on its seams(not too much or youll puncture the seed shell) or a scuff box(matchbox containing a piece of clean UNUSED sand paper) put the seeds in and shake the box for 30-60 secs.
This will help them absorb the water easier,and the light scoring over the seam will make it easier for the sprout to pop open its seed pod.
Place the seeds between a double layer of the paper towels and cover with shrink wrap or whatever to stop them drying out, place in your designated warm dark place.

Warm and dark is the key here...some seeds will germ at 21*C some might need a slightly higher temp of 27*C...I find quite often that seeds from certain equatorial areas, germ better at higher temps, for obvious reasons.

Also be patient.. alot of seeds will pop in 24hrs, some will take 3 days, some a week, some i've had have taken 15 days+....and i've known people with seeds that have taken 20+days, its all a matter of the genetics, their conditions and how much vigor the seeds have....Chill, let them do their thing, and fingers x'd they'll pop

The most important thing is to change the paper towels every 4 or 5 days, so you dont get bacterial build up or mold develop...again, always using PH'd dechorinated water (i personally use room temp Volvic mineral water,as its naturally Ph7 and contains trace elements of various minerals also essential to plants)and again,clean hands.

You could try a drop or two of super thrive in the water if you are going to pre-soak the beans before the paper towels...This apparently works but i've never needed to do it yet.


Go steady n good luck

i just start mine in the soil works everytime (so far)

thanks i also used clean tweezers to crack them verry lightly they said to do that. if i start in soil how much water?

Well, therein may lay your problem...The embryos are extremely delicate, if you squeze too hard or in the wrong direction you could be screwing them up before you even put them in to germ...Good seeds shouldnt need tweaking with the tweezers...
A brief scuff or a scalpel run over the seam should suffice....Again i only use the scuff box if the seeds are proving very hard to germinate..

Also how do you store your seeds before you germ them?
Are they in a COOL dark, moisture free environment?

weedsgood said:

thanks i also used clean tweezers to crack them verry lightly they said to do that. if i start in soil how much water?

Click to expand...

i kinda soak the soil then use the other end of a pen to make a hole then drop the seed in.then put in a dark warm place and make sure that the soil dosent go dry.

i dont think everyone agrees with this method but its just what works for me.and it works every si ngle time i try it just be patient.

they are in a dark closed pill container and just under room temp. so yes to all 3 and they are only a month old. thanks gota try the soil method

I've germed straight into the soil on many occasions and yup it works fine too..

i tried the paper towel method,,failed miserably,,since then I have almost 100% success ratio in just dropping it in dirt,,I just started a grow and planted 9 seeds in dirt,,and within 3 days all plants were above the dirt,,actually about 72-74 hours,,I think they come up stronger when they have to push themselves up from an inch below the dirt as well,,get your starter cups ready,,pre-water it well and let drain,,maybe even sit overnight,,push seeds an inch or so into the medium and cover lightly,,keep really moist and warm,,and voila,,,plants,,good luck man

Keep on Growin

HoLE

Have the seeds been allowed to dry properly and mature?? are they light green/whitish??
Could just be that theyre immature seeds that were harvested a lil too early..You might get lucky and get some to sprout but they could be under developed if they were picked to early.

ok well i am going to take them out of the paper towel and put them in soil about a half inch down

they are white mostly with green tint

I'd guess theyre probably immature then bro..
I've only ever seen whitish seeds from immature buds..
But like i said, you may very well get them to germ still..
Give it a whirl, and let us know how you get on.

ok i did chose the 4 worst ones out of 30 to try my indoor grow. i am going to do my big grow outside in the spring

i se peat pellets, makes everything so much easyer.

i put three good looking seeds in soil about 2 days ago. one has popped open so far. how long should it take for them to sprout if they are 1/4 inch deep.

Germination is the easiest step, the only solution I can think of is poor genetics/immature seeds. Good to hear one has sprouted, it should take no longer than 5 days for the others to pop but a lot depends on whether the seed lands root-tip up or down. If it lands root-tip up you'd be surprised at how much more time it takes. Good luck.