jiffy pellets - help please

I know that many people (maybe most people) germinate on moist paper towels but my local grow shop recommended jiffy pellets. I bought them but now I'm not so sure they are ok. I'm planning to soak them in water, put one seed per pellet on top the pellet, then put the pellets in a small dish and cover with plastic bag to keep moisture in.

Does it sound right to you guys? Or do you suggest a different method of using them. Or maybe you feel I shouldn't use them at all?

help appreciated, thanks

Skip

well if the pellet is moist and kept moist, and u place the seed directly on top of the pellet, your essectiall doing the same thing as the paper towels, youll be able to see when they germinate cause theyre not actually under the surface, theyll prolly evetnually figure out which way is down and stick their root into the pellet so whatever u want is fine i think

Thanx hossfield. I guess that was my reason for going with the pellets - the fact that I wouldn't have to actually handle the seeds (and maybe damage them) but just pick up the pellet with seed on top and transfer to soil. Does the seed actually use the pellet to grow into then? is that cool? I'm planning to grow in soil.

well i think going from paper towel to soil is farily ez, soke the seeds in water for about 12-24 hours, then just put them in a folded wet paper tower inside a zip lock baggy, and just put it in your desk drawer for a few days, once u see a root commin out after a few days, just poke a hole into whatever soil ur growin em in with a pen about a half inch deep. put em in root first and lightly covre the hole and u should be good from there, i really dont see a use for the pellets except for cloning

I think the reason that the shop recommended the pellets was because they removed the need to handle the seeds. For that reason I'm cool with using the pellets but now I'm having second thoughts cause most people seem to use the towel method. I'd just like to know - is it cool that the seeds will eventually grow into the pellets? (cause some people say that peat is a bad thing). One other thing - should I soak the seeds for a day first in a cup of water?

thanx for your help. I guess I'm doing the typical newbie thing and over-worrying.

Sorry hossfield - just re-read your last post and see that you have already answered my question about pre-soaking the seeds.

i never really had any problems while handling the seeds, just be gentle with them, and i have read that using the pellets can be bad cause when u transfer them to a larger pot, the peat holds water alot more than normal soil mixes and can cause some root rot around where the peat is

That is bullshit. The peet pellet would be at the top of the soil and gravity will make the water drain into the soil. SO unless you don't have any drainage out the bottom of the pots, in which case your screwed anyway, this is not going to happen. Welcome to the forum skip. You would want to soak the seeds in the paper towel to germinate them. A good place to look and see what this does right now would be to look at beaners thread, Beaner has too much time on his hands. He put a bunch of seeds in a paper towel to germinate, and couldn't remember where he put it. I think he said they were in there for about 3 days before he found them. After the seeds have germinated, and the tap root is sticking out, lift them up with a pair of tweezers, holding them on the sides and place the tap root down into the hole in the peet pellet. Not to deep, just below the surface is fine. Cover lightly, place in your propagation tray and watch them grow.
The reason folks use the peet pellets or the Rapid Rooters or Rockwool cubes etc is to contain the roots in something small. When you have the roots growing out the side of whatever you use its time to transplant into something bigger. VV

yeah, (after the pre-soak) make sure U germinate the seed in a paper towel prior to planting in the jiffy pot (in a lot of cases the seed wont germinate if U skip that). I had quite a bit of trouble germinating bcuz of a lot of things in the jiffy pellets, but once i had the conditions just right it was a sinch!

what i do 2 germinate my seeds is just put like 10 in a cup of water and put the cup in my cupboard or somewhere dark and just let it sit there for a couple of days. i tried that paper towel method but it didint work as good as leaving them in water for 2 or 3 days.