Proper germination methods?

I need to ask experienced growers if my germination / seedling phase is being properly done.

what I do is dampen a paper towel, put the seeds in, throw them in a dark warm place and wait for germination. Once the roots are out about 1/16th of an inch I plant them root tip down in a TINY solo cup - I put four tiny solo cups each in a little square pattern and then put a ziplock bag over them to simulate a humidity dome.

Once they sprout their first leaves I take the dome off and let them be.

Is this right? I had no problem doing it last time but for some reason (into day 4 of the paper towel germination) i dont see the seeds doing ANYTHING not even getting plump or anything.

Your doing great at it! Exactley what I have success with!

lots of ways to germinate bro

Might have got some bunk seeds 4 days is a long time.

You will see nearly as many germination methods as there are growers. Mine is a rather complicated system of: Put seed in soil, keep moist and warm for several days, scratch my nuts and wait. Not nearly enough patience to go around amongst this group in my opinion. I bypass the paper towel thing as you can potentially damage/stress the seedling during transplanting. I got over the "gee whiz" factor of seeing the seed germinate about 20 grows ago.

So basically there are millions of ways and most of them work - its a matter of how hands on you want to be?

PS thumbs up on that bottle w the seedlings in it, if you see this post please explain wtf your doing there and how - But yeah its been a while and I dont see anything. Worst part is I bought these seeds from a online seed company so I am thinking of calling their support and getting a refund and or another shipment.

The seeds are in a regular warm room, actually adjacent to the flowering room which has ONE sprout in it at the moment that grew from the 20 seeds i tried to germinate... No light hits the seeds and yeah... I almost feel like I got duds.

Could the seeds be old as hell or something?

Now I just put the seeds in the soil. As long as it is warm enough you really cannot go wrong.

The way you are doing it would be considered wrong, it is close to my method too though, which is then of course also wrong.
Anyhow, you had 1 survivor out of 20 seeds and now you are upset about 4 not popping? You need to get bag seeds and germinate them just to learn how to do it.
A few tips : Scratching the surface of the seed lightly with sandpaper helps it uptake water. (I put mine in a small box lined in 110 sandpaper and shake for 30 seconds or so)
Warm temps are crucial as that is what all seeds use as a guide as to when to germinate.
Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) can be used up to 50/50 to help germinate seeds.
I think you should leave your dome on longer once the seedlings have developed letting more air in little by little (I swear by my Mondi humidty dome, there are some shitty ones out there.)
Practice makes perfect, find a buddy who has been saving been for years and see if he has any that you could practice with ( i know there is not a lot of us like that out there, but we do exist)

colonuggs said:

lots of ways to germinate bro

Click to expand...

do u have an airhose in that bottle???