seed germination

hey everyone im about to start an indoor northern lights grow and im basically just waiting for my seeds to arrive. My question is what is the best way to germinate the seeds? I've heard a lot of mixed reviews...some people say that a damp paper towel in a dark warm area is good while other people seem to hate the idea. I'm thinking about just putting the seeds in my soil and waiting for mother nature to do it's thing. Just wandering as to if there is a reason why people dont do this or is just because they like to be able to watch the progress of the seeds germinating and being able to chuck the ones which dont germinate out before planting. Any info is appreciated. Peace.

Let the seeds sit in a cup of water at room temperature for under 24 hours (I hear 24 hours can drown them), the seeds should sink, after that, use the paper towel method, damp paper towels in a dark warm place.

I like to soak my seeds for a day then straight to soil never had one not pop

I personally started to use the paper towel method because as a noob I wanted to know what the seedling is doing, basically I was impatient for mother nature to do her stuff. But even now I still use this method, it works for me.

I don't think you can go wrong with either method, they both work.

Good luck and welcome to the RIU.

Cheers
- SB -

what T.Huxley said
except if you let them stay in water longer they won't drown . they start growing a tap root just like when using paper towel method.
I germinated 2 NL seeds from Nirvana like that and they both sprouted in 2 days . soaked them for 24hrs or so... and into the pre-watered soil

Idk man, I've heard alot of vets on here say that too long in a cup and they'll drown. Could be wrong but why risk it

the paper towel and other germination methods are mostly for when you dont know if the seed will pop or not. seeds from good breeders will pop 90% of the time so its pretty safe to stick them directly in the soil about a half an inch deep. I germinated by this method and as silicone bud pointed out as a new grower i got impatient and kept digging them up to check on them lol. All my seeds cracked open though a couple i picked at to much didnt make it to be plants because i was to impatient, but thats my fault not the seeds.

The way i did my germination was to first plant the seed in my 3 gallon pots. then i watered the whole pot quite well. i then put my pots under my t5 bulbs and put them close so they would warm the soil. after that i went back every few hours to moisten the area where the seed was with my spray bottle. i moistend the soil for 3 days like this backing it down to twice a day on day 3. then when the seed sproted and was standing up straight i put a little tiny bit more water around where the seedling was and left it for about a week before i watered again. My theory was that there was enough moisture left from my inital pot soaking that it would give the plants some moisture deep in my pots to grow towards. this method worked well for me.

check out my method for germ...tp instead of paper towel, pretty much a 100 % rate for the last 2 months for me. And it's easy.
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/625451-how-newbie-germinates.html