Starting my seeds

When I start my seeds to grow after germinating, what's the best thing to start them in? Rockwool?

i would go soil for about 2-3 weeks man rock wool is nice but i do get alot of deff in them i find with soil u just spray with water for 2-3 weeks and then convet into coco or a flood and drain system

It's better to skip the rockwool stage and put seedlings straight into dirt. The less you have to handle them the better. When the first white root is an inch long you are ready for dirt. Best bet is solo cups with drain holes. Place the seedling into the hole with root down. Make the hole only deep enough so that the new proto-leaves, the "top" of the s'ling, rest right on the surface. Don't bury the whole thing or you'll have problems. When the seedling is covered gently pack the soil around the root WITHOUT pushing dirt around the leaves. Now sprinkle a tiny bit of dirt on top of the leaves. Just a tad! You should be able to see the leaves under the light dirt application. You want the seedling to have to push itself towards the light but you don't want it to have to struggle much. Good luck, BigSteve.

PS -- The closer to the light you place the solo cups the shorter your intermodal distances will be. Means more branches and more bud sites. I top or FIM most seedlings after about 3 weeks in dirt so they will stay short as I want to harvest at 44-48 inches final height.

I germinate in paper towel and once they crack open and I see a little root I put them in soil. I've never buried leafs before. Don't know why you would but whatever works for you. I just planted a seed that germinated in 15 hours and fully sprouted in 24. As soon as l saw a little vwhite root I buried it and sprinkled water over it. When I woke up I had a 1,inch sproutling

bigsteve said:

It's better to skip the rockwool stage and put seedlings straight into dirt. The less you have to handle them the better. When the first white root is an inch long you are ready for dirt. Best bet is solo cups with drain holes. Place the seedling into the hole with root down. Make the hole only deep enough so that the new proto-leaves, the "top" of the s'ling, rest right on the surface. Don't bury the whole thing or you'll have problems. When the seedling is covered gently pack the soil around the root WITHOUT pushing dirt around the leaves. Now sprinkle a tiny bit of dirt on top of the leaves. Just a tad! You should be able to see the leaves under the light dirt application. You want the seedling to have to push itself towards the light but you don't want it to have to struggle much. Good luck, BigSteve.

PS -- The closer to the light you place the solo cups the shorter your intermodal distances will be. Means more branches and more bud sites. I top or FIM most seedlings after about 3 weeks in dirt so they will stay short as I want to harvest at 44-48 inches final height.

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I'm gonna grow my plants outside. As soon as I see the little white root, I put them in a solo cup with some soil and water it? And how long do I need to wait before I move them to their final home?

A good thing to remember is that our plants grow roots at just about the same rate as the growth of the biggest leaves. Means that you can figure your roots have reached the inside of the pot if the larger leaves have grown to the rim of the pot. You don't want to transplant until the leaves (and roots) have grown to the pot edge. If you want a bushy plant you can leave her a week or 2 in the cup or pot after the leaves have hit the rim. Once the root support system is intact the plant will change from growing roots to growing greenery. That is a good thing. Also, letting them get mildly rootbound is a good way to keep the final height down. Transplanting as soon as the roots max out will usually lead to a taller plant. I like 'em short and bushy. By keeping them around 48 inches at harvest they are short enough that I can rest them on different sized "steps" to keep them 12-18 inches from the light. As the plants stretch during flowering I put the pots on smaller steps to maintain the light distance. BigSteve

I've been gaving problems with helmet head. When the seed doesn't come off the plant and choaks it to death. How deep should you plant your seeds to prevent this ?

bigsteve said:

A good thing to remember is that our plants grow roots at just about the same rate as the growth of the biggest leaves. Means that you can figure your roots have reached the inside of the pot if the larger leaves have grown to the rim of the pot. You don't want to transplant until the leaves (and roots) have grown to the pot edge. If you want a bushy plant you can leave her a week or 2 in the cup or pot after the leaves have hit the rim. Once the root support system is intact the plant will change from growing roots to growing greenery. That is a good thing. Also, letting them get mildly rootbound is a good way to keep the final height down. Transplanting as soon as the roots max out will usually lead to a taller plant. I like 'em short and bushy. By keeping them around 48 inches at harvest they are short enough that I can rest them on different sized "steps" to keep them 12-18 inches from the light. As the plants stretch during flowering I put the pots on smaller steps to maintain the light distance. BigSteve

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That's interesting. I never knew if the leafs are out to the edges of the pot it's time to transplant.

greenthumbz420 said:

I've been gaving problems with helmet head. When the seed doesn't come off the plant and choaks it to death. How deep should you plant your seeds to prevent this ?

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I used to have that problem, till I realized I wasn't going deep enough into the soil. It will fight its way to the surface and pop up without the helmet.

I generally remove the seedcap when I first put the sprout in dirt. You don't want to handle the sensitive root structure so I use 2 toothpicks like chopsticks.

I use the 6 paper towel method to germinate. Remember the soggy seed and paper towels must be sealed in an air-tight container (I use a big baggie) for quickest germinating. I seal the baggie and put it away on a dark shelf for 48 hours. When I open the baggie to check on them I usually find about a 1/2 of root going. At that time I make sure the root is not starting to grow in a corkscrew manner. That makes them real hard to keep alive. If they are already curling up after 2 days I use the toothpicks to straighten out the root so it will grow straight. Sometimes I have to break the toothpick into a small piece and keep that piece under the paper towels while it straightens out the root. Most always they need another 24 hours in the baggie before they have a one inch root that I want to see. With this method if you don't get a small root by the third day in the baggie you probably won't get a root at all.

I place the seedling in a finger hole but leave the proto-leaves resting on the surface. That way the s'ling doesn't have to work so hard to see the light. BigSteve.

What I do:

DWC - hydroton - fill 5 gallon buckets so that the water line leaves half of the net pot below the water line. fill net pot up so that PRE-SOAKED hydro-ton is above the water line by about an inch.. Throw in seeds.... throw in a little more hydro-ton. You want to turn on the air pump so that the water is agitated up into the seed.

Wait a couple days. Usually in 2 days things are popping.

If you plan to grow in soil or soilless mix, your best bet is to start directly in a quality seed starting mix. Use appropriately sized containers (at least 4" tall), pre-moisten the mix if it came dried out, put the seed in about half inch, cover up and water thoroughly.

Put somewhere warm (72-82F) or under lighting that isn't too intense (e.g. A T5 fixture several inches away may warm the soil surface adequately).

The cells of a seedling respire aerobically; seeds shouldn't be germinated in a sealed environment.

Nullis seedlings do respire but it is not much. The oxygen sealed in the ziploc bag will be enough for the 24 hours you're germinating in the paper towel, for sure.