Which approach do you take??

Hello all!

Question for everyone and curious as to everyone’s opinion. I palm on starting a few seeds shortly. I’m going to use the paper towel method to germinate the seeds. Here is where my question comes in:

After the seeds have germinated and exposed the taproot, what is everyone’s preferred method to do next??
-put seed in peat pellet in humidity dome on heating mat inside tent (maybe light over top of the dome) and then transplant pellet into its final 5 gallon pot after its reached a certain size
-put germinated seed directly into its 5 gallon pot and place in tent on heating mat with low intensity light ( either way will give the newly exposed seed light immediately)

Just some thought going through my mind. I’m on vacation for the week so no better place than the think about the fun to be had when I get home
And sorry if there’s wasn’t enough info given, I’ll clarify more if need be

Here's what I do:

- Fill 1/2 gallon pot or solo cup with medium
- Push baby finger down 1/2" into the medium in the centre of the pot
- Drop seed into hole
- Cover hole
- Put 3-4 ounces of plain water in the centre of the pot
- Come back in 2-3 days

I used to do paper towel trickery, but realized after sowing seeds directly into medium during this year's vegetable gardens, how silly it was to go out of my way to use unnatural techniques that significantly risk breaking the taproot, while at the same time extending the waiting period. 2-3 days directly in medium to sprout. With paper towel, it's 2-4 days to germinate, then another 2-3 to sprout.

Cavemanej255 said:

put germinated seed directly into its 5 gallon pot

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I highly recommend against that if this is your first grow. If you water incorrectly (which is extremely easy to do with a seed in a 5 gal bucket), it will cause problems, quite possibly even long lasting or fatal ones.

spek9 said:

Here's what I do:

- Fill 1/2 gallon pot or solo cup with medium
- Push baby finger down 1/2" into the medium in the centre of the pot
- Drop seed into hole
- Cover hole
- Put 3-4 ounces of plain water in the centre of the pot
- Come back in 2-3 days

I used to do paper towel trickery, but realized after sowing seeds directly into medium during this year's vegetable gardens, how silly it was to go out of my way to use unnatural techniques that significantly risk breaking the taproot, while at the same time extending the waiting period. 2-3 days directly in medium to sprout. With paper towel, it's 2-4 days to germinate, then another 2-3 to sprout.

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Hard to argue with this. Done both. Both work fine.

Southside112 said:

Hard to argue with this. Done both. Both work fine.

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Yep. I suppose I could explain my old paper towel method just in case OP does want to go that route.

- Soak paper towel with warm water
- Wring the water out to the point it's still wet, but not dripping
- Fold paper towel in half
- Place 3-4 seeds evenly spaced in the centre of the folded paper towel
- Loosely fold or roll the paper towel up over the seeds back on itself a couple of times
- Put the folded paper towel into a large Ziplock bag
- Force almost all of the air out of the bag, and seal it
- Wrap the bag in a black tea towel
- Put towel on top of fridge, fireplace mantle or somewhere with slightly higher than ambient air temperature
- Come back in 3-4 days

I'd usually do 2-3 bags at a time (6-12 seeds total) for a normal regular run (calculating ~50% males), and many more when I'm pheno or male hunting.

spek9 said:

Yep. I suppose I could explain my old paper towel method just in case OP does want to go that route.

- Soak paper towel with warm water
- Wring the water out to the point it's still wet, but not dripping
- Fold paper towel in half
- Place 3-4 seeds evenly spaced in the centre of the folded paper towel
- Loosely fold or roll the paper towel up over the seeds back on itself a couple of times
- Put the folded paper towel into a large Ziplock bag
- Force almost all of the air out of the bag, and seal it
- Wrap the bag in a black tea towel
- Put towel on top of fridge, fireplace mantle or somewhere with slightly higher than ambient air temperature
- Come back in 3-4 days

I'd usually do 2-3 bags at a time (6-12 seeds total) for a normal regular run (calculating ~50% males), and many more when I'm pheno or male hunting.

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I used the paper towel method and the root got stuck to the paper towel and never sprouted

Ballzmageetree said:

I used the paper towel method and the root got stuck to the paper towel and never sprouted

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Exactly. No risk of that whatsoever if one puts the seed in dirt. For me, it means nothing to lose some seeds, but for people paying $10+ each, mistakes can add up quickly. Either way, I hate wasting things needlessly. Even the handling alone of the tap root can't be great for it.

Thank for all the input, everyone it’s beyond appreciated.
So the reason behind my thoughts of putting the seeds directly into the 5 gallon(5gallon tall fabric) bucket is due to many peoples advice of since I’m growing auto flowers, they are much more susceptible to transplant stress and have the potential to take a long time to bounce back. In since they’re on and internal time clock the time it would take to correct itself would have a significant impact on yield (SO IM TOLD, but I believe everything I read on the internet, haha kidding!)
Love the advice keep it coming

Cavemanej255 said:

Thank for all the input, everyone it’s beyond appreciated.
So the reason behind my thoughts of putting the seeds directly into the 5 gallon(5gallon tall fabric) bucket is due to many peoples advice of since I’m growing auto flowers, they are much more susceptible to transplant stress and have the potential to take a long time to bounce back. In since they’re on and internal time clock the time it would take to correct itself would have a significant impact on yield (SO IM TOLD, but I believe everything I read on the internet, haha kidding!)
Love the advice keep it coming

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It's wise to put auto seeds directly into their final pot, that's correct.

As I said though, until you've had experience with watering and fertilizing plants, it can be tricky to water properly in such a big pot.

I'd recommend for your first grow starting at least 2-3 in small pots and transplant later, even if they are autos. Start the rest in their final pots. That way, if you kill the ones in the 5 gallon pots due to water mismanagement, you've still got the small ones left. Again, it is extremely easy to over water a plant in such a large pot, especially for a new grower.

I drop the seeds in a glass of water for 24 hours, and many times the tap root appears by then, and if so then I plant directly into solo cups...If no tap root yet, I put them in between wet paper towels until they do pop a tap root, which is usually just another day or 2 at most.

I go right into soil. Same as @spek9. I use 3.5” sq. deep pots. when I fill the pots I try not to compact the soil at all. very loose fill To the top. Then I wet up the pot completely 10 % run off and let it sit overnight to drain then plant.