What do you guys think??
3 Likes
I prefer 12-24hr soak, then 12-24hr wet paper towel, then bury when there’s a taproot forming. Some growers go straight to dirt, but it can take a little while longer to sprout.
11 Likes
Ok thanks my brother
6 Likes
I’m a big fan of straight into soil. I moisten the soil, pop in a seed, cover it with a baggie, and about 5 days it comes up. Pretty much 100%.
6 Likes
I put mine straight in the soil and have never had a problem doing it that way.
5 Likes
Place seeds in soil or germinate seeds both work fine. Hard for me to break old habits I like to germinate and plant sprouts.
Welcome to the community good luck !
5 Likes
sprout and plant, I’m impatient and have killed some because I was poking, and wondering why they won’t come out of earth… so yeah paper towel for me
5 Likes
I did the paper towel method for a long time, now I just soak for 18 -24 hours and plant them.
Both ways work fine, but I prefer putting the seed straight in the soil for 2 reasons. First, I haven’t had a single occurrence of needing to remove a stuck hull (helmet head) since I switched, and I used to have to do that on at least one or two from each grow when I was doing the paper towel method. The second reason is that sometimes the tap root would grow in a U shape, and make it tough to bury with the tip facing down and the seed facing up. I hate handling them any more than necessary.
Again, both work fine, pick your favorite, lol.
2 Likes
I have landed on this method as well. If the seed is viable then the soak will have triggered germination and it will grow wherever it is
Exactly. Why make the new plant try to grow its root downward by changing the orientation repeatedly. I dont need to see the root. If its going to grow it will grow in the dirt. And if you place it in the soil with the tip pointed up it will grow out of the husk and leave it behind. No more helmet head. This way…
See how they always make a turn…
You can see when they start the root always makes a turn naturally and if you take advantage of this it will pull itself out of the husk. If oriented differently it may be fine but it could just push the husk out as it breaks ground and then you have to deal with it. So pointy end up, dimpled end down, and it works great.
5 Likes
Agreed @Spiney_norman! And in my opinion there is no time advantage to the paper towel method either. I think people perceive it as faster because the clock in their head starts when they plant the sprout.
If you add the 24-48 in paper towels, I don’t think there’s any difference.
3 Likes
6 Likes
Thanks, nice to meet you
1 Like
Curious @MidwestGuy @GreggT @Cap_Ron @Spiney_norman @kellydans @Dexterado @Graysin and all, do you all folks Ph the seedling water?
4 Likes
I don’t pH the water to germinate my seeds. Once there’s a tap root, I pH everything.
4 Likes
No. I use RO water, and RO water doesn’t have a pH.
5 Likes
Thanks all! I ask b/c I boiled some water and let it come down to room temp, but it’s still like middle 7s re pH.
2 Likes
pH is driven by ions (dissolved solids) in the water. Boiling water does not remove dissolved solids or change the pH.
4 Likes
My well tap water runs about 6 PH I Have never had a problem watering my seedlings with it.
3 Likes
My well water is over 7, so I do ph my water. Although on my current grow, I’ve been getting quite a bit of brown spots on my leaves, which I believe is a result of incorrect ph, so I don’t know. Some say you don’t need to ph water in organic soil, so maybe I’m throwing off my ph by lowering it. Runoff shows it’s fine though.
4 Likes
Makes sense. Pretty sure I was conflating bacteria etc. with solids…. Thanks!
3 Likes