White Widow seed not germinating

[Liber]

I’m not sure if I need to post here in this forum or not. I had a white widow seed I bought from IGLM that doesn’t seem to be germinating and it sank to the bottom. Ironically I had one seed produce 2 roots. This all reminds me of what Einstein used to say, “G*D must be a comedian”, after staring into the corner of a room for hours. At least reported by his maid at the time. Maybe that is why 2 roots sprouted out of one seed, but none out of another?

One is sunk with no root on the right…

Here’s the double root! It looks like a tooth root! LOL

I have 2 more that are still floating and clamshelled open, small roots just starting to come out. I had one do that last nights, so fished it out with a plastic spoon carefully and planted it, will watch it…but it had some type of root sprouting, just barely.

I wasn’t sure but thought the seeds have a guarantee. I feel like a di@$ even mentioning it…20 years ago when I was a kid I would have planted any seed and if it didn’t grow, it didn’t grow…not like I could get a refund…

The seeds were kinda puny this time opposed to what I had gotten before from IGLM, but at the time they were in the 'dam…there’s a place I’ve been dying to visit, let’s hope I don’t die before I can visit…

In the past I got mostly big ones like the big one here, but even had some of that Texas Striped Watermelon look to them…these little ones look less mature in that regard, but others here have told me they got killer plants out of small runty looking seeds…I’m TRYING to understand and learn, please excuse my anal Qs/comments.
I’m not exactly sure when I bought them, so not sure if you can figure that out, on the printed label it says: Order Ref: ILG2252670 / 1043494

I don’t want this to sound like I’m demanding a replacement, it seems pretty funny that I can even say that…I could eat that seed and still be satisfied with the cost. It only takes 1 seed to pay for 20, although previously 30 seeds were cheaper…still, not complaining. I THINK it was still worth it last year, but I’m still testing! I’ll keep testing it until this years harvest!

[Liber]

Oh, I should add also, someone here mentioned they put the cup of water in a dark location. Another said they wait for the seed and root to sink before planting it.

The Bergman bible didn’t mention any of that, just said drop 'em in the water, a tail will sprout, plant it, keep it moist.

I was waiting to see if the roots get bigger on the 2 still floating that are starting to open…Will they die if they sink for lack of oxygen? Do the roots/seeds need oxygen to live? I’ve always used the paper towel technique, as taught in school as a kid. Gotta use those education skills from my childhood, doncha know? The problem I have with that is if I forget to wet the paper towels I’ve had seeds not sprout and die, but I consider that a fault of my own. This is the first year germinating in straight water. It makes a lot of sense, but I want to understand it.

[Bulldognuts]

ILGM does offer a germination guarantee. Just contact customer support on seed site. They are really good about taking care of things like this

[Liber]

Honestly I kinda feel like a d!@$, “Give me my money back! I want a new seed damnit!”

I’ll go over there. I was trying to stretch my 20 seeds for 3 years. I know, I’m a cheap @$$ b@$tard, heh? My Grandparents went through the depression so taught me not to waste anything…

[Bulldognuts]

@Liber

Honestly I kinda feel like a d!@$, “Give me my money back! I want a new seed damnit

No sense feeling like that, everyone from time to time has germination issues. They won’t likely refund your money, but many times they will replace entire order or give store credit for entire order.

[Liber]

Whatever they do won’t change my mind about White Widow, I think it’s up there with bacon!

Mainly I just want to know if there’s signs on the seed, I haven’t actually looked at the seeds I don’t think…I have a cheap mag w/light, it’s a Caron lighted pocket microscope (60x-120x). If that seed doesn’t germinate I’m gonna carefully swirl and spoon it out and look at it with the scope. Funny I thought it was 30x-60x, so this goes to show you that smoking cannabis does f#@$ up your memory cells…I’m a case in point.

[Liber]

Interesting to note that in Van Patten’s book he notes that seeds need air to germinate, so it would make sense that if they are submerged they can’t continue. I think you would need to oxygenate the water for it to survive?

Page 16 in a recent edition of Marijuana Horticulture. He also mentioned about drowning…I need to read better/more rather than typing I 'spose. I call that the bible, Van Patten was so advanced in understanding the sex/chromozones/dna of cannabis. I’m more inclined to believe that VP is the son of G*D before I’m ready to believe that Jesus was even though his mother was a virgin…

Ok, I know you’re gonna say, we shouldn’t bring religion into this in a public forum, but cannabis is a religious to many people, Eddie Lepp case in point. He was in Lake County of all places…

[plumbdand]

Take that sunken seed and put it in a wet paper towel put it in a dark warm place don’t check it for 24hrs

[Aussie_autos]

If you still have that seed try putting it between two damp makeup removel pads on a plate covered with plastic wrap with two holes in it and see if it germinates cause i had that problem a few weeks back and then i did what im suggesting for u do it worked

[plumbdand]

I soak them in peroxide/water for 24hrs then wet paper towel unti it has a tail. It doesn’t hurt them if they sink unless its in the water for too long. I put a 1/2 teaspoon of peroxide in a shot glass then drop seed into peroxide then add a couple tablespoons of water.

[Liber]

I will try the paper towels again.

[Liber]

Ok, the small ones look like I could plant them, but I put all 3 in the paper towel and sprayed it.

This one is the sinker that drowned…you can see it looks like it opened but no root and it sank for 2 days…will it come back? Time will tell…

Also, look at Big Rootz vs. Ocean Forrest. I had 3 starters left from 2 years ago, I mixed it up good for each one and sprayed some water, I thought it looked pretty good…but look how much more rock is in the Ocean Forrest!

Big Rootz in top left, the rest are Ocean Forrest. Now surprising is that I see them coming up on the Ocean Forest starters, and the Big Rootz was the smallest but put in with one of the Ocean Forrest starters last night.

To note: I put the 4 starters out in the sun and sprayed them with water so they were moist, I also sprayed them lightly as I brought them back in. I wanted them to get any sun to help make them healthy, but not too much to burn and kill them.

[Liber]

@Myfriendis410 I tried going over to the seed store, but couldn’t figure out how to file for this.

@moderators mostly just curious about the drowning and/or if the seed can come back…I haven’t opened it yet, but put it in the paper towels.

[Liber]

@moderators @Myfriendis410

I don’t know, I’m not having too much luck so far on these latest seeds. I had lost one seed that didn’t germinate and then one of the ones that barely got a root tail ended up dying, and I dropped 3 more seeds. 2 of the seeds germinated and the 3rd seed is still floating after 3 days.

The first time I got 30 seeds from you, I had 100% germination and grow rate, but these latest seeds I got 20 and they seem wank, for lack of a better description.

The one in the top pic had 2 roots, something seemed f#@$'d up in the DNA on that one…not sure…maybe it’s incest…cannabis can go hermie…LOL

Order was #2252670.

[Liber]

It’s a day later and the same seed hasn’t germinated and is still floating.

I will be gone all day tomorrow, leaving at 5:00am, so will check it when I get home.

That will be the 2nd dud in this batch of 20 seeds, plus it seems I lost one that was struggling to survive…if I have to drop the rest of them to get 6 healthy plants, I’ll do it…I have never had so many problems germinating ever.

[Myfriendis410]

Sometimes seeds are a problem and ILGM will make good on it. Contact Customer Support and email them: be patient as they are in Amsterdam with a time difference of 8 hours. They absolutely want to know that their product is doing what it’s supposed to.

I’ve had seeds take up to 7 days to germinate myself. The method I use is to put distilled water in a coffee mug, add about 1/2 tsp of 3% peroxide and dump seed in.

An old-school technique that may help would be to drag your seed down a nail file, scoring it which allows moisture an easier time to penetrate the husk. Might give that a try too.

[Liber]

I’m still watching it…it looks like it might be starting to open, but is still not and it’s been about 5 days I think.

Thanks for your reply, I did sent a message to the contact link over on the buy seeds page, but was gone all yesterday to meet with a grader at property I’m trying to setup for retirement.

I’m just trying to understand and learn what works. this is also the first time I’ve put the seeds in water, I’ve always used paper towels and keeping them moist. These seeds look different though, as I noted, not sure if they’re retarded or not. Maybe something is wrong in their DNA…they are White Widow, and white isn’t a color these days…so maybe these seeds are not seeds of color? j/k

I’ve never tried peroxide, someone else mentioned that above. What’s that all about?

[Myfriendis410]

@Liber

What’s that all about

Seedling will absorb additional O when using peroxide as well as maintaining a (more or less) sterile liquid for germination. It helps to soften the seed husk which is often all that’s needed to get seed to crack.

[Liber]

A quick update…I still have one floater that’s been floating for 8 days I think, possibly 9. It looks like it’s still trying to open.

I’m uploading a few pics. The first is from Van Patten’s Bible, that was the first I had seen/read about white widow. Note how the leaves are very fat and wide, I’ve always thought of that as being associated with Indica.

I took a pic of the seeds, to me they look wank, compared to what my first batch of 30 seeds. In 2017 I bought 30 seeds for $60 on sale, 2022 I bought 20 seeds for $120. Last night I bought 10 Maui-Wowie as I have smoked that back in the day growing up in L.A., and it is Sativa dominant (80/20), and listed as energetic high that I like with sweet pineapple taste…I was tempted to get L.A. Confidential, I mentioned a friend of mine created it, but you guys are getting $149 for 20 seeds. I have smoked this several years and liked it, but it said it will very relaxing and help you sleep at night (to paraphrase), so I went with Maui-Wowie.

This is just to point out the inflation for seeds is worse than the current economy, and we’re getting hammered on gas, food or any products in general, but give me a break…I hope Bergman is getting rich off of this…I think I need to learn how to pollinate a plant to get my own seeds. That will most likely be the best stage for me.

The one large seed is not even as big as the first batch of white widow I had got, they were plumper and striped like a Texas watermelon.

It’s not as if I can’t afford to buy seeds, but currently not even working and shouldn’t be spending any money, but I can’t control the season if I grow outdoors.

There is a guy up in the Emerald Triangle bringing some of the classic strains back from Humbolt over the years, but most of the strains are all Indica dominant due to the climate, I get more sunshine where I’m at in the Bay area, and my property in Lake County doesn’t get nearly as much overcast as Humbolt or Mendo…

Look at the seed 3rd from the left on top, that one looks like the floater that won’t open, it has a white line around the edge, that looks like the one that won’t open.

[Liber]

Today I received replacement seeds for the ones that didn’t germinate and one sinker. I had 4 bad ones so far and they sent me an extra one, which was kind.

Saving for next year, I have plenty of white widow and just dropped 3 Maui-Wowie seeds to test out this year.