***This is NOT my technique!! I found it on 420 Magazine. All credit to original owners!*****
I have been growing on and off for many years now and always used the paper towel method with varying success rates.
Seeds can be very expensive and messing up the germination can be heart breaking.
Think of all the air surrounding the seed while held in perfectly moist perlite as opposed to between 2 wet sheets of paper towel in a closed bag. It was this that made me think of germination in a different way!
My last grow was Mephisto genetics and the paper towel method worked pretty well.
Recently I tried to germinate older seeds from great seed banks in paper towel and all failed. I was not a happy camper to say the least!
After a lot of research I stumbled on this technique and decided to give it a try with some newer seeds.
All 5 germinated without any issues in 3 days! The genetics are unknown to me and 2 germinated without any side roots, not a good sign but they are still workable. They will just be very slow growers.
I have started 2 more to replace the slow ones and both those seeds germinated in 3 days!
Materials:
Red Solo cups
Clear Solo cups
Perlite
Drill or sharp knife.
RO water
Kelp meal (I use a Kelp Tonic)
1- Cut a hole 2 inches from the base of the Red Solo cup. This is also a good time to label the cups with strain name and date.
2- Fill each cup with perlite to about an inch from the rim of the cup
3- Mix up your RO water and Kelp meal or Kelp tonic according to directions.
4- Place some duct tape over the holes and fill the cups with your kelp water and allow to sit for a few hours to soak.
5- Once the time has elapsed, remove the tape and allow to drain. Leave them to sit for a further 20 minutes.
6- THE FUN PART!!! Choose your seeds!
7- Poke a small hole and drop the seed in and cover with perlite.
8- Add clear Solo cup to act as a humidity dome>
9- Place on a seedling heat mat and this will happen in 3 days if your seeds are viable.
10- Allow to grow for a few days and then transplant.
Transplanting is the fun part!
11- Tape up the hole again.
12- Ready your pots for transplanting.
Tools:
Chopsticks or a marker.
13- Poke a hole in your seedling mix, make it deep.
14- Add water to your red Solo cup until the perlite floats to the brim of the cup. Make sure you are gently holding the stem and ass it floats, gently pull it upwards.
15- Drop the tap root down the hole carefully and then gently move in the soil from the side to just hold the fragile seedling in place.
16- Gently snug it down into the medium, water the very outside of the container and replace humidity dome until it is strong enough for the elements!
And lastly into your first big girls pot! She has been in there for a few days already.
Remember to water sparingly as you want the roots to grow and actively search for water in the soil to build a strong base for flowering.
Hope this helps some people out!
I still need to try it out on some of my 10+ year old seeds but I am more confident in this method that paper towels and will be using it all the time from now on!
I have been growing on and off for many years now and always used the paper towel method with varying success rates.
Seeds can be very expensive and messing up the germination can be heart breaking.
Think of all the air surrounding the seed while held in perfectly moist perlite as opposed to between 2 wet sheets of paper towel in a closed bag. It was this that made me think of germination in a different way!
My last grow was Mephisto genetics and the paper towel method worked pretty well.
Recently I tried to germinate older seeds from great seed banks in paper towel and all failed. I was not a happy camper to say the least!
After a lot of research I stumbled on this technique and decided to give it a try with some newer seeds.
All 5 germinated without any issues in 3 days! The genetics are unknown to me and 2 germinated without any side roots, not a good sign but they are still workable. They will just be very slow growers.
I have started 2 more to replace the slow ones and both those seeds germinated in 3 days!
Materials:
Red Solo cups
Clear Solo cups
Perlite
Drill or sharp knife.
RO water
Kelp meal (I use a Kelp Tonic)
1- Cut a hole 2 inches from the base of the Red Solo cup. This is also a good time to label the cups with strain name and date.
2- Fill each cup with perlite to about an inch from the rim of the cup
3- Mix up your RO water and Kelp meal or Kelp tonic according to directions.
4- Place some duct tape over the holes and fill the cups with your kelp water and allow to sit for a few hours to soak.
5- Once the time has elapsed, remove the tape and allow to drain. Leave them to sit for a further 20 minutes.
6- THE FUN PART!!! Choose your seeds!
7- Poke a small hole and drop the seed in and cover with perlite.
8- Add clear Solo cup to act as a humidity dome>
9- Place on a seedling heat mat and this will happen in 3 days if your seeds are viable.
10- Allow to grow for a few days and then transplant.
Transplanting is the fun part!
11- Tape up the hole again.
12- Ready your pots for transplanting.
Tools:
Chopsticks or a marker.
13- Poke a hole in your seedling mix, make it deep.
14- Add water to your red Solo cup until the perlite floats to the brim of the cup. Make sure you are gently holding the stem and ass it floats, gently pull it upwards.
15- Drop the tap root down the hole carefully and then gently move in the soil from the side to just hold the fragile seedling in place.
16- Gently snug it down into the medium, water the very outside of the container and replace humidity dome until it is strong enough for the elements!
And lastly into your first big girls pot! She has been in there for a few days already.
Remember to water sparingly as you want the roots to grow and actively search for water in the soil to build a strong base for flowering.
Hope this helps some people out!
I still need to try it out on some of my 10+ year old seeds but I am more confident in this method that paper towels and will be using it all the time from now on!
Thanks for sharing this, it is now in the tool chest.
