I need to improve my Germination rates!

Thanks alot brother , those seedlings look beautiful and healthy. I've never had seedling look that good prior to being put in its medium .

It's good job you pointed that out because it is another mistake I do make often . I keep spraying them and sometimes the tissue gets saturated .
But I will exercise more patience this time .

It's a really good idea to hang them like you do , like you said it allows the seedling to grow downwards , excellent .

I love you bro šŸ‘
Yes those are the Tangerine cookies cbd seeds
 
I have always struggled with germination , My success rate was 40% - 50% . In 2018 I started making a real effort to improve and by 2019 my success rates were up to 60 % - 65 % .
But I stopped growing then and haven't popped any seeds since .

I'm very rusty and I don't have the confidence to try and germinate a pack of mango haze or super silver haze .

Luckily I found some old seeds from 2019 and I want to germinate them to
Boost my confidence abit .

I tried to pop a few but they were very slow , so I tried soaking them in hydrogen peroxide and I think I've fried them. šŸ˜†

I didnt dilute it enough šŸ˜”
I did follow instructions but they were for 3 % peroxide, the one I'm using is 9% peroxide .

Do any of you guys use hydrogen peroxide to help germinate seeds ?

I have about 17 seeds left to practice with before my main batch arrives in about 2 weeks .
All the seeds were purchased in 2019 and I have the following strains.
5 seeds of each ,
Dinafem - Strawberry Amnesia
Phenofinders - Wedding cake s1
Blackskull - Gelato

I've got a cbd strain aswell, Notorious CBD , but only 2 seeds .

Any advice with regards to germination would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you !
It appears you have had a rough go at germination of seeds. Expensive and disheartening to say the least.
What I do for almost 100% germination of viable seed.
I store my seeds in my fridge, have done so for decades, nothing fancy just keep them cold.
I soak my seeds in clean glass of water, no paper towel nonsense .
Once the seeds have saturated themselves with water they sink, some may germinate in the glass.
I then pour them in a strainer and take tweezers and plant each one in its own container, usually in a cup with saturated coco fibre.
I usually see emergence in 3-5 days.
I recently tested some seeds I made last season.
70 seeds soaked, 7 varieties 10 of each variety.
100% in three days.
Thatā€™s all I do and it works every time for me.
Good luck šŸ‘
āœŒļø
 
Sorry to jump in here, but I have some landraces and other seeds that need to go into long term storage. Do you use desiccant packs in the freezer or just put the seed packs in?

I store my seeds long term labeled in mini 'crack' zip lock baggies inside larger small manila envelopes. That will keep the moisture and any condensation out. I used to use dry rice as a desiccant mixed with the seeds in the envelopes, but they take up space. I found that desiccant is not really needed using the plastic crack baggies. Ice at that temp will not affect the seeds, even with sublimation. I do mix seeds with dry rice if I am shipping them or if I am letting them set out at higher temps or in the refer. I store my seed packs in plastic snap lid containers in the freezer. The only issue I have with this is that when taking the plastic containers out of the freezer to add seed packs, select seeds for germinating, or taking inventory is that they will be subject to condensation when they are frozen and exposed to room temperature air. The way around that is that I wait until it is either dry (15% humidity) or around freezing outside to open them. If neither case exists and I need to pull a seed pack, I pull the containers, open the lids, pull the packs, and close them and pop them back in the freezer. I put the selected seed packs into a plastic zip lock bag and leave it there until the packs warm up to room temp and will not attract moisture. Then I open the packs and select the seeds and put the packs back into the freezer containers.
 
I did not think I would be giving you guys a update so soon .

It's day 1 in the propagator and all 5 seeds have cracked their shells . šŸ˜Š
I'm very surprised šŸ˜®, I thought it was going to be 3 days atleast .

Fingers crossed now šŸ¤ž

The seed that looked the worst is performing the best .
I am so relieved šŸ˜Œ .

Thanks a million guys !
 
When I started I had fried 5 seeds in peroxide and failed at popping 3 freebies too , I was going to throw them away . But after reading the posts I decided to just chuck them in a pot of soil instead , I wasn't expecting anything and actually forgot about it .

Surprisingly 1 seedling survived , it popped up yesterday and today it opened its eyes for the first time . I'm pretty sure it's a stardawg
But might be peyote cookies .
1 wedding cake and a 1 gelato also went under the light today.

I had a little setback last night , my propagator started over heating and I think
2 seeds died , the tap root looks brown .
The propagator is about 8 years old so I need a replacement ASAP .

The strawberry haze seeds didn't look good to start with and they are performing poorly .
So I bought a coconut šŸ„„ and I soaked 3 seeds in 50 % coco nut water . I heard lots of good things about the coconut water and since the strawberry seeds were performing poorly , I thought its the best time to test .

The 2nd gelato seed was the best , it was the only seed to come out of its shell whilst in the paper towels.
From soak to soil it was less than 72 hours .

I'm putting the 4th seed of each in paper towels tonight and I have 1 seed of each left to try out . Excited to see if the coconut water helps the strawberry seeds .

I got alot done this week , the ball is definitely rolling now !

I will start my my grow diary soon and upload all pictures there.

Respect šŸ‘
 
I know Iā€™m late to the party but hereā€™s what I do. Warning I have been known to over complicate things, but Iā€™ve had an extremely high success rate (95% +) doing the following.

First dechlorinate maybe a gallon of water.. better to have too much than not enough and youā€™ll need it later as they grow anyways. Dechlorinating water just means let your tap water sit out in a container with no lid/top for at least 24 hours and all the cholorine in the water will evaporate.

Then fill a glass with your dechlorinated water, drop your seeds in the glass of water. I usually poke them so they each get submerged in the water for at least a second ( they should all float back to the top on their own almost immediately. If one sinks right away Iā€™d guess itā€™s cracked / broken and probably no good but Iā€™ve yet to have this happen.

Put the glass of water with your seeds in it somewhere dark and let the seeds soak until they sink to the bottom. Usually Iā€™ll wait 6-8 hours and then poke any seeds that are still floating to briefly submerge them and a lot of times after they submerge after soaking they wonā€™t float back to the top, this time they will sink. Itā€™s common for seeds to take 24 hours before theyā€™ll sink. Sometimes theyā€™ll take 24-36 hours to sink if theyā€™re older seeds. If theyā€™re not sinking after 48 hours Iā€™ve read theyā€™re likely no good but you can still try the following. Iā€™ve yet to run into that problem of them not sinking.

As each seed sinks, take it out of the glass and put it on top of a paper towel (or two) that you have lying on a plate. (Iā€™ve read itā€™s best to use cheaper thin single ply paper towels so the taproots donā€™t grow into the paper towel but I use thick Costco ones and Iā€™ve only had that happen once, when I let the taproot / white tail get way too long! Because I didnā€™t plant it in the medium the day prior when I should have!!)

Then cover the seed(s) with another paper towel so you basically have a seed sandwich with paper towels on top and bottom. Then and pour enough water on to the paper towel seed sandwich so it is good and damp. Tilt the plate and let any excess water drip off, you donā€™t want excess water lying around.

Then find something to cover the paper towel seed sandwich with so that the seeds are in as dark of an environment as possible. I just use another plate, flipped upside down. Just make sure whatever you use isnā€™t going to touch / crush the seeds.

I personally then wrap my two plates that have encapsulated the seeds paper towel sandwich with, with an actual thick towel to further prevent any light from getting in, as well as help insulate them / keep them warm.

I then sit that whole towel plate paper towel sandwich contraption on top of a heated blanket / heat mat set to one of the lowest settings and check to make sure the towel is just getting warm, not hot! Prior to buying a heat mat I have set the towel / plate near a heat vent and that had worked well too. Obviously donā€™t do this if you have your AC running the taproots will grow faster with warmth, not the cold . Adding some heat / warmth isnā€™t necessary, but I had read it speeds the growth of the taproot up quite a bit and in my experience it has really helped speed things up compared to them sitting there at room temp!

Then I start check on them, peeling back the paper towel sandwich to look at them every 8 hours or so. I starting checking on them after 16 hours have gone by to watch their taproots (little white tails) grow. Itā€™s very unlikely the seed will be ready to be put in the medium (dirt /coco) in under 16 hours as you want to wait for the taproot to be around 1/4 of an inch to 1/2 of an inch in length before moving them to their new home.

Speaking of their new home, I personally fill a small ā€œcell potā€ with coco (or soil) loosely and then make a small indentation in the dirt/coco with my baby finger, a little less than 1 knuckle deep. I would say around 1/4 inch or 1cm would be the perfect depth. I then pick up the seed (sometimes using tweezers) by the seed and gently place it in that small indentation I made, with the taproot (white tail) pointed down in the dirt/coco. I then take a bit of the dirt/coco and cover the seed.

I then spray the medium with a little dechlorinated water. The only times Iā€™ve been unsuccessful with this method is when Iā€™ve added way too much water and drown the little seed/taproot because the dirt/coco was way too wet. Iā€™ve read to water them initially using around a shot glass worth of water and Iā€™d say thatā€™s pretty accurate amount you should be using.

Assuming you didnā€™t burry the seed too deep mine usually pop up out of the medium in the first 24 hours after hurrying it. Sometimes less, but often 24 hours or more (36-38 hours later).

Thereā€™s my heavily researched, certainly overly complicated methodā€¦ but it works!!
 
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I did not think I would be giving you guys a update so soon .

It's day 1 in the propagator and all 5 seeds have cracked their shells . šŸ˜Š
I'm very surprised šŸ˜®, I thought it was going to be 3 days atleast .

Fingers crossed now šŸ¤ž

The seed that looked the worst is performing the best .
I am so relieved šŸ˜Œ .

Thanks a million guys !


So far all the MNS packs I've germinated had a success rate of 90-95% and most of the seeds showed a radicle within 24 hours...
 
I know Iā€™m late to the party but hereā€™s what I do. Warning I have been known to over complicate things, but Iā€™ve had an extremely high success rate (95% +) doing the following.

First dechlorinate maybe a gallon of water.. better to have too much than not enough and youā€™ll need it later as they grow anyways. Dechlorinating water just means let your tap water sit out in a container with no lid/top for at least 24 hours and all the cholorine in the water will evaporate.

Then fill a glass with your dechlorinated water, drop your seeds in the glass of water. I usually poke them so they each get submerged in the water for at least a second ( they should all float back to the top on their own almost immediately. If one sinks right away Iā€™d guess itā€™s cracked / broken and probably no good but Iā€™ve yet to have this happen.

Put the glass of water with your seeds in it somewhere dark and let the seeds soak until they sink to the bottom. Usually Iā€™ll wait 6-8 hours and then poke any seeds that are still floating to briefly submerge them and a lot of times after they submerge after soaking they wonā€™t float back to the top, this time they will sink. Itā€™s common for seeds to take 24 hours before theyā€™ll sink. Sometimes theyā€™ll take 24-36 hours to sink if theyā€™re older seeds. If theyā€™re not sinking after 48 hours Iā€™ve read theyā€™re likely no good but you can still try the following. Iā€™ve yet to run into that problem of them not sinking.

As each seed sinks, take it out of the glass and put it on top of a paper towel (or two) that you have lying on a plate. (Iā€™ve read itā€™s best to use cheaper thin single ply paper towels so the taproots donā€™t grow into the paper towel but I use thick Costco ones and Iā€™ve only had that happen once, when I let the taproot / white tail get way too long! Because I didnā€™t plant it in the medium the day prior when I should have!!)

Then cover the seed(s) with another paper towel so you basically have a seed sandwich with paper towels on top and bottom. Then and pour enough water on to the paper towel seed sandwich so it is good and damp. Tilt the plate and let any excess water drip off, you donā€™t want excess water lying around.

Then find something to cover the paper towel seed sandwich with so that the seeds are in as dark of an environment as possible. I just use another plate, flipped upside down. Just make sure whatever you use isnā€™t going to touch / crush the seeds.

I personally then wrap my two plates that have encapsulated the seeds paper towel sandwich with, with an actual thick towel to further prevent any light from getting in, as well as help insulate them / keep them warm.

I then sit that whole towel plate paper towel sandwich contraption on top of a heated blanket / heat mat set to one of the lowest settings and check to make sure the towel is just getting warm, not hot! Prior to buying a heat mat I have set the towel / plate near a heat vent and that had worked well too. Obviously donā€™t do this if you have your AC running the taproots will grow faster with warmth, not the cold . Adding some heat / warmth isnā€™t necessary, but I had read it speeds the growth of the taproot up quite a bit and in my experience it has really helped speed things up compared to them sitting there at room temp!

Then I start check on them, peeling back the paper towel sandwich to look at them every 8 hours or so. I starting checking on them after 16 hours have gone by to watch their taproots (little white tails) grow. Itā€™s very unlikely the seed will be ready to be put in the medium (dirt /coco) in under 16 hours as you want to wait for the taproot to be around 1/4 of an inch to 1/2 of an inch in length before moving them to their new home.

Speaking of their new home, I personally fill a small ā€œcell potā€ with coco (or soil) loosely and then make a small indentation in the dirt/coco with my baby finger, a little less than 1 knuckle deep. I would say around 1/4 inch or 1cm would be the perfect depth. I then pick up the seed (sometimes using tweezers) by the seed and gently place it in that small indentation I made, with the taproot (white tail) pointed down in the dirt/coco. I then take a bit of the dirt/coco and cover the seed.

I then spray the medium with a little dechlorinated water. The only times Iā€™ve been unsuccessful with this method is when Iā€™ve added way too much water and drown the little seed/taproot because the dirt/coco was way too wet. Iā€™ve read to water them initially using around a shot glass worth of water and Iā€™d say thatā€™s pretty accurate amount you should be using.

Assuming you didnā€™t burry the seed too deep mine usually pop up out of the medium in the first 24 hours after hurrying it. Sometimes less, but often 24 hours or more (36-38 hours later).

Thereā€™s my heavily researched, certainly overly complicated methodā€¦ but it works!!

Thanks alot bro , the advice is much appreciated.
Thanks to Islandgrower, Bigsur and every everyone else too , all the advice really helped and I'm confident moving forward now .

Respect šŸ‘
 
Last night I soaked the last 3 seeds and I just put them in the propagator.

The strawberry haze seeds didn't look good and they didn't perform so far well either .
To be fair the first one was doing well until my propagator over heated on the 2nd day .
2nd and 3rd strawberry didn't perform well ,
I think they didn't like the heat at all .

So the 4th seed of each strain was soaked in 50% coconut water and I was amazed by the result. The strawberry popped out of its shell completely in 48hrs, buts its very short.This one was kept outside the propagator.
The 4th wedding cake looked the healthiest ,
Tap root was thick , long really bright white .
Ready to pot in 48 hrs.
I will definitely experiment with coconut water again in the future , the results were amazing.

On the last 3 seeds That I soaked last night ,
I used a product called seed excel by levo organics.
2 seeds kicked out tap roots in 12 hrs . 2 placed in propagator, but the strawberry is outside the propagator.

A wedding cake , Gelato and a stardawg are under a light . They opened their eye a couple of days ago . It's day 3 for them today. So I'm already a proud daddy .

Thanks guys , I will let you know how these last few did in a couple of days .

Respect šŸ‘
 
Final update on this test batch of old seeds .
Out of the last 3 only 1 weeding cake made it .
The seed excel I used was about 7 years old and I wasn't supposed to use it but My mate forgot to tell me , never mind .

Not a good result overall but im happy with all that I learnt and I am very greatfull for all the input from you guys .

All 5 strawberry Amnesia failed , but I'm not surprised. They looked dead to begin with , they were very small and round .
1 stardawg survived .
2 Gelato and 3 wedding cakes made it .
So I have 6 babies in total .

2 days ago I purchased a product called recharge. Its absolutely fantastic, unbelievable.
It really doubled the size of my seedlings in 48 hrs .

I will start my grow diary soon , and I will finalise my order for 12 packs of seeds in a few days . Hopefully I will have much better germination rates.

Respect šŸ‘
 
if you want increased you germinated rate

start mister nice seeds :)

4 u2 on the freezer 3 or 4 days after on the papel towal with rain water

3 in 2 days out and the last one 4 days

i buy this seeds for "an old stock of 4 years" maybe 5years ago so the seeds have around 9 years 100% rate
 
Yeah, I am surprised by low germ rates of new beans. I have some beans that are over 40 years old now that pop at 100%. I also have some beans that were old before they were frozen and likely stored at room temp. So they have low germ rates. For example I have some early NorCal Skunk 1 that only one bean out of 20 germinated after being treated with GA-3. I was warned that they were old when I got them though. The one that germinated turned out to be a female and her buds smelled like strawberries. As I got them from western Europe, they seem to be more likely Erdbeer or Original Swiss Strawberry. But they guy I got them from swears that they are Skunk 1 from NorCal, pre-Watson/Slunkman. It grew as an indica pheno. Damn thing would not clone for the life of me. Maybe the result of the GA-3? No males to breed it with IBL, sadly. Maybe I will run these again some time. I have more of those beans on ice.
 
I think patience is key too, especially if you are germinating older seeds. I germinated some of my older auction seeds the other day, bought them in 2018/19, and hadn't stored them properly for the first year or two, just keeping them in a dry place but not in the fridge/ freezer. Planted them around 10 days ago, and got really sad when a week had past, I was convinced I'd ruined them. But I stuck with them and just left them in the paper towel. Checked on them this morning and they've begun to sprout, I am super happy! Definitely wouldnt have thought they'd germ after that long in paper towels.
 
Sorry to jump in here, but I have some landraces and other seeds that need to go into long term storage. Do you use desiccant packs in the freezer or just put the seed packs in?

20220727_184425.jpg
20220727_184449.jpg
20220727_184517.jpg
20220727_184600.jpg

MNS straws get stored like this. And then into a heatsealed Mylar bag (fresh Mylar or recycled coffee bags) and into the fridge.

Swaddle with cotton to insulate against freeze spots, desiccant on top, seal tube & heat seal in Mylar.

Original packs go into a Mylar bag in swaddling with desiccant, then sealed in another Mylar bag.
 
I think patience is key too, especially if you are germinating older seeds. I germinated some of my older auction seeds the other day, bought them in 2018/19, and hadn't stored them properly for the first year or two, just keeping them in a dry place but not in the fridge/ freezer. Planted them around 10 days ago, and got really sad when a week had past, I was convinced I'd ruined them. But I stuck with them and just left them in the paper towel. Checked on them this morning and they've begun to sprout, I am super happy! Definitely wouldnt have thought they'd germ after that long in paper towels.
I've also experienced this.
A couple of months ago I sowed a pack of Zimlicious (older seeds). I placed them in a cup of water for 48h and then in soil. After 4 weeks still nothing and I decided to carefully dig them up. A couple of duds and a couple that where cracked but stalled and one with a small taproot. After 2 week more 1 came above soil but it was a runt...
Same story with 2 packs of Homegrown Fantaseeds Haze, After more than 2 months I had 3 plants...

I recently saw a little device on cannapot called a "seedcracker", I wonder if this would be of help?
 
Germination

...Also make sure, which paper towel you use, I once used parfumed paper, wich killed most of seeds.

My method is..
1) in the morning - place some seeds in shot glass, filled with dechlorined water and leave be
2) after circa 12hours - pour the seeds in the paper towel
3) fold the paper towel, slightly squeeze (the paper towel must remain moist) and place it into small plastic bag
4) put the plastic bag on small plate and place on something warm around 27Ā°C (Iam placing the plate on terarium :)
_______________________
Check regularely and add water by spray
_______________________
 
A wise man said it all...:

"I store my seeds in my fridge, have done so for decades, nothing fancy just keep them cold.
I soak my seeds in clean glass of water, no paper towel nonsense.
Once the seeds have saturated themselves with water they sink, some may germinate in the glass.
I then pour them in a strainer and take clean tweezers and plant each one in its own container, usually in a cup with saturated coco fibre humidified soil.
I usually see emergence in 3-5 days."
Of course this is not a law it's more like an axiom.
 
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