If a seed opens up, is it a given that it will sprout?

I'm a newbe too. When I tried to germinate my seeds, only one cracked open. I put that into the soil immediately. I thought the other seeds were bad, but I put them in the soil to anyway. I didn't try to crack them open by hand, since I was afraid they would get hurt by such treatment. After a few days, all of them had start to grow. The only thing I did after putting them in the soil, was to sprinkle the soil with water. They need moisture, but they should not drown. After all, in nature, seeds start their life in the soil, nobody is there to germinate them in paper towels, so it isn't strange that they will grov. I didn't poke around in the soil to see what was happening. I just waited. Now everything is growing fine. :)

OK This is how to sprout seeds: Two ways, for easy or difficult seeds...
1)EASY Do exactly like this guy did and put it between paper towels for a few days, set on top of a fridge or someplace a little bit warm and wait for it to sprout (2-3 days)...a soon as it has 1/4 to 1/2" taproot, plant it carefully into a small cup of whatever medium your using. Soil should be moist, but not wet (too much wet will drown it). Use a pen or pencil to make about a 1" deep hole and put it carefully into the hole you poked tap root down and kinda flick dirt over it, don't pack it! Another week and you'll have a baby to take care of. TIP: If the shells of your beans are pretty thick and tough you can soak them in a cup of water for 12-24 hours to soften up the hull and make it easier for the little girl to get out.
2)DIFFICULT For difficult or extra thick seed hulls, you can actually take some rather fine (220 or 400 grit) sandpaper and lightly sand the hull a little bit (harder to do than it sounds) and rough up and score the hull, then soak and follow above directions. TIP: Do not expose the new taproot to air any longer than necessary to plant it...dry taproot = death to the baby...a few seconds is all it should be exposed to the air, so have everything ready BEFORE you start.

I have about a 98% success rate doing it this way with decent seeds.
Old bagseed may or may not sprout, so try to pick the biggest, most robust, best seeds you have...old seeds won't grow good plants all the time anyway....they will often be mutated and weird and slow growing, so don't waste your time on old crap!

You can pop em open yourself if it swells and you know there is a baby in there trying to get out, (sanding and soaking will usually make this unnecessary) but you must be very, very gentle as The WashougalWonder did....they are newborns and very sensitive to air, touch and light. Use forceps to handle if possible. Then LEAVE THEM ALONE until you see the second set of leaves appear, only watering enough to keep the soil damp, not wet. You just have to be patient and trust the seed maaaaaan! LOL! It WANTS to do it's thing! Let it!

Go easy on the light, no nutes at first, properly PH'd water and in a couple weeks you'll have a rooted seedling ready to go! PS Make sure your soil is right on PH also!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TANKJR

OK This is how to sprout seeds: Two ways, for easy or difficult seeds...
1)EASY Do exactly like this guy did and put it between paper towels for a few days, set on top of a fridge or someplace a little bit warm and wait for it to sprout (2-3 days)...a soon as it has 1/4 to 1/2" taproot, plant it carefully into a small cup of whatever medium your using. Soil should be moist, but not wet (too much wet will drown it). Use a pen or pencil to make about a 1" deep hole and put it carefully into the hole you poked tap root down and kinda flick dirt over it, don't pack it! Another week and you'll have a baby to take care of. TIP: If the shells of your beans are pretty thick and tough you can soak them in a cup of water for 12-24 hours to soften up the hull and make it easier for the little girl to get out.
2)DIFFICULT For difficult or extra thick seed hulls, you can actually take some rather fine (220 or 400 grit) sandpaper and lightly sand the hull a little bit (harder to do than it sounds) and rough up and score the hull, then soak and follow above directions. TIP: Do not expose the new taproot to air any longer than necessary to plant it...dry taproot = death to the baby...a few seconds is all it should be exposed to the air, so have everything ready BEFORE you start.

I have about a 98% success rate doing it this way with decent seeds.
Old bagseed may or may not sprout, so try to pick the biggest, most robust, best seeds you have...old seeds won't grow good plants all the time anyway....they will often be mutated and weird and slow growing, so don't waste your time on old crap!

You can pop em open yourself if it swells and you know there is a baby in there trying to get out, (sanding and soaking will usually make this unnecessary) but you must be very, very gentle as The WashougalWonder did....they are newborns and very sensitive to air, touch and light. Use forceps to handle if possible. Then LEAVE THEM ALONE until you see the second set of leaves appear, only watering enough to keep the soil damp, not wet. You just have to be patient and trust the seed maaaaaan! LOL! It WANTS to do it's thing! Let it!

Go easy on the light, no nutes at first, properly PH'd water and in a couple weeks you'll have a rooted seedling ready to go! PS Make sure your soil is right on PH also!

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:thumbsup:

Great info but I gotta question that red spot.

Every grow guide or book or post I've read that was written by a knowledgeable person says that it's best to plant the seed no more than 1/4 - 1/2" deep. Jorge Cervantes even wrote in his condensed Grow Bible that he recommends planting germinated seeds no deeper than twice the thickness of the seed, so basically 1/8 - 1/4".

Even though that was a great post this is just food for thought :jointsmile:

You're both right.:)
As I read dat, he recommended a 1" hole for sprouted seed, yah?
Extra room needed for root.:rastasmoke:

Aloha,
Carry on.

Weeze

I did say he wrote to plant a germed seed but the text doesnt say germed, just says a seed, I'm sure it does vary somewhat from book to book even by the same author.

Here's the text outta Marijuana Grow Basics by JC:

Seeds need air to germinate. Moist,
soggy growing mediums will cut off
oxygen supplies and the seed will
literally drown. Planting seeds too
deeply also causes poor germination.
Seedlings do not have enough
stored energy to force through too
much soil before sprouting. Plant
seeds twice as deep as the width
of the seed. For example, plant a
0.12S-inch (0.3 mm) seed 0.2S-inch
(6mm) deep.

1" is what works for me...too deep and the seedling will stretch too much, too shallow and it just dies. I'm not sure why. I'm not a botanist or a horticulturist, just a long time grower who has experimented endlessly. 1" is what works for me best....geez, 98% success rate not good enough??? LOL Anybody doing 100% out there? I have tried planting them at JC's depth and they do not do as good as the 1"...I know, saying this is like challenging Christ, but this is what works for me. I even have a "special pencil" marked exactly at 1" so I don't go too deep. I have planted them as deep as 2" and have them come up ok, but they really have flimsy stalks and usually have to be supported until they thicken up some and can support their own weight.

Happy Thanksgiving to all today! I'm gonna get baked just right and pig out on turkey and watch football! I am mostly thankful for my new friends on here and this wonderful weed God gave us! Amen! Now smoke em if ya got em! :D :jointsmile: :rasta: :rastasmoke: :pimp: :smokin:

LOL, I just stick them in and don't drown or parch them, they all come out eventually.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TANKJR

geez, 98% success rate not good enough??? LOL Anybody doing 100% out there? I have tried planting them at JC's depth and they do not do as good as the 1"...I know, saying this is like challenging Christ, but this is what works for me.

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Nah, 98% is more than good enough.

I wasn't implying you were wrong, just questioning. It's not like JC roams this forum and I can ask him if in his experience he would negate what he wrote and say "ya, 1/2-1" is prob better". I like getting vets input and they're science or reasoning of why. :thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WashougalWonder

LOL, I just stick them in and don't drown or parch them, they all come out eventually.

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LOL

KISS

it is the weight of the medium that you are sprouting in that determines planting depth .indoors in a seed starting mix made mostly of vermiculite 1" would be fine, outdoors in a red clay based soil 1/4" is better. if you are planting under a ROCK lay the cracked seed on the surface of the mix back to the op ".[I could see the whitish root after the seed broke open after 2 - 3 days and has sort of stayed the same the following 3 days.So, after 6 days of germinating, my question is: if the seed has opened, is it a fact that it will eventually sprout? Or could it have gone bad somehow?]" this seed is dead .a cracked hull does not equal a sprouted seed.the white stuff you see inside is not a root but an embryo..it may be alive or it may be dead..

Thanks Slev! It's all good bro! I took no offense! Ya strive for perfection and usually, I fall short, but one cannot be posting on any forum and have thin skin...I have no problem with critical analysis, I might learn something! LOL! I was kinda hoping someone would say, yes, I get 100% and then tell us how he/she did it....always fishing for more info or input! I do wonder why they used to die when planted shallower, but don't worry about it too much anymore, still curious tho.
How cool would it be if Jorge WAS trolling around here? :wtf: I would absolutely love to spend a week or two or three picking his brain!!!!