Quote Originally Posted by jdsoil
I like your dedication jarrod. What I normally do with seeds is this:
~Take a small glass of cold tap water.
~Add 2 ice cubes and your seeds.
~Wait 1 day.
~Remove seeds for inspection.
~Carefully take each seed and scrape away the outer membrane surrounding the area where the seed will split with your fingernail. (the membrane is not very thick so you might not think your doing anything but your helping expose the inside of the seed to moisture)
~Take all the seeds and place them on a wet paper towel (not too wet but not dry)
~Fold the paper towel over the seeds and place into a ziplock bag.
~Hang bag vertically in a dark area so when seedlings sprout the taproot will orient downward. If you just lay the bag flat the taproot will become disoriented and may spiral.
~Check daily for sprouts and paper towel moisture.
~Transplant sprouted seedlings to growing medium.

With this germination practice I have had 90-100% germination rate.

Hope this helps.

Also in regards to HPS use, I am growing with pure CFL's and on my first grow, I am halfway through flowering and sampled some underdeveloped buds. I got high off of 2 hits and am expecting maybe 3 oz. from one plant, good enough for me for now:jointsmile:.

To figure out the cost of your system follow this little guide for the monthly cost for a 600 WATT hps used solely for 12/12 flowering in a regular US home with 120 volt circuits.
Basic Equation to find amp draw. (good to know so you don't overload any circuits)
WATTS=AMPS x VOLTAGE
600=A x 120v
A=5 amps
Most power companies in the us charge a basic rate for power usage via Kilo(1000) Watts per hour. Example- $o.o55 per KiloWattHour (KWH)
At 600 watts you are using .600 KW per hour.
In 12 hours you are using 7.2KWH (.600KW/h x 12 hours=7.2kwh)
With your KWH charge applied your daily cost is $0.396
(7.2kwh x $0.055=$0.396) take it monthly ($0.396 x 30=$11.88)
So $11.88 per month to run a strictly 12/12 600watt HPS with energy cost at $0.055 per KW. Cheaper than a 1/8 of crap weed.

Good luck, I will be watching this one!
i chucked em in the compost wiv my baytree cuttings-still nowt so i hada dig round in the soil and hey presto rite down deep in the compost were 4 seeds with a nice taproot!im made up as u can imagine-ill try and not kill em this time lol
thanks for you help mate really appreciated