germination problems

[psilocybin]

ok-

so i wanna try my green thumb out some. i got some seeds from a friend, he said it was from some mid's a few months ago (possibly a year or more but not much more). most of em are dark brown or grey, a few white ones (i know those are no good) - pics attached.

first i threw them straight into some jiffy pots/cubes/whatever i picked up from the local garden store. 3 of the best seeds i could find per cube, did about 10 cubes (used 30 seeds of like 70 something). waited a week, nothing - kept wet (now im beginning to think i overwatered). i put em in my enclosed greenhouse in my closet (pics attached):

-125 gallon salt water tank
-enclosed in a 6'x3x2' wooden enclosure i built
-attached sheets from a plastic drop cloth painted bright white to the sides of the tank to reflect light internally better (its mad bright in the tank with the lights on)
-exhaust:
-120v exhaust fan with 4" metal ducting running out of box, through my closet door, and to a window (3-4' total length of ductwork)
-lighting, 440w total:
-2 x 110w 48" VHO actinic white florescent light (blueish)
-2 x 110w 48" VHO super actinic florescent light (whitish)

as you can tell i got my supplies from a buddy with an old satwater tank. with lights on and the vext fan on it maintains about 80-85 deg in tank with the top closed & locked. outside room range 60-70, doesn't seem to effect inside tank temp much. lou humidity though (30%) but that will increase once i have full plants that i will be watering regularly.

anyway, i tried regerminating those seeds again plus the rest of em b/w some moist papertowles, soaked some in distilled water, etc. a few (3) sprouted a little white root out so i planed them (one each) in a jiffy cube. the rest of them, mostly nothing. one or two other seem to be opening up slightly.

it's been like 2-3 weeks since i started the first batch.

1. is it normal it takes this long to germinate seeds?
2. did i mess them up pernamently somehow? (they were stored in a old standard size rx pill bottle)

i watered them with water w/ few drops of bleach (told it helps with mold from the book i have), also tried water w/ 1/4 strength peters 20-20-20 standard fertilizer. now i'm using distilled water (trying to eliminate causes of problem)

any ideas/comments/suggestions?

psilocybin Reviewed by psilocybin on 10-29-2004. germination problems ok- so i wanna try my green thumb out some. i got some seeds from a friend, he said it was from some mid's a few months ago (possibly a year or more but not much more). most of em are dark brown or grey, a few white ones (i know those are no good) - pics attached. first i threw them straight into some jiffy pots/cubes/whatever i picked up from the local garden store. 3 of the best seeds i could find per cube, did about 10 cubes (used 30 seeds of like 70 something). waited a week, Rating: 5

[GHoSToKeR]

ok try this

get a small, plastic (tuppaware) container... something like a lunch box kind of thing, or a container people sometimes use to store salad and stuff.. you know, the ones with an air tight plastic lid

get a couple of paper towels and place them at the bottom of the container..

get one of those sprays bottles (the ones people use to water plants) that sprays a fine mist, and spray the towels lightly with water so theyre damp.. dont get them too wet, just make sure theyre damp.. but not so damp that the water leaks through or off them..]

then do the same to a couple more paper towels

place the seeds on top of the first towels in the container and then put the other damp towels lightly on top of the seeds.. dont push them down, just let them sit on the seeds

then close the lid of the container tightly, make sure its air tight, and stick the container in a dark place (under a bed, in a cupboard, whatever)

every 12 hours go back and open the container and lift the top paper towels off.. if the towels ubnderneath a dray, then spray lightly with water again, but if theyre still damp then leave them.. put the top towels back on, again if theyre dry then dampen them again, if not just leave it.. put the lid back on and put the container back

do this every 12 hours

ive never grown my own plants before, BUT i have germinated seeds for people before.. the other day my mate wanted 15 seeds germinated but didnt know how (i duno how hes gonna grow 15 plants if he cant even germinate seeds lol) so he gave them to me and i used this method, and 13 out of the 15 germinated within 30 hours!

other people may have better methods, i dunno, but thats my advice

-GhoST-

[BayBoat]

i ve never heard of using bleach...probably killed them all...usually takes 5- 8 days to germinate...
you dont need mold control or ferts at this point..........dont need to start ferts untill a few weeks after sprouting at the earliest...and like i said bleach is poison

dont need distilled water either...tap water is fine

i place mine in paper towels lay 5-6 towels on top of eachother....lay seeds erery on damp/wet paper towel...fold it over place it in a cool/dark spot..and keep it damp/wet for 5-8 days.
.usually have to wet it 2x a day...check every day to see if seed sprouted a little root..
when it does then carefully take the seed...dont touch the root...put it in soil..root down ..about 1"....cover and keep soil moist...should pop through in 3-5 days....


remember: you dont need ferts for a few weeks at least....
just keep root moist/wet.....1x a day is fine...

regular water is fine

this has worked for me
good luck...keep us posted

[marijuanamat]

DONT USE BLEACH ON SEED'S IT WILL KILL THEM.

[Robsta]

You might be thinking of H202, You can dilute this alot to oxygenate water for seedlings, Believed to increase rate of germination although I haven't tried it.

Seeds pretty much germinate easily in most mediums as long as its moist, and around mid twenties Celcius (luke warm water).

From your pics you have the seeds diretly exposed to the light.... its probably better to have them covered in the medium, so stick them deeper inside the Cotton...(thats if that is cotton in the picture), but only just under the surface... you need light on them but not directly on them if you know what i mean.

[wardrobe grower 78]

dont use an airtight container as they cant get air into them,you shouldnt have to check them every 12 hours cause if there drying out every 12 hours there TOO hot!
put the seeds in the paper towels between 2 plates as this keeps them dark but allows air at them!
if you have good seeds they will germinate between 24 and 48 hours

[psilocybin]

Thank you all for the advice, still no luck on most of the seeds - I only used bleach to prevent mold (the book mentioned it, it was a slight amount - few drops per gallon). Anyway, I normally leave the seeds covered with more paper towels, just took them off for the pic.

The important thing here is one actually sprouted!!!! I had 3 seeds that actually germinated before, I put in a jiffy cube, put a humidity tent (plastic baggy) over and left them. Went to see my g/f last night, came back just now and one shot up out of the soil!!

I took the bag off, watered it slightly, and put in the grow box. I'm leaving the cover off the grow box for now since inside temp was 85 (left it running all yesterday and last night)... Once it gets down to 80 or so I'll put it back on.

So at least I have one plant, hopefully it will last. I'll keep this updated with the progress.

Any comments from anyone about my growbox setup? It's obviously a self-constructed design, would have rather used the closet but it needs to be hidden from plain site so instead I have this gargantuan "storage box" in my closet. Can anyone think of possible problems this may cause? Havn't heard too much about people growing in such small enclosed locations as this, but I think it should work fine with the exhaust fan - we'll see. Thanks again.

[psilocybin]

Well I sucessfully have 3 seedlings, each in a jiffy cube. Leaving light on about 20/4 or so - leaving on 24/7 for several days raises internal box temp to high 80's, almost 90!! Too much I think.

Seedlings seem to be doing well, the first one that sprouted was doing the best although I think I just overwatered it slightly - the jiffy cubes don't drain anything - just keep soaking soaking soaking. I put the lights back on do it will help to dry it out some. One of the new seedlings has small yellow spots on the far edge of the leaf - farthest from the stem (pic attached). Not sure what it's from, not too concerned for now. I had a buttload of seeds finally germinate over the past few days so hopefully I should have another 5-10 sprouting soon if I did it right.

Put the seedlings about 1' from the light - tested the heat with the hand for 30 sec method - not warm at all, in fact I feel a slight breeze from the vent fan. The lights also have an exhaust fan which keeps them cool.

I'm guessing I'll soon need to start transplanting them into bigger pots - For soil I have Hoffman All purpose potting mix (only thing I could find in autumn asides from Miracle Gro) - contains peat moss, vermiculite, bark, limestone and wetting agent - unfortunately no pearlite , I think I should add some, it will probably hold too much water as is. Anyone know a place to get pearlite in November in the northeast?? Also have a few bags of dolomite lime, gonna add some of that in too.

I think that's about it - any comments?

[BigBudDaddy08]

Goood job m8 ...i just germanated some Northen lights x BigBud.. ..(iv always grew big bud ..just thought id experiment with it) ..But hope everything goes well m8 ...Keep us posted on your grow...Need any help just post another thread

[lordsoth666]

Dude if you can't find perilite, order some, you NEED it. Also get some clean sand to add to the soil (construction sand is best), this will help your drainage. As for where to find perilite, try home depot, lowes, or maybe even walmart. But if you cannot find it, use a bit more sand in the mix, about 2 - 3 more cups

I add 6 cups of sand to every 4 gallons of soil mix, same amount of perilite.

lots of luck to you.