While this I know there are "Effective methods" that doesnt mean they make sense.
For example, ive never understood why anyone would want to use paper towels, even for older seeds. Silly.
IF your seeds are old, soak in a small amount of water to assist, dont germinate in paper.
Even if its worked perfectly for you, why be so paranoid, if it germinated in the paper towel it would
have germinated in soil, or rockwool; exactly the same.
Now, im not going to tell you plant cannabis seeds at this depth, or tomato seeds at this depth, instead
im going to give you the tools you need to always know how deep to plant a seed. lets get started
First note the shape of the seeds your planting, are they long like this === ? or round like this (O) ?
Is one end knotted like so [) where it appears to have been connected to the plant?
Cannabis seeds are round and knotted for example, lets keep going.
Are your seeds 6 inches long "Mango" or half to 1 milimeter in diameter "Poppy / Tobacco"
Are your seeds flat with a center bump "Tomatillo/Tomato/Peppers of any kind"
Golf balls? "Bulbs such as garlic or tulips".
Region, is it from africa? "Leonotis leonurus aka Wild Dagga" or Mexico? "Salvia divinorum / Diviners Sage"
All of which ive grown and they need very different things!
Now normally I wouldnt do this, but I want this information to sink in so write this down as you see it below.
Size:____________________________________
Shape: __________________________________
Color:__________________________________
Knots:__________________________________
Flat:____________________________________
Region:__________________________________
Notes:__________________________________
Now lets fill in that list, For size simply write how big it is.
Shape is also easy, flat and round or long and tubular, oval and partially flat or diamond like.
Color should be filled in with the color of fertile, ready seeds, White strawberry seeds wont grow, see what im sayin?
If theres a knot in your seed simply put yes here, knotted seeds should planted a certain way, we will get to that.
Flat seeds also should be planted a certain way, and while theres debate if its important or not ill fill ya in on
what it is, and why.
Region should be filled with country, then that countries information on climate, why you ask?
Well this determines many things, some seeds wont germinate above or below temperatures, or will
require a cold freezing period to break dormancy, these things are relevant to where a seed came from.
And in cases after germination, humidity and how much water will play a roll based on this information too.
Notes should be filled in with whatever else you got to remember, the internet is a big place and you
can get notes from there, for example, to grow Diviners Sage, humidity has to be 70% or greater or
the plant will stagnant and not grow at all, it can become brittle and die.
The web will tell you otherwise, but ive grown 3 of these plants and found all othter information to be false.
Even if you train the plants to live in low humidity it will just stagnate. Lets get started
For cannabis, simply using "Indica or Sativa" is generally enough, but different enough to be important.
Sativas like warmer soil to germinate, while indica can germ in cooler. flowering for indica and all hybrids is 12/12 while for sativas should be 11/13.
WHAT SIZE TELLS YOU:
For the size of the seed, excluding overly large ones, the seed should be planted at a depth, 3 times the sizeof the seed. excluding "long" seeds, more on that in a second.
So cannabis seeds should be at about 1 inch deep, tiny seeds like strawberry or tobacco should be place on top of soil, then lightly dusted with dirt 1 mm to 2 mm deep only, then misted so as not to wash them in.
WHAT SHAPE TELLS YOU:
Round seeds should be planted anyway you see fit UNLESS its knotted or abnormal, more on that in a minute.
Rounds seeds generaly are placed into thier holes whichever way they fall and left to grow.
Flat seeds should be planted with the broad sides up and down, this assist in shedding when the stem bend comes up, as it will leave the seed head in the dirt just a little longer this way, this is a good thing as it keeps
the seed coat moist longer, and when it finally pulls out the seed leaves will be larger leaving the seed in the ground. Not doing it this way can sometimes cause it to come up with the shell still on the seeds, at which
time it will harden in the air, and the plant will have to fight harder to remove it, sometimes a plant can also
die.
Long tubalar seeds like many flowers should be planted side to side, not up and down for the same reason
flat ones are planted that way. The exception to this is large seeds that do not grow out of the dirt and
just send up a plant from it, Mango, Garlic, Onion etc do this. As well as most bulbs.
The seed of a Mango tree for example, does not turn into seed leafs, but is more like "a hunk of root"
It will send a root tip down "which starts off as an amazing 1cm diameter :O" and then will send up
a tree stem, which creates brand new leafs. I grew one of these to 2 feet tall before it died and to
this day im not sure what caused it, going to do it again :)
WHAT COLOR TELLS YOU:
Simply put you wouldnt plant a white seed when it should be green, (cannabis)
or a green seed that should be white "Tomato, Strawberry"
Or white that should be black "Watermelon, Poppy(some are blue and white though, check your variety)"
Its a safe bet if you bought your seeds that majority color is correct, if your harvesting your own
try to remember the color the seed was, or use the internet, dont even waste time on immature seeds.
Even on the rare chance they grow, the plant will look like it has retardation and will never be quite right.
The odds are less then 5% though, dont bother.
WHAT A KNOT TELLS YOU:
The knot side will NEVER be the side the root time extrudes from.
Its the side that some seeds have from a connection to a stem.
This side should be planted UP, for some plants it doesnt matter "Like cannabis" but will shave a day
or two off when youll see the plant come into the air. The sooner a plant is in the air the faster
it will start to grow. 2 days sooner into vegetative stage is 2 days sooner to everything else too.
Some will argue to plant it down, so when the tip emerges going up, it will turn to go down and make a stronger stem and root system. This is just retarded as it will do that anyway with or without your help, so
why choose to stagnate progress.
WHAT A FLAT SEED TELLS YOU:
Using the shape of the seed to determine orientation theres a small tidbit more information.
Flat seeds generally grow up a bit differently, usually showing stem before leafs.
Cannabis does this too without being flat, but I believe some knotted types show this behavior, not all.
Flat seeds will (90% of the time) have large amounts of stored energy, and larger then average seed leafs.
"For the plant types of course that have them", and while this information isnt critical, its good
knowledge to have in case you want to grow a vine. More on that in another post, another time.
WHAT REGION TELLS YOU:
Seeds come from plants, its no secret, but where that plant comes from, might be.
So if your having no success in germinating perfectly viable seeds, you can be your ass its because
your not satisfying the region it came from.
Some seeds like poppy will not grow in warm soil, above 22*C
Some seeds like cannabis will stagnate "but may still grow, slowly" outside of the range 22-30.
With sativas probably 24-32*C.
Youll need to find this out on your own as im not going to make a list here, would be huge but if your
reading this chances are you already know how to use yahoo or google to find what you need.
I will say this though, soil temperatures are going to be lower then the room temperature.
Dont assume because the room your in is 24*C that the soil will be, because it wont.
Heating mats and fridges, TVs tops etc can warm soil, while using frozen sheets or towels can bring it down some. Just be patient and experiment with the stubborn stuff.
Simply applying air flow can also lower soil temp without affecting room temps.
Humidity will play a roll too, stubborn seedlings can die if they emerge into 30% RH.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KEEP FOR NOTES
Region information is a good idea, or what you successfully did to pop stubborn seeds.
Information on what a seed hates is good too.
Does a seed germinate better in clay or sandy soils? put that here as well.
Does it prefer rich damn rainforest like dirt, or desert sands as far as nutes go.
Put that here as well.
What you now have is a small information card to hang on too for your seeds. Keep them in a small book
or something, dont loose it.
You could do it for everything you grow, or what different strains like of the same plant "Tomato or Cannabis are good examples of this"
But remember, im not responsible for what you do, im not doing it, you are.
Use code names, anagrams, nicknames, make up shit for the names if your doing it for
Cannabis or Papaver somniferum, more shit to help lock you up isnt what your intention is, so be smart.
