Hi everybody, I 'd like to hear about your experiences for germinating. In summer time its so easy for seeds to germinate, but in winter time, we lose at least half of the seeds in germination phase. Either they wont open up from the begining or after opening up, they cant grow the tail and die. Normally I germinate the seeds in the water and after seeing their tail I put them in cotton pads and when their tail seems strong enough, I put them in the soil. Lets say it takes 3-5 days for me to put them in the soil.
In winter our house is comparingly warm but I guess its hard for the seeds to open up… When I put them near heater, the water become thick and slimy, so it wont work out as well…
Any suggestions to have better germination rate?
This is what i do.
- Soak seeds in shot glass with distilled water and a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide for 24 hours.
- Lightly (2 or 3 sprays) spray 2 cotton cosmetic pads with distilled water, and make a sandwich with the seed(s) in the middle.
- Place sandwich into zip loc sandwich bag and spray inside the bag ONCE with distilled water.
- Zip bag closed 3/4 of the way and place into a small cardboard box. Make sure the bag is a little puffy…you want some air in the bag. Close box
- Put said box NEXT to or somewhere near my forced air vent.
We don’t keep our house super warm. Most of the time it is set to 67-68 degrees. In 24-48hrs i have a taproot 100% of the time. I have never had a seed that did not pop doing it this way. I then place the taproot into the plant’s final pot (5gal). I do not transplant….i never saw the point.
In the winter, seeds need temperature help, whether it be placing near a heating source or placing the box onto a heating pad. I wouldn’t place the shot glass near heat, only during the sandwich phase. As long as the water doesn’t freeze, you should be good.
There are multiple ways to do this, but this is what i do and it has worked.
Good luck! I Hope this helps you.
I live in an area that is warm year round so I have no problem sprouting seeds. That being said, a lot of people have used seed sprouting heat mats with great success. Amazon has them for as little as $12.
I always use the paper towel soaked in clonex seed and clone feed and then in the plastic baggie. I dont put the seeds in the dark either i just leave them out in the light. Never had an issue. I do not like the soak in water. I live in a seasonal area also and have never had an issue with seeds popping in the winter?
I sure can’t say I have never had a seed germinate, I’ve had lots of them fail, but I don’t believe it has/had anything to do with my method, rather the quality of the seed.
Mine is a simple method. TALL glass of water with 3-4 drops of H2o2. Place my seeds in a paper towel, fold it up and push it down to the bottom of the glass and leave it be for around 8-10 hours. Pull them out and place them on the top of the water if they sink they go into a paper towel in the bottom of a glass baking dish with a lid. If not back into the glass. I do the baking dish BEFORE they get a tail, if they sink they are saturated with moisture. The paper towel in the baking dish is wet but no standing water and I use the same water from the glass with the H202. When they get a 1/4" tail into the dirt they go. That’s it.
My reasoning is simple, right or wrong, the tail is the root, roots drown in water, so I put them in a moist paper towel before the root comes out, laying on the paper towels when the root comes out allows the root to get oxygen the minute it comes out.
Marty
Thanks, I’ll try hydrogen peroxide for sure.
Yes actually, I deeply believe that its related to quality of the seed but we dont have many options to who sends seeds to our country so we stuck with big commercial seed banks. I searched about trusted seedbanks here but I couldn’t find a good answer. So I’m trying to get the best results with the quality I can reach 
I’ll try to apply as you said, many thanks :))
Now I checked and see that it has different ratios like %50 or %3 or so. Which one do you recommend?
Use the 3% hydrogen peroxide.
3%. 3-4 drops. It will help eliminate pathogens from attacking the seed as it germinates.
Marty
I lined a small tin box with sandpaper. I use it if the seeds I am trying to sprout are very old. I put them in the box, close the lid and shake the shit out of them. It’s called scarification. Seems to help with dried, old seeds.
I make a box out of sandpaper and shake the seeds in that. Heres a thread i made about it.
how I do it is a solo shot glass filled 2/3 the way up with RO water, leave in a dark warm (70f) place, I use a drawer in my kitchen, have a pretty high success rate even with old seeds, when the seeds open up I transfer to a Root Riot cube in another solo shot glass ensuring its very damp… theres a million ways to skin this cat time of year shouldn’t matter its more of a temperature moisture issue, the seeds have all the necessary food to get a sprout out, I would thing bad/very old genetics are the root cause if your having that many sprouting issues. also a side note when every I’m handling seeds and /cutting plants I always wear clean rubber gloves and ensure things are as clean as I can make them.