I Can't Even Get My Seeds To Sprout - Help!

[RollingPapers]

Hello All!

I am RollingPapers and joined the 420 Magazine with the hope of communicating with an experienced grower regarding my problem. This is my first grow.

I received some Royal Queen Seeds that are the Special Kush #1 Feminized Seeds strain and the seeds will not sprout after planting them in soil. The seeds look a little small and a little greenish.

I read many articles and viewed many YouTube videos and I think I am doing everything correctly, so I am wondering if I just got some bad seeds. Has anyone ever had this experience?

I used the paper towel germinating method and the seed showed a small tap root about 1/8th inch long after 24 hours. I planted the seed in a very small pot in some high grade cocoa potting soil that I bought at my local hydroponics head shot. I keep the soil moist with bottled water with a PH of about 7.0. I did not see a sprout after 5 days, so I pushed a little soil aside to take a quick look at the seed, and the tap root did not grow at all. It was the same exact size of 1/8th inch. I have the pot in a warm climate 75 - 85 degrees and humidity around 40. I also kept a 65 watt over the pot just to keep it warm.

Am I doing something wrong, or did I just get some bad seeds.

Any help will be appreciated!!!

Thanks,

RollingPapers

 

[RollingPapers]

Hi Forever Baked, Thanks for your comment. I will take your advice and not touch the seeds for another full week. I thought that maybe I got some bad seeds, or something, because they were a little on the small side and a bit greenish in color. Does size and color even matter?

This is my first attempt at growing so I will try to be a little more patient.

I have a quick question regarding my flowering box...I hope I get the opportunity to even use it!!!
Will a few very small cracks of light showing inside the grow box affect the flowering stage during the sleep cycle???

BYW...May I ask how your first grow went? Thanks in advance!

 

[LadyJane420]

Hello R.P.,

I'm just a newbie so take what I say with a grain of salt but "don't panic!" My 1st grow was a disaster (I made every mistake possible) but I still got some good buds. Hang in there! I'm on my 2nd grow now and it's quite an improvement.

 

[Skybound]

I'm a noob to so apply what LadyJane said to me as well.

I've read that any light what-so-ever can affect flowering during the lights out period. I suggest using duct tape to seal off the leaks, use layers if need be. I went to the extent of duct taping the LED light on my thermometer as I've read this can impact flowering as well. Get it pitch black in there.

 

[RollingPapers]

Hi LadyJane420: I am glad to hear that you finally had some good luck on your first grow! I went thru a lot of trouble just to get 6 seeds and I am trying my first grow by just using 2 of them. I germinated them for 1 day, they cracked open and then I put them about 1/4 inch into some nice cocoa potting soil that I got from my local head shop. It's been 7 days and still no sprouts...UGH!!! So, I already starting germinating 1 more seed in case the other 2 don't sprout for some reason. After that, I will only have 3 seeds left.

I am not sure if it's something that I am doing wrong, or if I have to give them more time to germinate, or if they are bad seeds.

Do you know what the best web site is to buy seeds and receive them in my home state of Rhode Island USA?

 

[RollingPapers]

Hi SkyBound: I think that I have all my "light cracks" sealed up, but I will double check.
Would you know what the best web site is to buy seeds and receive them in my home state of Rhode Island USA?
I only have 3 seeds left and I have a feeling that I will need a lot more before I get this process working!!!
Quick question...HOw long did it take for your seeds to sprount after you put them in the soil???

 

[Skybound]

I have yet to order seeds, but when I do I PROMISE I will be using Herbies Head Shop (one of 420's sponsors). I've read many many many posts about this company and everyone and their mother swears by Herbies. His reputation is very professional and shipping methods extremely discrete.

As far as this seed, it's a bag seed of unknown strain or gender at this time. My room mate dropped it into regular potting soil mixed with regular lawn mulch. If I had to guess, I'd say it was in the pot about a week in the very hot and humid parts of June. After that, I took control of the grow and have since put this poor little bastard through some pretty stressful situations and (hopefully) she has forgiven my clumsiness every time. Have you tried soaking your beans in pH adjusted water first and then sliding one into a rockwool cube? I have not tried this method, but that's the method that has caught my attention and when I eventually place my order with Herbies, I plan on germinating this way. If you want, I can do a trial of a few bag seeds in rockwool cubes I just picked up yesterday so you don't waste any of your good ones? If yes, I will need about 2 days as I just got a bunch of supplies for my clone room and need a bit of time to set it all up (which I'll be doing anyway). Let me know if I can help, and if you find another germination method and need a test dummy, I can volunteer as my roomy has a bunch of bag seeds.

! Herbies Seeds - Terms & Conditions - The UK's Largest Cannabis & Marijuana Seed Bank

 

[RollingPapers]

Hi SkyBound: I am glad that I made a friend on 420Mag. Unfortunately, I can’t send you a private message yet, because I have not met the “50 Posting” requirement. We should be able to keep contact by my forum, or blog, or what ever you call it. Thanks for the tip about Herbie’s!

I am using bottled water and tested the PH at 7.0, so I just left it alone. I could adjust up or down if I had to. I have not tried the rockwool cube method, yet. I am using high grade coconut potting soil highly recommended by my head shop guy. This soil drains very quickly, so I water my newly planted seeds a couple of times a day just to keep the soil moist. (very little water, maybe a couple of teaspoons).

I only have 3 good seeds left, and 2 more free-seeds that I got from SensibleSeeds. It would be very helpful if you could try the rockwool cubes and let me know how you make out. If the new seed i germinated and planted today does not sprout, I might try the cubes on my remaining seeds. Meanwhile, I have been waiting 7 days for my other 2 seeds to sprout out of the ground.

I hope to make it to the cloning stage and blooming stage, but right now I am just worrying about getting these stupid things to sprout out of the ground!!! UGH!!!

Good luck with your cloning room and keep checking my forum so we can stay in touch until I meet the 50-Post requirement and can send you a private message.

 

[Spimp]

to

As for your seed issue, Ive had beans take as long as 15 days to surface. I hope this is just a slow germing strain. Wish I could provide more in depth answers, but I too, dont have 100' of beans to draw conclusions from. Glad to have you on board though sir!!

 

[RollingPapers]

Hi sPimps, thanks for the info and thanks for the welcome! It's been 7 days for the first 2 seeds I planted so I will have to wait another week on that and see the hell happens! I am also now watching the 1 seed that I planted today. I am trying to only plant 1 or 2 at a time until I figure out what the heck I am doing wrong or if it's just a slow sprouting strain. I only have 5 seed left. This is weird because the seeds germinated in 36 hours. Keep checking my forum for updates! Thanks!

 

[Spimp]

Ive always used warmth to help my germination times. Usually just let the blazing HIDin the sky get the bean and soil nice and warm. This seems to expedite the process. Cant wait for updates sir.

 

[Skybound]

I subscribed to this thread, so every post gets me an email and I reply asap. My job requires me to be away for as long as 2 days at times, but aside from that, this is my primary focal point. Unless a matter calls for private messages, I'd suggest keeping it public as your problem, if/when solved can be the next guy's/gal's solution w/o having to ask and wait. I will drop a few bag seeds either tomorrow or the day after, maybe even tonight if I can get some things done.

As far as your pH, unless your hydro store guy swears by it, all other info I've been exposed to suggests that soils should be in the low 6. range and hydro in the low to mid 5. range. don't know the properties of coco ie soil or soilless, or even if seeds require more alkaline to germ, but general growing I've been told by my hydro guy, as well as studies to shoot for a low 6. My hydro guy told me to get my pH tester (drops) to the color of pee for a stable soiled environment for growing.

At any rate, I'll share my findings and keep you posted when I drop some.

 

[Skybound]

RP, i just finished setting up my clone room with heat mat, 24w T5 and clone dome. My plan is to soak some rockwool cubes in pH adjusted distilled water for a few hours while I also soak a few beans in a shot glass of luke warm water. I have to check a few resources to confirm the steps, but I believe that's how it goes. when I pop the seeds into some cubes, I will put them in the clone dome into 1" cube tray. I will also be cloning my plant tomorrow. I don't want to confuse you into thinking I can germinate seeds into starting veg in just a few hours. I'm hoping for 3-5 days though. I'll keep ya posted.

 

[Skybound]

RP, roughly 9:00 AM EST, I dropped 5 seeds into a glass of store bought distilled water. Last night around midnight, I boke apart 10 rockwool cubes and put them in a 12" tupperware about half full of distilled water and squeezed them to work out the air and get the water in. This morning, I added some General Hydroponics Flora series mixed with distilled water down to 25% recommended strength that I've been feeding my plant in Ocean Forest. When I added it this morning, I further diluted it down to about 12.5% recommended strength or lower. Around noon today I will be taking about 4 clones from my plant and after that I will put your beans into the cubes about 1/4"-3/8" deep. Then they all go into the clone dome under 18 hours of T5. in the dome I will also have a small container of water with an air stone bubbling to keep humidity levels high as possible. i also have in there a heat mat, but I doubt I'll need it cuz the day and night temps stay between 76° - 82° F.

 

[RollingPapers]

Hi SkyBound, sounds like you have a great system going! I am going to try and follow your lead as close as I can! Thanks for posting your pics and and your interesting story line. Is that a pic of the plant that you will be cutting the clones from? I just bought some rockwool cubes and I am going to try growing 1 of my remaining 4 seeds in rockwool! I am soaking the cube now and started germinating the seed in papertowels for 24 hours in bottled water. I am soaking the cube in bottled water and using a 1-drop-per-gallon mix of Super-Thrive. I will check the soaking water and make sure it has a approx ph level of 6.5. Tomorrow morning I will put the germed seed in the cube and put the cube in my humidity dome. I will keep a small container of water in the dome to keep up the humidity and keep a 65 watt light on it to keep that baby warm. How does that sound for a Newbie! This is a lot of work just to grow a weed
Good Luck and keep me updated and I will do the same!!!

 

[Skybound]

Yes, I'm taking the cuttings off the pictured plant. I don't yet know the sex, or any genetic traits, but a few other growers have commented on my journal and told me it looks very good despite all that I have done to it. I was reading on General Hydroponic's website last night through some of their nutrients and supplements and came across a specific footnote about your COCO mix. If you follow the link I attached to the COCO and look to the lower left of the green chart, it says to add 5ml of CalMag per gallon. Perhaps that is why your sprouted seedling never came out of the ground. Maybe research this further, or just switch to a different type of medium, unless you will be adding nutes or supps.

 

[RollingPapers]

Thanks for the Coco link and I checked it out. Yes, it does say this regarding Coco media: "When growing plants in coco media or with reverse osmosis water use 5ml of CALiMAGic per
gallon during the first two weeks". However, I was told that when they say to add nutes during the first 2 weeks, that it means the first 2 weeks AFTER the seed sprouts and actual becomes a seedling. Right now my seed is just a seed and I was told that regular nutes like cal/mag would be harmful at this stage. I actually purchased the Grow, Bloom, Animo and Micro nutrient line by XNutrients but I was told not to use it until AFTER the seed sprouts or it will harm the seed. The SuperThrive that I mentioned is a vitamin solution that is suppose to help the roots grow. I have the Grow nutrient by XNutrients that contains Cal/MAG and maybe I should add 5ml p/g to my water. I am just not sure about that at this point, it may be harmful, or it could be helpful, i just don't know.

Maybe I should add my Grow cal/mag nutrients to the Rockwool solution. I am not sure about that one either.

 

[Skybound]

Definitely don't react until you've done adequate research on the matter. My understanding is that seedlings don't require any nutes just as you said b/c they first feed off the cotyledons (round leaves) that first pop out. This is supposed to carry them until they develop a root system with which to extract nutrients from the ground. I just thought it was odd that my feeding regiment made specific mention of your medium that you maybe ironically having trouble with.

Just a few minutes ago, I took my first clones and lollipopped my plant a little bit. I also dropped 5 beans for you that hopefully turn into 5 plants for me. I'll keep you posted of my findings. Here's the pics I took.

 

[RollingPapers]

Since I am having very bad luck with these seeds, I might try just a few drops of Grow, Animo and Micro nutes in my half gallon jug of water and see happens. That would be less than 1/8 strengh.

 

[Skybound]

Assuming you got the seeds directly from the bank, did you contact them to let them know of your troubles and request any special instructions? They may even be inclined to resupply this order on top of your next? i noticed that they are a 420 sponsor so I believe they should be very reputable and professional.