ComfortablyNumb

Since theres no germination topic I think, I'll put this question here.

I have heard from past marijuana.com posts on germination that putting the seeds between two wet paper towels is an effective way to germinate seeds.

I have just put six seeds in the towels and am puzzled at how I am supposed to do this. I put the towels on top of a sheet of cardboard which I slipped under my computer table. The main reason for this is I cant just keep them in the middle of my room. Also I figured that my carpet would be too absorbent and suck up all the moisture out of the towels before the seeds have a chance to sprout. What I am afraid of is the cardboard will block the seeds sprouting. I assume that roots sprout out from the bottom of the seed so given this they wont make it too far. Is there something else I should put the towls on top of that will allow the seeds to grow better? If anyone can answer this or tell me anything else I misunderstood from this procedure It would help alot.

Just one more quick thing,
I have a friend that told me you could microwave the seeds that are in the towel to germinate them instantly. Is this possible even if it has a lower germination rate?

Thank for any replies.

Guyute

From what I've gathered so far there are two routes on the paper towel method.

1. A plate or bowl
2. A jar
The info on this site covers method 1. Here's the link: http://www.hempcultivation.com/content.php3?id=germ

I chose to use a jar because that's what I learned in my third grade bean sprout project(think back, a lot of people did this). Heck, the bean plants grew to 6 inches tall in the jar!

---
Needed
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Plain paper towels(I use the one's commonly found in the kitchen, but you should try to find ones that don't have coloring)
<LI>A glass jar(I use an 8" tall Ball jar)
<LI>Plastic Wrap
<LI>A warm, dark place
</UL>

Instructions
<OL TYPE=1>
<LI>Lay paper towel(three typical home papertowels) down
<LI>Place seeds on towel, grouping them to one half of the towel
<LI>Place another layer of towels
<LI>Dampen the towels
<LI>Roll towels and slide into jar with the seeds towards the top of the jar
<LI>Keep someplace warm and dark
<LI>Add water to keep towels just moist at all times
<LI>Keep plastic wrap over the top.
<LI>Check for sprouts every 12 hours
<LI>Place sprouts(growth down) into 1" deep holes in soil
<LI>Light and love'em
</OL>

That's the short list. Here's exactly how I do it. It works for me quite well. I have used this for three batches of seeds and it works.
-------
I use a glass Ball Jar that's about 8 inches tall. I put two paper towels( no coloring, but otherwise normal paper towels) down on my counter, lay out the seeds with a few inches between them, then cover with two more towels. I tend to load the seeds up near the one edge of the paper towel, which makes a "top" to the towel. I lay them out in staggered rows with about an inch between any seed.
I damp the paper towel stack down enough so that you can pick up the stack and not have seeds flying all over. I roll up the wetted paper towel stack so it will fit in the mouth of the jar. At this point you can see a couple of things.
1) The paper towel roll may be too tall to fit in the jar
2) The jar circumference is smaller than the paper towel roll, causing an overlapping.
To solve:
1) Pull the roll back out, lay it out flat, and then roll up the bottom to compensate for your jar.
2) This isn't really a problem, but I like to only have one layer of seeds that are around the outside of the jar which makes checking for sprouts easier.
After I get the paper towel in the jar, I add a bit of water(so that there is a bit of water sitting in the bottom of the jar. I check to make sure that the entire towel is moist. If it's really wet, you can squeeze a lot of the water back into the bottom of th jar and it will be wicked up later.

It looks something like this:

------------ Jar mouth
| x x x x | Seeds
| x x x |
| | towel
-----------
----------- water

You really can't see the seeds that well, but that's okay.
Cover the top of the jar with plastic wrap. Tuck the whole jar someplace dark and warm. I put mine on top of a radiator that doesn't come on that often.
Check the sprouts every twelve hours. They can grow pretty fast.

Thoughts:
I really like this method because it's so easy. It takes me about ten minutes start to finish. I usually have a bit of water in the bottom of the jar and the paper towels wick up the water as needed. If there is a nice roll of towel around the bottom because the jar is shorter than the towels a lot of water will sit there and you might not have to water at all as long as things stay moist. I pull the plastic off to help evaporate when I think there is too much water.
Keeping the jar dark makes the plant grow roots rather than try to make leaves which will only hurt your chances of making the sprout take off in soil or whatever your medium.
I usually have sprouts in a couple of days(5 max). I figure anything that hasn't sprouted by then isn't going to.
I sprouted a group last week and planted them on Friday in my grow room(250MH). As of last night I had above-soil growth of about an inch and a half.

Take all of this for with a grain of salt because it works for me and from what I've learned about this whole process, it might not work exactly for you, and maybe not at all the first time. The advantage is that time is all you've got at this point.

Guyute
P.S. My seeds would never go in the microwave. Think popcorn. The little bit of water in the seed would force the seed to explode. Too bad you couldn't make maricorn.

P.P.S. I'm new. This is what works for me. I wonder if I might be keeping things too wet. I also have no idea about how long the germination can take. I put anything I consider a seed(fat, dark, uncracked) in these and get a rate of about 30-50%


[This message has been edited by Guyute (edited April 03, 2000).]

James Smith

What I have is kinda of neat. I have a little closet that I put a lock on so my wife nor my kids could get in to. I had it built just for growing. It's set up is perfectr but anywase , how many rooms do you have in your house. All you need is like two or three just Just change the lock on one buy some blinds to put over the window put a heater in there about a four foot long one one that will heat up your room to about 80 to 90 deg. Then just buy some small pots and buy some seeds just keep them wet all the time. Plus what I found that works well, now I may have herd this some where else so don't get mad if any one out there has. Get a plastic cup get a paper towel and fold the paper towel till it is about as long as your hand length wise, then get it wet with warm water and put the seeds in the middle of that paper towel put a little water in a cup and set it on a hot pad you have to watch it though it dries in about 8 hours depending on how much water you put in it.Only put a few drops 9 maybe 10. But I don't recomened that I recomemed that you go out buy some distlled water and soak it on that heating pad for 2 days in the paper towel. Then put in in a pot and keep it wet. That should help you a little. You can also try one more thing it has worked for my friends nurmorus times but not me. Do the same thing with the paper towel but this time put in in a rag like a washcloth. It dries really quick on that hot pad thouth so watch it.

tortuga024

Do not put seeds in the microwave. we did a lab like that in biology once. we put seeds(not weed seeds) in the microwave to see if they would germinate, then we tested some w/out putting them in the microwave. the ones that were not microwaved had a germination percentage around 100% and the ones that were microwaved had a germination percentage of about 5%, that is about 1 in every 20 seeds that will germinate. so dont microwave the seeds

peace

thumper

ok hers what i do, im in the proces of doing this for my 2nd time, ok here we go.....
the first time i did this i used bag seeds that were a lil imature and i still got a 100% sucess rate (mind you i only used 5 of em)
ok i get a plate and one paper towel, i soak the paper towel and then ring out the excess water, i then lay the seeds spaced out on one half of the paper towl (which is on the plate) then i foled the towel in half (so the seeds are in the middle) and then my secret is that i get a spunge and get it wet, i then put the spunge ontop of the paper towle covering the seeds, to ensure that the seeds will always be damp. after this i put a bowel over top the plate to keep it dark, place the unit in a filing cabinit which is beside a base board heater and wait. the advantage of only using one paper towel is that you can see right thru, and easily examine your seeds without disturbing them.
Peace
ThUmPeR

lilbuddie

Or you could leave the sponge in there with a bit of water in the bottom on put the seeds on top of the sponge in the paper towel. But warmth is a real good thing

Good Growing
LB

dro0py

i have put 8 seeds in a plastic cup filled with tap water, which i added aquarium cleaner (its non-toxic to humans and pets)(that removes chlorine) and i put a plastic wrap over it and rubber-banded it. how long do u think it will take for them to germinate? oh, i have them on my closet floor, but i dont know if it is warm enough, the temp is cool in there, so i dont know. can someone help?

jimbo*toker

just take all your seeds, get a paper towel and wet it put the seds in the middle and fold the paper towel over once so the seeds are covered. ok now put the hole thing in a plastic lunch bag then put them on you computer and take a look at them in about 2 days you should see a crack and a lil white thing sticking out , then put in soil

tomjoadxx

does anyone know about the germ. rates of paper towel method compared to a passive resevior hydro system using thoroughly washed oasis foam. maybe i am just a little impatient, or got some bad seeds, but it is taking way to long

tj

Happy Guy

I a new grower, so take this info how ever you want it.
I used the paper towel method and I had 100% germination on twelve seeds.
The way I did it was I folded up two plain white paper towels and soaked them in warm distilled water. Then I soaked the seeds in the same distilled water for a half an hour. Then laid the towles in a tupperware container, put the seeds on top of the paper towels with tweezers. Next I put two more wet paper towels ontop of the seeds and put the lid on. I then put the container in a folded up hand towel and set it ontop of my water heater, some parts of the top of a water heater are hotter than others so be careful.

This works very well because with the four paper towels it never got too dry. With the tupperware container wraped in the hand towel it just looks like u left a towel ontop of your water heater.

I never claimed to be a good gardener but this worked very well for me.


p.s. This may sound stupid to most people but I made this mistake once. When you do plant your seeds make sure to put the sprout down.
I was high when I planted some seeds and thought that the sprout was the stem, killed them all.

[This message has been edited by Happy Guy (edited April 20, 2000).]