Inphreakr

You are right Lilbuddie, except that FF is rigid, and protects the new root developement. Pearlite or vermiculite can shift and harm fragile roots. Other than that, pearlite and vermiculite are a great substitute.

I'm also a rockwool fiend! I absolutely love rockwool! What I do now is just set the FF cube on top of a large RW cube when the roots peek out. In the past I just poped the FF cubes in a pumice/vermiculite mixture, that worked well too. I just like the added root protection of FF and RW. Maybe I have some sort of root psychosis...

Maybe I take precaution to an extreme, but I figure nothing bad will come of that. Good luck with whatever choice you make!


[This message has been edited by Inphreakr (edited May 15, 2000).]

runforlife

hey you guys. my good seeds didn't come yet, but in the meantime i started germinating about 20 seeds and 7 have already opened up! its the 2nd day!! this is awsome. do i plant the "grow tip" down or up?? i read one post that said put it down, but my friend said put it up? what do i do? also how much water should i give it every day? how deep should i put the seed?? how big of a container shoud i start the seeds in? im germinating all of my seeds in distilled water, and i think it works better than the paper towel method. also how much light, until they get bigger?

runforlife

also i am using mainly flouresant lights. i have 5 flouresant bulbs on the pots. is it also good to add in some ordinary lights for the little seeds, since they bring heat. i have a 200 and a 65 watt regular bulbs in addition.

Pyros

I have 9 of the dankest BC bud seeds known to man kind.so i don't want to screw this up.so far i have treid the paper towl method on top of a heating pad, but it never worked and the first time it dreid out for a day, if they dry out will it screw up the seed?
i have treid 6 seeds, and i lost 1. so i need ot get the other two to work, what is the best method?

runforlife

hey like i said above, the best way to germiate seeds in my opinion is using distilled water and just putting the seeds in a cup of distilled water until the grow tip pops out of the seed. which way do you put the grow tip?!?! i need to know! they are all germinating and im going to have some problems soon. also how bad is the smell of the plants????? is there anyway to get rid of it?? has anyone here heard of the seeds called big bud? if so do you think they are good, i have 12 and im going to start them this week or next.

wolfman

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by runforlife:
has anyone here heard of the seeds called big bud? if so do you think they are good, i have 12 and im going to start them this week or next. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

“The Big Bud was the same as usual. The buds are large for sure, but this strain just doesn’t do it for me. They reached about 15 inches in height and yielded at least an ounce each. I've grown this strain 2 times before and to be honest I thought it came out poorly originally because they were my first crops, but even this latest batch, which was grown and dried as perfect as I have ever done, still pales as far as potency goes. This will be the last time I take up space with this strain.” – James Hetfield

“While I'm not going to say that Big Bud isn't a good strain, it's not as magical as many people seem to think. The main problem is the name, Big Bud, everyone expects massive buds. They are big, but not significantly larger than many other top strains. The potency is good but not knock you off your feet good. There is huge variations from plant to plant, some are killer and deserving of some of the legends, but the majority are just typical(of high quality strains). Overall, a good plant as long as you don't expect miracles. I just finished a bowl of it myself.”

“Friend has been growing supposed BB for a while now, and let me say that the BB from Sensi I grew and selected a perfect mother (maybe just great luck?), but mine sure is different. Much greener, tastier, more potent, amazing. 8-10 in my opinion. But even Sensi says that 25% are "Special". So I'd advise germing the whole batch (pack ) of seed as to give yourself a better shot at a primo Mom! Good luck dude. If you never grew any exotics before, try an easier strain. You really kind of need to know what your doing (selection wise).” – Bdubs

“Piece of crap - hard to clone. I grew a few seeds from a seedbank selling Sensi BB, and I’m glad I didn’t waste time and space with any more than 2 females. Maybe I was unlucky and didn’t score that hard to find large producer. Dunno. the plants were grown indoors under plenty of light. They were big in circumference, with spread out bud yield. I was expecting fatty kolas, but nope. It looked more like Holland/Canada Big Treat than BB is supposed to be. Anyway, that’s my two cents.” – dak

“Afoaf has a Posi Big Bud Mom that is 70% pistils ripe, with cloudy heads in about 43-45 days and it yields real nice. Its a real tough strain, eats ferts big time, not the strongest most devastating buzz, however it has a long duration 4 hours, but a repeat for sure, the strain has really "grown on me." Its just an all-around good strain, now if it took 55-60 days it would be history, its speed to harvest is a big consideration.” –Budm


Wolfman

Warloc730

Frank and Rosenthal (The Marijuana Growers Guide) both claim that a PLite/VMLite mix is best for germination as long as the rocks arent moved.

I like cubes though because I like to be able to transport them and they are much easier to manage than most other methods.

The Warloc

Pyros

When you try to germinate seeds and it dosn't work and you dry them out after will it screw them up?, also will putting seeds into a glass like a shotglass with water, then taping it up with electric tape to keep the light out,then putting it on a window shelf for heat(where i live it will get real warm.i've treid the paper towl method twice for a week each time and it didnt work, and i had them on heating pads.so will the method i just described work?

~RC~

Pyros, they are most likely dead. If they haven't opened then chances are they won't. First of all, where did you get these seeds? Are you sure they are viable?

What you should do to germinate is one of two things. The first and best is to germinate in soil. Place you seeds on a moist bed of soil and cover it with about 1/4 inch of loose soil. Make sure you don't overwater this as the biggest culprit is too much water. Your seeds need plenty of air to grow fast and strong. Place them somewhere warm and you can mist them with a spray bottle from time to time if they are in a dry area. You can also cover your pot or container with some plastic wrap to retain the moisture and heat but you'll have to remove it right away the minute you see your seedling pop out.

Another method I like for germination tests is this. You'll need a zip lock bag (sandwich size), bottled water (Naya is good), teaspoon of bleach (not scented), a dish cloth (J-Cloth is the best), viable seeds that have been refrigerated for 24 hours. This is similar to the paper towel method but is a lot more controlled and safer. Mix a teaspoon of bleach into one liter of Naya water. The bleach will not harm the seeds but will kill off most bacteria in the water and prevent mold. Fold your J-Cloth in four to form a nice sqaure, dunk it into your mixture and wring out the excess. The cloth doesn't need to be soaking, it should just be wet. Place seeds apart from each other in the middle fold of your J-Cloth, fold over top portion of cloth and carefully place inside the zip lock bag. Blow some air into the bag, but do not this if you have a cold or your lungs are full of smoke (never know with some people). Seal the bag with contents and air and place somewhere dark and warm. I don't trust heating pads as too much heat will kill them. I like the top of my fridge or the top of my fluorescents just where the ballast is. Make sure they are not in direct sunlight as this will create too much heat as well. Check every 12 hrs and if you have good seeds, you will see a tap root in 12 hrs to 3 days. Some seeds take longer to open than others so do not disturb them and just check again every day. After that, take care in transplanting to your medium, tap root pointing down.

All these items, except the seeds can be found at WalMarts. J-Cloth is not well known in some parts of the states so you can use cheese cloth (Pharmacy should have them). It's just important that the cloth has small openings to allow the seeds to breath.

And yes, just putting seeds in a glass of water will work, but I've done many a germination test in my time, and chances of a seed dying in the water is higher this way.
And for the sticklers of the paper towel method, do you know if that paper is acid free? Companies don't mark it on the packaging so it can play a part. The ph of water is important for seeds to properly germinate.

Good luck.

Warloc730

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Pyros, they are most likely dead. If they haven't opened then chances are they won't.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep. You pretty much only get one shot at this. Think of seeds as kinda like boiling pasta...you can't just dry them up after a soaking and try again later. Germination rates are greatly lowered when seeds dry up after being soaked.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The first and best is to germinate in soil. Place you seeds on a moist bed of soil and cover it with about 1/4 inch of loose soil. Make sure you don't overwater this as the biggest culprit is too much water.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree, soil germination is the best method for growing bag seed weed in soil. It takes the stress out of transplanting and many of the other methods of germination. This is probably the preferred method of novice growers (not unlike myself). If you are growing hydro, or are using very expensive seeds, then this is not an option.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><HR>viable seeds that have been refrigerated for 24 hours.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've heard of this a few times but I never could understand the reasoning, can you tell any more about this?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Mix a teaspoon of bleach into one liter of Naya water. The bleach will not harm the seeds but will kill off most bacteria in the water and prevent mold.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This can be argued forever, I still don't think that bleach could ever help a delicate seedling grow to maturity.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><HR>or the top of my fluorescents just where the ballast is.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What kind of flourescent lights need a ballast?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The ph of water is important for seeds to properly germinate.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Very true, pH is one of the few things that can hinder growth in a viable seed. Bleach is very poisonus (chlorine) and it will increase pH to dangerous levels.


The Warloc