When you want to germinate marijuana seeds, what’s the best way to do it?
Before you germinate marijuana seeds, you have to get good seeds.
If the marijuana seeds are shiny, gray, green, extremely black or brown, or cracked, they’re not much good.
They may be immature, or old, or have been poorly handled and stored.
Read this article to learn more about reputable seed companies.
You really do have to be very alert when you buy cannabis seeds these days.
Other than always reliable seed breeders like TGA Genetics, many marijuana seed breeders are producing crappy seeds, and some cannabis seeds re-sellers aren’t helping to ensure quality control either.
I routinely hear stories from professional and serious amateur growers who bought ten seeds but only a few sprouted.
That can be because of faulty seeds or they tried to germinate marijuana seeds the wrong way.
I germinate marijuana seeds in the media that I intend for the seeds to grow in, whether it’s coco, soil, or rockwool.
When I’m growing marijuana in soil, I just plant the seeds about half an inch under the surface in a Jiffy Cup or even in the larger containers my cannabis plants will end up growing in.
Cannabis seeds like temperatures between 74-78 degrees Fahrenheit.
When you germinate marijuana seeds, you want moist conditions, not sopping wet conditions.
You don’t germinate marijuana seeds in a heavily nutrient-enriched soil like Fox Farm Ocean Forest.
The heavy nutrients dose can harm seedling roots.
You especially don’t want to germinate marijuana seeds in a soil layer with too much nitrogen, because that tends to burn the roots and create too much vertical growth.
Hydroponics growers who intend to grow in rockwool or coco may germinate directly in those media, or they may germinate the marijuana seed out of the media and then transplant it once the seed has protruded its “radicle root.”
The radicle root is the embryonic root: the first root to emerge during marijuana seed germination.
Some marijuana growers use the water germination or wet paper towel methods.
Take a look at the helpful videos embedded in this article and you’ll get several different opinions about marijuana seed germination methods.
For the wet paper towel marijuana seeds germination technique, you thoroughly wet a paper towel with reverse osmosis water, and fold the seeds inside.
Place the wet paper towel in a 74-78°F (on a horticultural heat mat or the top of a refrigerator if need be).
Check a couple of times a day to make sure the paper towel continues to stay moist, but not soggy.
Use reverse osmosis water.
If the seeds are fresh and strong, within 48 hours you should see the cannabis seed case split and then the emergence of the white radicle root.
At this stage, the seedling is extremely fragile and should be handled with immense care.
Which is why I don’t use the paper towel method.
I don’t think it’s good to handle sprouted seeds.
Why germinate marijuana seeds in such a way that you have to handle a naked, sprouted seed?
Using the paper towel method, when the marijuana seeds have sprouted their radicle roots, it’s time to transplant them.
First, you make a small hole in moist but not soggy medium about a half of an inch deep.
Using sterilized tweezers, gently place the germinated seed in the medium with the radicle root downward.
Cover the seedling carefully with more medium and water with a small amount of room temperature water.
If you’re in hydroponics using a pump-driven irrigation system, it’s best to hand water for a few days until your seedlings have established roots.
Seedlings in the first two weeks of growth can easily be killed by overfertilization in soil and in in hydroponics.
I suggest you use little if any added nutrients until your marijuana seedlings have at least two sets of true (serrated) leaves.
I use Roots Excelurator and B-52 after seedlings are more than two inches tall.
The best lighting for seedlings is LED or T-5 fluorescent set for a 18 hour per day cycle.
After you germinate marijuana seeds and your seedlings have at least two sets of true leaves, if you’re growing in hydroponics, start using a hydroponics base nutrients formula such as Sensi pH Perfect.
You go for 100 ppm to start with, and then work your way up to the manufacturer’s recommended dosage.
One “advanced” tip: if you have old seeds, seeds that aren’t richly brown and striped, or marijuana seeds from a batch that you’ve tried to germinate from and didn’t get 100% germination, try “scuffing” the seeds.
That means you take a little sandpaper or a nail file and LIGHTLY scuff the surface. This allegedly assists germination.
Germinating marijuana seeds works well if you have quality seeds to begin with, and if you follow the marijuana seed germination instructions in this article and the embedded videos.
