How to germinate seeds

When it comes to germinating your feminized cannabis seeds ditch the paper towel method! It’s a terrible way to germinate. Sure some hippie has been germinating seeds this way for hundreds of years. But trust me I’ve heard many a horror story of paper towels drying out.

Here’s the best method for cannabis germination:

Step 1: Label a cup, or in my case, I like using shot glasses

Step 2: Fill the cup with regular water. I would recommend using bottled water with a Ph of 6.5

Step 3: Drop marijuana seeds in the shot glass

Step 4: Place the cup or shot glass in a warm dark space. This will depend on where in your residence you have a warm, dark spot for them.

Usually, your germinating marijuana seeds will start to drop to the bottom over the next 48 hours and start to form a white tail. This is what you are looking for. Once the seeds start to spout tail, it is time to plant them in your grow medium. With that on to the next step.

Only purchase from trusted Cannabis Seedbank in South Africa for High Yielding cannabis seeds. We can recommend checking out Nirvana Shop SA

Post germination planting

Once you are done germinating your feminized weed seeds they are ready to be planted. For cannabis seeds use plastic beer cups filled with moist pro mix or a coco peat mix. Medium is up to the choice of the grower. 

Don’t forget to punch some holes in the bottom of the cups. These are placed in a small seedling LED grow tent. The LED lights won’t harm a seed and will provide fantastic root and vegetative growth. Within two weeks a good root base is formed, and you will be able to cut away the plastic cup to transplant them into their next home.

Auto flowering marijuana seeds are a little bit different because they don’t like to be transplanted and tend to grow exceedingly quickly. Skipping the beer cups and the CFL seedling tent altogether, these seeds go directly into the pots they’ll finish flowering in and under more powerful lighting too.

The biggest challenge in starting auto-flowering seeds is keeping the soil moist – like in the paper towel method – when you have high-intensity discharge lights blasting at a very close range for 20 hrs a day. Growers ought to check on their auto-flowering seedlings twice a day because it’s 20 hours long.

Only purchase from trusted Cannabis Seedbank in South Africa for Autoflower cannabis seeds. We can recommend checking out Nirvana Shop SA

Ultimately your germination success is dependent on your ability to keep your seeds sufficiently watered and providing a healthy grow environment. Even after germination some seedlings will die off if you’re not careful. The cup of water method works amazing at near perfect germination, but you may lose a few seeds during the first few days if you’re not paying attention.

Germination using the paper towel and 2 plates method

Step 1. The setup – 

Line the bottom of the first plate with a few layers of wet tissue and drain any excess water from the plate.

Seeds should be placed on top of the tissue, allowing each seed as much space as possible.

Place another few layers of moist tissue on top of the seeds, again allowing excess water to drain off.

Lastly, cover everything with the second plate, upside down, to form a ‘clam-shell’ shape – this will create the dark, moist environment necessary for germination.

Step 2. Germination – 

Place the plates somewhere warm (21ºC) and away from direct light.

Check the seeds every day to ensure that the tissue does not dry out. Spray the tissues with water if necessary.

Within a few days some or all of the seeds should open and put out a root. It is common for cannabis seeds to open within 72 hours of being put in the germination medium. Less commonly, some seeds may need up to 10 days or even two weeks to open and put out a root.

When the first few millimeters of root have emerged from a germinated seed, each one should then be carefully transferred to a small container of growing medium (soil, coco-fiber or Rockwool).

Step 3. Potting 

Make a hole in the growing medium that is about twice as deep as the seed is long, so that each germinated cannabis seed sits 2-5mm below the surface.

Place the cannabis seed, root first, into the hole and cover with a small amount of growing medium – just enough to block light, not enough to obstruct the seedling when it emerges.

Cannabis seedlings usually emerge from the growing medium 24 to 72 hours after the germinated seeds are planted.

Step 4. The seedling stage 

New seedlings should be given access to bright light from the time they emerge. Care should be exercised in the first week or two, as seedlings are still quite delicate.

Seedlings intended for outdoors should be acclimatized to direct sunlight by placing them on a windowsill inside the house and increasing their exposure to direct sunlight by an hour or two per day.

Seedlings intended for indoors may emerge into an artificially lit environment with no problems. If using HID lighting, seedlings should be kept a minimum distance of 50 to 80cm from the bulb. If using fluorescent light, seedlings can be kept a normal distance from the tube/bulb.

Germination Method 3: Germination Station

One option for growers is to use a tool which has been specifically designed to provide optimal germination conditions like a germination station with heat mat.

You can make a DIY germination station at home by putting a plastic dome over a plate on a heating pad.

There are benefits to the professionally made germination stations as they work very well and are pretty cheap to buy.

When growers start their cannabis seedlings in a germination station, the seeds are usually germinated in a starter seedling cube.

One of the advantages of starting seeds in starter cubes is your sprouted seeds can easily be transferred right to their next growing medium or container.

Rock wool starter cubes work great for female cannabis seeds and can be used in any growing medium including hydroponics, soil, or coco coir. Other starter cubes include Jiffy Peat Pellets and coco cubes.

Once your seed has sprouted, just make a little hole in your growing medium, and place the entire pellet inside. Make sure cannabis grow medium is also moist yet not soaking, like your pellet or cube. The roots will emerge from the bottom of the cube and burrow directly into your growing medium. 

The cube is then placed on the heat mat inside the dome and then it is just a few days waiting game until we see some magic happen.