Why buy seedlings or plants from a shop when you can germinate them yourself!
By germinating seeds yourself you will save lots of money!
When germinating seeds there are a few basic principles that must be followed, here they are;
- Pre-soaking your grow cubes
- Prepare propagation tray kit (base, insert tray and lid)
- Remove cubes from solution and give a gentle squeeze so the cubes are not saturated but are still holding a substantial amount of solution.
- Place your seeds with the “pointy” end facing down and slightly push in so the husk of the seed is about 1-2mm under the hole surface level.
- Affix the dome on the propagation tray and close all the vents – 100% humidity until it germinates, for some varieties you can leave the vents open (72%)
- If the seed has not germinated within 7 days spray the cubes with a light mix of water and Humiboosta @0.5ml p/L of water.
- Most seeds will soften and germinate within a 7 day period.
- If you have a T5 propagation light mount this above the propagation dome Note: light is not required to germinate the seed….. So the reason we do this is because once the seed does emerge, rather than letting it elongate as it searches for light (see phototropism blog), by having the light in place from the very beginning the seed will immediately emerge stout and strong will no loss of cellular integrity.
- Once the seed has germinated the first 2 sets of leaves will be round, these are called cotyledons, the set of serrated leaves that emerge after this will be your first “true set “of leaves.
- Once you witness the first true set emerge, the vents can be opened to reduce humidity to approx. 72% - this is called the hardening off phase, if the seed is inferior it will fall over, the tough ones stand tall.
- Some gardeners do prefer to leave the seedling in the dome until the 3rd or 4th set of true leaves, from here we can transplant into our pot system. I personally think this sets the plant back a little so I would suggest the moment you see a taproot emerge from your propagation cube immediately transplant into a 100mm pot with coco coir.
Some recommended solutions to soak your grow cubes in and spray are:
Until next week, happy germinating!
