Germinating

It all begins with germinating the seeds. As there are many different ways to germinate your seeds I prefer Rockwool cubes. Other methods that you probably know are:

• Wet towel (tissue)
• Soil
• Jiffy Pellets

Why are Rockwool cubes ideal for geminating?

• Rockwool cubes can store a great amount of water which is necessary to successfully germinate seeds. The water keeps the seeds moist and in combination with heat the seeds will germinate
• Rockwool cubes holds enough air. When seeds starting to root it’s essential they can absorb enough oxygen
• Rockwool cubes are clean.

Rockwool cubes are available in many Online Grow Shop and even your local grow shop should have these. Mostly they come in trays of 7x11 but any kind of Rockwool will do just fine for germinating!

The cubes used here already got a little hole for a cutting that runs to the center. We don't need the hole and want the seeds more on the surface of the cube. With a small round object like a pencil you can make a little "nesting" area for the seeds.

It also prevents that the seeds get washed away when watering the cubes!!. It's a good thing to soak the cubes in warm water before putting the seeds in.

After preparing the cubes you can sow the seeds and label the vararieties. To save cubes it's possible to cut them in smaller pieces!.

The use of a heating mat is highly recommended as they keep the cubes on a constant heat level. A temperature of 25-30 °C is needed for germinating the seeds.

Most Wild species can take a long time to germinate but usually they germinate somewhere between 2-4 weeks. Longer or shorter periods are possible depending on the variety and the quality of the seeds. Seeds germinate with a higher rate when temperatures are between 21-27 °C, but seeds germinate faster when the temperature is between 32-38 °C (NMSU). But it is very important to keep the temperature at a constant level!.

When seeds start to germinate a little white "hook" will show up. This hook is actually the main root of your new plant and it only wants to grow into the Rockwool to start developing the rootsystem. In the picture you can see the root starting to penetrate the Rockwool.

As Rockwool is superb for germinating there are some disadvantages when using it as a growmedium for your plants. The most important one is that Rockwool has a high PH-level that is not good for the rootsystem so you have to bring the level down. PH levels of Rockwool can vary a lot and constant "maintenance" is required.

It's also common to transfer the complete cube to soil when the plants shows there first true leaves, or the roots start to show at the bottom of the cube. My opinion is that seedlings that grew on soil are much healthier then those on Rockwool. Off course a solution of nutrients can be added to the cubes.

At this point I recommend to transfer the sprouted seed to a small container or multi-cell tray filled with soil that only contains a very small amount of nutrients. The seed can be put on top of the soil and only needs to be covered with 2mm of soil!!.

Another great advantage of using Rockwool cubes for germinating seeds is that you can "filter out" any bad seeds.

After a week you should see the new emerged plant

When the first sets of true leaves are developed  it's time to transplant them to a larger container.