# How long do you leave seeds to break through the soil?



## 000StankDank000 (Dec 24, 2014)

So when you germ the seeds they open have a tail you put in soil 5-7 broke soil are growing well but the others have not. How long do you guys wait to pull the plug?


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## lyfespan (Dec 24, 2014)

000StankDank000 said:


> So when you germ the seeds they open have a tail you put in soil 5-7 broke soil are growing well but the others have not. How long do you guys wait to pull the plug?



2-3 days, I'll even try to uncover with a pencil point to check things out before tossing.


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## Joe420Camel (Dec 24, 2014)

Defiantly poke around (with a sterile utensil) to see what's going on before you throw it out but I agree with 2-3 days as long as they were "germed" (with tail)... 7-10 days if it was just a "dry" seed.


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## 000StankDank000 (Dec 24, 2014)

Damn I'm on a week. What happens to em to hard to break through?


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## Joe420Camel (Dec 24, 2014)

what are the actual #'s?  
you say "5-7 broke through and are growing" but how many did you start with? ( and is it 5  or 7 )
if its 7 out of 10 your not doing too bad. 
if its 5 out of 50 your doing it wrong.


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## 000StankDank000 (Dec 24, 2014)

It was 7 seeds that all germ but only 5 broke the soil. It has been 7 days so I dove in one looks like I stuck it to deep and the other was a dud . I had 5 jack herer seeds all germ in 24hrs and 2 break soil already in 24 hr. 

The jack herer seeds looked way bigger and healthy compared to the small and un healthy looking fire OG. I'm sad the fire OG was so whack cause it was the first time trying regular seeds. I had a 12 pack got 5 seedlings no sex yet. If I go 5 for 5 on the fem jacks It will be hard to go regular seeds again especially if I start getting males  .


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## The Hemp Goddess (Dec 26, 2014)

I usually give  mine a week to 10 days, but I plant directly into my medium unless I have older seeds that have dried out some.  Is there a specific reason that you "pre-sprout"?  Every time you handle a popped seed, it is a chance to damage it or pass pathogens to it.  And it the seed broke out of its hull but did not grow through the medium, there is the likelyhood that something not good happened on the way from the glass of water or paper towel or whatever to the medium, unless you know that you did something like over or under water.


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## 000StankDank000 (Dec 26, 2014)

Put way 2 deep 
I wanna see the seed open . Lots of people do it this way . The Seedbank will refund non germ seeds if you use this method


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## orangesunshine (Dec 26, 2014)

The Hemp Goddess said:


> I usually give  mine a week to 10 days, but I plant directly into my medium unless I have older seeds that have dried out some.  Is there a specific reason that you "pre-sprout"?  Every time you handle a popped seed, it is a chance to damage it or pass pathogens to it.  And it the seed broke out of its hull but did not grow through the medium, there is the likelyhood that something not good happened on the way from the glass of water or paper towel or whatever to the medium, unless you know that you did something like over or under water.



this is a a very interesting answer that caught my attention---i have been a pre-sprouter in a glass of water since i learned of the method from MARP a while back---prior to that i pre-sprouted in wet paper towels---so long story a bit longer---not sure what the heck happened most recently after soaking a bunch of beans---all cracked many had tails---i transplanted to solo cups yet only about 20% broke ground---i dumped the ones that didn't come up after approx 14 days---so what i blame my low seedling count to is that i did not take the time and effort to point all tails down---i certainly didn't intentionally point them up either---planting 30+ beans i got a bit lazy and just dropped them in their 1/2" hole and covered them---my logic was if they were not hardy enough to fight to re-position in the loose soil then i didn't want them anyhow---so lesson learned---if you are a pre-soaker/sprouter---make the effort to be sure all tails are always pointing down or you may just be wasting your time---who really knows why all the cracked beans did not sprout---but it would have been nice to know that they were at least positioned correctly to have the chance to break ground


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## Wetdog (Dec 26, 2014)

The Hemp Goddess said:


> I usually give  mine a week to 10 days, but I plant directly into my medium unless I have older seeds that have dried out some.  Is there a specific reason that you "pre-sprout"?  Every time you handle a popped seed, it is a chance to damage it or pass pathogens to it.  And it the seed broke out of its hull but did not grow through the medium, there is the likelyhood that something not good happened on the way from the glass of water or paper towel or whatever to the medium, unless you know that you did something like over or under water.



:yeahthat::goodposting:

Besides all that, if one has ever seen pics or diagrams of how soil planted seeds pop, the tap root grows for the surface first, makes a U'ee and heads straight down.

Straightening out this U'ee is what pops the leaves and new growth above ground. It's a big strain on a seedling to have to push straight up having been planted with the tap root straight down.

I garden more than anything and aside from a very few specific plant seeds you only see 'pre-sprouting' on MJ forums and even then, the practice doesn't seem to be espoused by actual gardeners in the forums.:farm:

Wet


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## justafarmer (Dec 26, 2014)

000StankDank000 said:


> So when you germ the seeds they open have a tail you put in soil 5-7 broke soil are growing well but the others have not. How long do you guys wait to pull the plug?



whats up StankDank?

I too germinate 'directly' into my soil and generally have 100% success. 
My seeds come up 2-5 days after planting almost always. 
If one hasn't broke ground after 10 days, thats when I decide it's time to investigate,...but it's rarely happened.

It's a long read, but if you follow this link to a T, you'll get as close to 100% as possible in my opinion:
http://www.mandalaseeds.com/Guides/Germination-Guide

Good luck with your new sprouts!


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