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Well, to start off with, let's explain how we came to try out this idea. It became time to start another round of seeds, as we had new strains to try out, but two of the strains were known to both be several years old, and the seeds of the other strain were replacements for seeds that had bad germination rates, next to several strains that had excellent rates in the same conditions, from the previous germination. We first started sets of these seeds in paper towel, and then took them to coco (some had split, some hadn't). Only two seeds actually completed germination - the rest either split and grew too slowly and became rotten, or they didn't split at all.
Then we read a thread, over at ICMag, that described a technique that this poster initially experimented with simply for older seeds that were difficult to germinate, but eventually did it with all of his seeds because they germinated faster. The process as he did it was to gently apply pressure with tweezers on the pointed ends of the seeds to actually pop the seed open where it would normally crack open, after he gave it twelve hours to soak. Several posters in the thread then tried it out for themselves, and reported back that it was working excellently.
So, we gave it a try. First we tried this with the seeds that showed no signs of changes from the first round of attempted germination, and then did it with every new seed that we tried to germinate. The only exception is that my lady popped them with her teeth instead of tweezers, because she had better control on how much pressure to apply (which is barely any, just enough - they pop right away, and you can hear it happen). Within a day, taproots began to emerge from two of the seeds that first showed no signs that they began germinating after about a week in paper towels and then in coco (some of the seeds simply were not viable). It has also been working exceptionally with the seeds we have started germinating since then.
It is beneficial to do this because the energy that the seed would have to exert, especially if they are seeds with thicker hulls, can be expended in taproot growth and getting the cotyledons out of the shell. Of course, if the seeds are fresh and completely viable, then allowing the seed to split itself and emerge would perhaps make it stronger, the same way putting a fan on seedlings will strengthen their stem, but I don't know how consequential allowing it to take care of itself is, and, for our situation, we're dealing with seeds that aren't as viable and need to conserve their energy for everything that we can't help them with. We've confirmed that this definitely works, noting that it isn't just seeds that would have grown out anyways, as seeds that weren't responding in all the usual germination settings then grew out immediately after being popped by us.
Anyways, just passing this along to the Growery , since I haven't seen this technique mentioned yet here. To anyone looking to try this out, I'd suggest trying it out with bag-seed first, because there is definitely potential there for putting too much pressure on them and completely smushing the seeds. The poster we read about this from was using a magnifying glass, in addition to tweezers, to see better what was happening. Teeth work great though!
We're definitely happy with this because we scored some rare beans of a strain that hasn't been available for years (Rez's Apollo Mist), and this technique is resulting in growing seedlings when, at first, it looked like we weren't going to get any results. On that note, expect a new grow journal from us soon.
great job sirius. have you thought about water penetration? the limiting factor in germinating thick-coated seeds might not be the actual breakage of the seedcoat, but might be the lack of water penetration to initiate germination in the first place. the popping technique would provide for both less emergence stress and more water penetration, so you've got both bases covered anyways.
why apply pressure from the pointed ends of the seeds? it seems to me that applying pressure around the sides would be better, especially along the ridge which usually cracks first anyways. did you try different angles or positions?
can you link us to the original thread on icmag too?
Quote: Mushr00m_Man said: sweet this tek rules thanks for bringin it over i have 100 bag seeds from a few years ago sitting here and im contemplating try in it
Give it a shot. Since you have so many, what you could do is try some popped and some on their own and see what works best. What I'd recommend is putting all of the seeds you are going to try in the moistened substrate you're working with (paper towel, soil, etc.), and coming back and popping the ones you want after about twelve hours or a day...
Quote: saltatory said: great job sirius. have you thought about water penetration? the limiting factor in germinating thick-coated seeds might not be the actual breakage of the seedcoat, but might be the lack of water penetration to initiate germination in the first place.
Yep, it did cross our minds, but I didn't specifically mention it because there could be a handful of reasons why it either doesn't happen or the seed doesn't get through germinating all the way.
Quote:
why apply pressure from the pointed ends of the seeds? it seems to me that applying pressure around the sides would be better, especially along the ridge which usually cracks first anyways. did you try different angles or positions?
She tried it from the sides, as well as from the pointed ends, and it just seems like it works better from the pointed ends. I think if you tried it from the sides, it would be a lot easier to smoosh the insides without getting a good pop to occur, whereas, if you apply pressure from both ends, the pressing down would bend the sides of the hull out from the center, and the edge on the side that naturally splits open will be the first thing to give under the pressure. Also, its pretty much empty space near each pointed end.
Quote:
can you link us to the original thread on icmag too?
I'd love to, but I found it while searching and, the last time I went to find it, I couldn't remember how I found it. I'll give it a shot later on though.
Works fine, I prefer to let the seed do it's thing, and if it's not opened in 48hrs I'll crack them with my front teeth.
For the most part though, any good seed is gonna open in no time with proper moisture and heat. It's rare for me to have a seed take more than 24hrs to open. Seems a lot of people neglect the heat part, and thats where these seed tek's come from, or there is the rare occasion when you get thick hulled seeds that are hard to split, this is not normal though.
-------------------- If you ain't smokin' dro, you're smokin' reggie.
Good to know, thank you. I put a couple sour diesel seeds in some moist paper towel today. They're pretty old though, ~4 months. If they don't crack tomorrow then I'll try this out.
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It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom.
yea im gona give it a try too (got a ton of bagseeds) i want to do a comparison on leaf growth as a sprout.
-------------------- Everyone are you ready for doom,
Because I've blackened the sun,
And I've bloodied the moon.
I bring gloom when I step in the room,
With the fumes of a tomb.
flowers bloom when Im taken away
i remember doing this awhile back just messing around with seeds that never "popped" it worked, i completly forgot about this now i have some old seeds and they are not germin up for me and been a week im going to popp these bad girls up and hopefully get something!!
To follow up with my previous post,neither of those Sour Diesel seeds cracked after 24 hours so I popped them and both started to send out little tap roots but only one survived.
Better than nothing and this definitely works.
--------------------
It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom.
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First we tried this with the seeds that showed no signs of changes from the first round of attempted germination, and then did it with every new seed that we tried to germinate. The only exception is that my lady popped them with her teeth instead of tweezers, because she had better control on how much pressure to apply (which is barely any, just enough - they pop right away, and you can hear it happen). Within a day, taproots began to emerge from two of the seeds that first showed no signs that they began germinating after about a week in paper towels and then in coco (some of the seeds simply were not viable). It has also been working exceptionally with the seeds we have started germinating since then. 
, since I haven't seen this technique mentioned yet here. To anyone looking to try this out, I'd suggest trying it out with bag-seed first, because there is definitely potential there for putting too much pressure on them and completely smushing the seeds. The poster we read about this from was using a magnifying glass, in addition to tweezers, to see better what was happening. Teeth work great though! 
I'll give it a shot later on though. 
U
