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not sure what to do next

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wazzappenning

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ive had my seeds (4 varieties) sitting on potting soil for a week. i can see a couple of one variety has white roots i guess. do i put them in individual cells one by one as they sprout? when i do, do i put them back over the soil, or under? and still mist them twice a day?

also, i have my house thermostat set so that it gets down to 60 or so at night and during the day when were not here. could that be one reason they seem to be taking so long to sprout?

another issue im having is what appears to be white mold? growing in certain small spots on the soil/seed. am i maybe overwatering?
 

deluxestogie

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As soon as enough of the seeds have shown that they are alive, you can move them into individual cells. Use a toothpick or tweezers (gently) to place one germinating seed into a dimple in the surface of the cell's soil, and just leave it there. (I've found this easier and less traumatic to the seedling than waiting for any leaves to develop. The cell soil should be kept moist, but not soggy. Within a few days, you should see green.

Your 60º temp is certainly delaying the germination, and will delay seedling growth. Setting the thermostat to 70ºF for a few weeks shouldn't be too big a hit on the heating bill.

Seed germination in damp soil is a race between germination vs. mold growth. If the temp is too low, and the germination too slow, the mold wins. It can help to allow the germination soil to become a little less damp, and to expose it to indoor sunlight filtered through thin cloth (or a sheet of printer paper, if that's all you can find). Mold growth surrounding seeds that have not yet begun to germinate can be lightly misted with a solution of 1/2 white vinegar to 1/2 water once. Or you can use similarly diluted hydrogen peroxide. If you do this at the white tip stage or later, it may kill the germinating seed.

Bob
 

SmokesAhoy

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My crop last year all started in a house where the lows are 45 and the highs 55. So avg 50. That won't play a roll in germ imo. All my seeds sprouted in 3-5 days.
 

wazzappenning

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thanks guys. i actually have been exposing the propagator to sunlight on cloudy days, as lakota had told me they need the light to sprout (works for him), but also i read in the faq not to expose them to direct sunlight, so i kinda went half and half. also i can see the mold being a result of the lid on my propagator (exposed to light, you can see all the humidity on the inside of the lid) but i thought that was the point. ill try the vinegar after extracting any seed i think is germinated. actually ill try removing it with a toothpick first, and see how much comes back.
 

BigBonner

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Germinating each seed variety will be different . I germinated about 20 different varietys at the same time and found that orientals germinated the quickest then it was a couple days later other varietys germinated . All started the same time and at the exact same temperature .Ct Broad leaf was the longest time .
 

SmokesAhoy

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That is my experiment this year stogie. It just strikes me as odd that germination temp sets the nic levels for the season. On one hand it could make sense if the seed is detecting lower temps then maybe it would think chances for insect populations might be lower thus produce less insecticide, on the other hand that places seed awareness pretty high, I would think the mature plant would be the one to react to insects because they are eating it already.
Oh well in either case that is why I have put germination off till next month. It will be interesting though.
 

deluxestogie

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Smokes,
What that study showed about nicotine level was only in the germinated seedling. They threw them out after that. So, although the study itself is not clear about their own results, all that they could validly conclude from their own study is that the nicotine level in the seedling is raised at the moment they ended the study, but they have no data at all on the adult plant. (This was a filter paper in a petri dish kind of experiment. Not a fingernail was dirtied.)

Better studies have shown that topping raises the nicotine, as does early removal of the lowest leaves, and likewise with dry growing conditions (which I suspect simply reduces the total bulk of leaf into which a fixed production of nicotine is distributed).

I have no doubt that many, many unpublished studies were conducted on the subject of nicotine levels at the well-funded in-house labs of the major tobacco companies. At the time of the tobacco settlement, all of those documents were turned over to the courts, and can be read by anyone today, on-line at http://tobaccodocuments.org/. Unfortunately, there are millions of documents, and the indexing and search functions are nearly worthless at the site. With some tedious searching, I've found a few obscure tidbits, but that's all.

Do post your results.

Bob
 

wazzappenning

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thank you for the info guys. i dont think im going to raise the house temp to 80, so im thinking what if i put a lightbulb close enough to keep a constant temp.( regular bulb or grow lite?).

then again, some seed already has a radicle the length of the seed, and some appears to be just developing a white tip. some show nothing yet. is it too late to raise the temp/ time to move the long radicles?
 

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I would say that having conditions right before the seed starts is far preferred. Reacting to all the signs that something is wrong is just a bad game plan. I also am of the mind set that every seed has the potential of being the perfect plant. That potential begins to reduce the moment we drop that seed on wet soil. We then proceed to make slight to serious mistakes that reduce the potential for perfection bit by bit.

I agree your house does not need to be 80 degrees. the seed and soil does. THe top of a refrigerator is often a warmer place in the house. The top of a hot water heater might be etc. or just place a desk lamp near the seed until you get the desired 80 degrees. I have found myself that lower temperatures delays germination by several days. Some will say slower germination is better. I have not decided for myself. I seem to have a lot more sickly struggling plants the slower the germination was.
If I had started seed and after 5 or 6 days thought it was a bad start. I woudl at least seriously consider just starting a new batch. Assuming I have the seed. This year I have some varieties I have no extra seed for. I also need to start my seed may 8th or set my plant out date back. I want a plant out date of June 5th. So it would have to be a significantly bad start to get me to alter those plans.
 

Chicken

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the lights are a good idea, i like to start all my seedlings under lights,

>started in a tray,,,and after they get a little big, i move them to thier individual cups,

>
tobaccogrow003.jpg

By chickenhawk434 at 2012-03-10
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baccygrow005.jpg

By chickenhawk434 at 2012-03-23
 

BarG

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Hey Chicken, I was just given 4 7' x 4' insulated glass. and several other large single tempered. Next yrs hot house. Can you locate to a porch or covered location to recieve indirect sunlight or early morning late evening direct sun. I have my larger non tobacco plants that way but outdoors caterpillers are dropping from any where they can hang a thread.I have to check for caterpillars from moths each early morn and evening. They cut them right at the dirt line. They get trapped in those dixie cups, they cant get out but burrow down before morning.
 
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