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seeds Germinating experiment: cups vs bags

Just an update, after moving the seeds that were in bags for 4 weeks into cups and had pretty much 0 germination rate, the yellow 7pot, bhut jolokia, and 7pot started to sprout!!! aewsome!!!

Also make sure to hydrate the cups every now and then if you use a heating mat. the paper towel will dry up due to evaporation of the water, or you could use a thicker paper towel
 
Blister said:
I tried the paper towel and sandwich bag this year and didn't have any luck with it. I must've did something wrong. That or my seeds weren't viable anymore. Good luck
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I do it exactly as you say (other than I put them on edge of paper town then roll it up so seeds are inside. The best controlled temperature I have found is inside the oven with the oven light on..stays right at 85 degrees and I have massive germination.
 
PepperJam said:
We have a winner! :dance: :dance: :dance: Cup A has crossed the finishing line with 5 of 5 seeds germinated! The stats:

Cup A - 5 :woohoo:
Cup B - 2 :tear:
Bag - 1 :tear:

Bag just started germinating one seed.

Thanks everyone for following! I hope this experiment will help everyone germinate their seeds faster. Special thanks to Mil for the great idea! I think for even added success, soak the seed in warm water overnight so the seeds are soft and ready for the cups. I'm going to try that when my new seeds come in.
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thats pretty awesome. I have about 40 bags going right now....I just called Gordon Foods and they sell the cups. Guess where I am stopping tonight on way home! Great post!
 
You guys sold me on the cup idea. I went to Sam's club and bought a box of 2500, and a box of 2500 lids. Each box was about $24.00, so if my math is correct, each cup will cost me $0.0192 each, plus the coffee filters. I haven't crunched the numbers, but seems like it will be cheaper than starter soil, and save me a step in the pot up process. As soon as the plants in my germination chamber are done, I will check out the cup method.
 
2500 cups! :eek:

I don't think I'd have the patience to fiddle with such methods if I were growing that many plants! :lol:
 
I having a really hard time finding the cups I settled for the Glad small containers. Figure I can use them next year as well
 
Here are some pics of my setup. I monitor the cups daily to see if i have germination and also check for wetness of the paper towel as they can dry out on heat mat.

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A closeup of one cup with early jalapeno seeds. I already planted them into the seed tray, what to do with these extras. Its like they are try to escape the cup!

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Let me outttttt!
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and here's a bhut jolokia seedlings i do not need to plant (already have them potted up), they are just getting leggy. Might give seedlings to friends or experiment with them.
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Lucky Dog, I use those too. Get the lunch meat that comes in the glad containers and reuse them for see starting.
 
Color me sold on cups. I sowed some white hab seeds on March 1, 2011, as an experiment. I used coffee filters and ambient heat. I moved the sprouted seeds to 4" pots yesterday. That is some crazy germination!
 
I attempted to start the seeds in the little cups with coffee filters without much success. I know someone mentioned using coffee filters instead of paper towels to avoid the seeds rooting into the deep pores of the paper towels. I can't advise doing that. I only got a couple sprouts with them. Stick with the paper towels in the cups.
 
BigPhilMD said:
I attempted to start the seeds in the little cups with coffee filters without much success. I know someone mentioned using coffee filters instead of paper towels to avoid the seeds rooting into the deep pores of the paper towels. I can't advise doing that. I only got a couple sprouts with them. Stick with the paper towels in the cups.
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Interesting, is it because coffee filters are not retaining water and are not as a soft medium for the seeds to lay on? Or maybe the filters have some chemical in them?
 
I noticed using a paper towel that they dry out quickly. I started using those round makeup pads that women use. They are softer and hold far more water. I had a seed that i was about to throw away, been on a paper towel in cup for weeks and nothing. I put in a new cup with makeup pad and 2 days later it germinated :)
 
mmcdermott1 said:
I noticed using a paper towel that they dry out quickly. I started using those round makeup pads that women use. They are softer and hold far more water. I had a seed that i was about to throw away, been on a paper towel in cup for weeks and nothing. I put in a new cup with makeup pad and 2 days later it germinated :)
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Good idea, yea i noticed, paper towels dry out, especially on heated mats. Maybe next year i'll try those pads :D
 
PepperJam said:
Interesting, is it because coffee filters are not retaining water and are not as a soft medium for the seeds to lay on? Or maybe the filters have some chemical in them?
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They are not retaining water at all. They dry out way too quickly. I was using all natural unbleached filters so I don't think it had any chemicals that would have messed with them. I think the paper towels are better because they are thick enough to hold a lot of water without letting the heat pad evaporate it all.

I like that we've all concluded that the cups are the way to go, now we just need to find a middle ground between paper towels and coffee filters.
 
The other thing that comes to mind would be the round shotgun cleaning pads. They are lint free American Made 100% Cotton Flannel, Double Napped with Superior Absorbency. A big bag of them is like 5 bucks. I wonder if cotton versus paper towel would make a big difference.
 
Gonna try out paper towels in plastc cups this time. Last year i tried paper towels in plastic baggies and i had sucky germination.
 
Give this a shot.......I use basically the same method but on top of the paper towel in the cup I put potting soil and then set the seeds on the soil. I kust make sure the soil is kept moist. Also I dont close them in with a lid. I'd like to see if they germ faster in soil.
 
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