How to Start
The best way to begin is to soak your seeds in a glass of water for 24 hours. This is a must as the water starts to soften the seeds shell and helps to begin the germination process. Once you put your seeds in a glass of water, keep them in a dark place as light affects the germination process. After 24 hours check on them and see if the seeds have sunk to the bottom of the glass, if they are still floating try to give them a gentle poke to see if they sink. If they do sink then that means they are viable seeds. If they are still floating, give them another 24 hours, and if after that if they do not sink then the seeds are unfortunately not viable seeds.
Once you have soaked your seeds for 24 hours, now it is time to plant them. Sometimes your seeds may have even started germinating in the glass of water, this will be the case if you see a tiny little white taproot starting to pop out the shell. This is great as it will shorten the time needed for the next step. There are 2 key factors that will play a huge role when germinating your seeds, these factors are heat and moisture. Without these factors present it will be very difficult to have successful germination. So to create the perfect conditions for this, 2 main techniques are commonly used, they are explained as follows:
The Paper Towel Method
This method involves you placing your seeds into a damp paper towel, and placing it in a Ziploc bag to maintain the humidity. Then keep them in a warm dark place till you see tap roots sprouting from the seeds. Once the taproots are about 1cm long they are ready to be planted into the medium. Please note: If your temperatures are below 24 degrees it is probably a good idea to place your Ziploc bag onto a heating mat. Just make sure you leave the Ziploc open so excess heat can escape so the seeds are not in an environment that’s too hot. The ideal range will be between 26-28 degrees. Also remember to check the paper towel on a regular basis to make sure it’s still damp, if it starts to dry out respray it to get it damp again.
Planting Directly Into The Medium
As the name suggests, you take your seeds out from the glass of water and plant them straight into your growing medium. Plant them about half a pinky finger into the medium then lightly cover it and sprinkle some water over it. Put a clear cup over it to keep the humidity up if necessary and put it under a light source for some heat and you are good to go! Just let Mother Nature do the rest!!
