Seedlings do not grow properly/extremely slow

[Brown]

Hello,

I'm a new grower but have read up quite a bit on this website, I am currently trying to germinate two Original Auto Berry seeds from Seedsman but the seedling is taking an extremely long time to develop (8 days), it hasn't even grown out of its medium which was a Rockwell cube.

Initially, I placed the seeds in water for 24 hours neither seeds sank, but after being advised that seeds shouldn't be placed in water for too long I placed them in a damp tissue towel. I noticed one seed started growing its taproot whilst the other did not. Regardless, I placed the two seeds in separate Rockwell cubes which were soaked in pH 5.6 water for a bit, these cubes were then placed in a plastic container with some water at pH of 5.6.

I placed the container (with its lid on) on top of my radiator so that it would stay warm, 7 days in and it's hardly grown and it's quite frustrating. Closer inspection of the cube, I noticed the seedling for both seeds were growing but it was finding it difficult to reach the surface (see pictures).

Picture 1: This seedling was not growing properly, I adjusted it in this picture so the top part is facing up.



Picture 2: It looks like it's rising up but pretty sure it had found it difficult to find its way

I'm not sure what my mistake was or why the seeds could have been germinating so slowly, I feel like after I placed the seed into the Rockwell cube and then tried to cover it up I may have covered it up too much perhaps?

Anyway, any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[gbauto]

I'd just let them grow. Try to make sure the temps are above 70 degF with a decent light source.

[Daskahn]

I’ve had this happen to me a long time ago when I was starting and the thing I figured out is the seedling needs a source of soft light.. so that it knows which way to grow but not be burnt by the full powered grow light.. another possible answer is that the seeds are from an older source and are growing slowly due to being stored a long period of time..

[Brown]

Ah I see, I've just been told to keep the seedling in a warm and dark space but maybe once I see it start sprouting then I could remove it from the dark space. I do think the seeds are quite old too, it does take quite a while for it to develop, to be honest. Thank you.

[Cali]

What I do is close up the original hole and make a tiny one maybe 1/4 deep the most. Then I rip a bit of rock wool from the sides and just barely cover the seed with it. They blow right thru that top in 3 days or 4at most like nothing. The way I germinate in Rockwool cubes is I soak the cube then swing my hand so water comes splashing out the cube so it’s not completely soaked when I put the seed in then I put the cube or 2 in one ziplock bag then I just rest it on top of my dvr works like a heat mat and when I see the seedlings I put them under a cfl light that’s all. To be honest that cube of yours looks to be super wet may even cause root rot. Try swinging your hand while holding the cube to let some water out and don’t water it again until it’s drying out.

[Brown]

Hey Cali,

Thanks, I like your technique and I'm going to adopt it for my next attempt. I definitely do agree, my Rockwell cube is too wet I didn't even drain any water out once I soaked it, I left it as is. I'll leave the lid open on this one and let some water escape, let's see how it goes but I've ordered some new seeds already.

Thank you all again for your suggestions, much appreciated!

[Daskahn]

Who are you ordering from? Did they send the first batch?

[Brown]

I ordered from Seedsman again, they don't tell me which batch they send. Ordered the Alaskan Purple Auto Feminised Seeds.

The last seeds were also from Seedsman but the breeder was Victory Seeds based in Netherlands.