tyler_ hobbyist
What I have understood from all that I've read about germinating is that you don't want to keep the seedling medium all that wet all the time. The seedlings will be deprived of oxygen and will drown. I would never leave them in any amount of standing water.
I use Root Riots (like rapid rooters, but not GH company), put them in my germ. tray upside down (larger base down so they stand up), make a small hole in the small end which is up and stick the seeds in. I don't soak my seeds overnight or anything because I don't want to mess with the tap root at all. I keep the germ. pad at around 85, I open the top of my germ. tray hood so that air circulates, and I keep the root riots moist. I drip small amounts of water onto the rooters each day if they feel too dry. That has worked very well for me on my second and third germination.
As soon as I see seedling beginning to emerge, I put them under the lights in my grow box, check them AT LEAST twice a day to make sure they aren't drying out (because the lights in my grow box produce more heat). This is a critical stage, so I definitely make sure I'm around to take care of the little babies and keep a steady eye on them. It's so easy for a seedling to die from too much or too little water.
When I see the roots emerging from the root riot, then they are gently placed in my larger net pots (been using rock wool, and I make sure that no root damage will occur when I put the root riot in the rock wool hole). This last time, I just carved out the larger rock wool cube so that it was open at the bottom so roots could grow down towards bubbles more easily. On my next grow, I will gently put the root riot in Hydroton in the net pots.
And I pH-balance my water.
