Sprouting cannabis seeds, or germinating them, is the process in which a new plant begins to grow from a seed. It can also be referred to popping, but whatever you call it, it’s the first step when starting your cannabis crop.

But before you start sprouting your cannabis seeds, you want to inspect them.

Inspecting The Seeds

If you’ve purchased our feminized or autoflowering seeds, you won’t need to inspect them.

Our seeds are guaranteed to have reached full maturity. But if you’re not using our supply, you will need to make sure the cannabis seeds are mature.

A simple method to inspect the seeds is to put on some gloves, and see if the seed’s appearance is dark brown with lighter accents, and it should also be hard.

If the seed looks green, and is squishy, it hasn’t matured properly, and won’t sprout.

And if the seed looks like it is cracking, or is slightly damaged, they should be fine, as long as the boxes are ticked for dark brown with lighter accents, and hardness.

There are other considerations to think about when sprouting seeds, and one is temperature

Sprouting Cannabis Seeds And Temperature

There are a few golden rules when germinating your cannabis seeds. This being said, the most important factor is temperature.

Seeds will generally search for a source of water, but it’s temperature that indicates that they should start sprouting.

A few factors to consider are:

• Temperature should be between 22° and 25°C;
• Growing medium should be damp or moist, never wet;
• Relative humidity range should be high, around 70%-90%;
• If you are using a grow light, use a white cool light;
• Don’t fiddle with the seeds;
• If you’re using rockwool plugs for a hydroponic setup, the ideal pH is 5.8-6.2.

Sprouting Cannabis Seeds Timing

If you’ve kept to the golden rules above, you will be triggering the seed’s first small taproot.

It should take around 12-36 hours of exposure for moisture to develop. However, this timeframe can vary. But the longer it takes to germinate, the more likely it is your plant will be weaker.

So, stick to the golden rules. However, there are numerous methods to sprout your cannabis seeds.

Glass of Water Germination

This is basically a soaking method in a small glass of water. Your seeds will float on the top of the glass.

Also, ensure that the water is kept around room temperature.

After 3-5 days, the seed will have opened up and you should be able to see roots popping out. Once these roots have reached around 2-3mm it’s time to transplant them into soil.

Be careful when moving them, as a broken root will mean the plant dies.

Place your seed into growing medium at a depth of around 10-15mm. Once the roots have taken hold, introduce it to a soft, white light. If you have a lighting rig, make sure it is a fluorescent light.

When the seed is in medium, make sure not to overwater it. A suggestion would be to use a mister.

This isn’t the preferred method by growers, but if you’re a novice, this could be the method you’d like to use.

Cannabis Seeds Germination With Moist Towel

The same principles of sprouting a bean apply here. You’re replacing variables that occur when planting the seed directly into the ground.

There are a few variations to this method, but the basic principles are the same.

Using an adsorbent paper material, place it on a flat surface and dampen. Space your seeds a few centimetres apart. Once happy, place a second piece over the top.

Make sure not to wet the towels too much.

When the roots reach 2-3mm, move the seeds into a growing medium.

Remember to be careful, as those first few roots are covered in microscopic filaments that can be damaged easily.

If you’re worried that the glass of water and towel methods are prone to temperature fluctuations, you can plant directly into the soil.

Planting Into Soil

If you’re planting directly into soil, make sure to use premium soil products. Also, if you use Jiffy pots, you won’t need to transplant your cannabis plant at a later stage.

Jiffy pots are perfect for seedlings.

When placing your seed, make sure it is set down into a hole that’s 10-15mm deep. Cover the seed loosely with the soil and spray with water, ensuring that it isn’t completely wet, but moist.

If you want to guarantee good root health you can lace the soil with root stimulant.

And if you follow the golden rules you should see a young sprout within 4-10 days.

Once your seedling has established itself in the soil, it’s time to transplant it.

If you’re interested in using rockwool it is a bit of a process where you will need to invest some money into sourcing equipment.

Such as a heating pad and specialised wicking containers.

But we’ll go into those details with the advanced growers germination.