When you first get your cannabis seeds, they will need to be germinated. There are a few ways to this, one of the most popular is the paper towels method. After the root has popped from the seed, planting a cannabis seed into soil is easy.
In this guide, we will discuss the easiest way to plant a cannabis seed into soil, after it has been germinated with the paper towel method. The tap root is exposed, and the seed is ready for planting.
Just follow this guide, and your seed will be planted correctly, and will be showing shoots above the surface within a couple of days. If you have any questions, please comment on this thread and we will be happy to help.
You can always find extra help and advice on planting a cannabis seed into soil in our cannabis growers forum, it is free to sign up, and you can get all the information you need to start your own cannabis grow.
Before you Begin
Make sure your medium, whether it is coco, or soil, is in the pot, and is balanced at the correct pH ( 6.5 for soil, 5.8 for coco). The more suitable you can make the medium for the seedling, the more successful germination will be.
All you will need here, is your pot, full of medium, your germinated cannabis seed, with the tap root exposed, and a pair of tweezers.
Step 1: Making the Hole
Start off by making a small hole in the top of the medium in the centre. It doesn’t have to be too deep, just 2-2.5 centimeters is plenty. Use your finger, and move some of the medium out of the way, and make a small indent in the top of the medium.
Step 2: Preparing for the Tap Root
At this point, your seed should have been germinating in the paper towel method for 24- 48 hours.
Depending on how big the tap root is, will decide on how deep the next hole should be.
The idea is to plant your seed, comfortably, and give the tap root plenty of space to grow, without damaging it. You have to be very gentle, and light handed, they are very delicate and can break easily.
Take your tweezers, or popsicle stick, and make a hole, that is deep enough to sit the tap root into it. This will be a line rather than a hole, as you are going to direct the tap root directly into it, so it sits comfortably.
Step 3: Planting a Cannabis Seed into Soil
Now you have the hole for the seed to sit in, and a hole for the tap root to sit in, you are ready to place your seed into the medium.
This needs to be done carefully, as you do not want to break the tap root.
Simply take the seed, use the tweezers if you need to, and place the seed into the hole you made in the medium. Once the seed is in place, direct the tap root into the slot you made for it with the tweezers.
This will have the seed, and root sit in the perfect position to grow easily, and with little resistance.
Step 4: Cover The Seed
The seed should be planted lightly, once it is in the medium, all you have to do is gently cover it with a fine layer of the soil or coco.
Do not pat the medium down, or cover the seed too much. You need to keep the medium as loose as possible, as this will make it easy for the young seedling to push its way out as the plant grows.
Just push some of the soil or coco, lightly over the seedling, so that no light is getting to it.
Step 5: Water the Medium
After the seed is planted, the tap root is secure, and the seed is covered by the medium, you are done!
All you have to do now is water AROUND the seed, not directly onto it. The moisture will disperse through the medium and it will reach the seed. Watering directly onto it will disturb how it is sitting, and could potentially damage the tap root.
Improve your chances of successful germination
To improve the chance of your seed germinating successfully, you can use some root stimulators like Eco Thrive or Great White. This will add some beneficial microbes to the medium, and this will help the roots grow stronger, and faster.
You can also place a plastic cup, or humidity dome, of the top of where your seedling is planted. This will help lock in the moisture around the seed, and increase humidity.
After a few days after planting a cannabis seed into soil like this, you should see a shoot forming above the surface within a couple of days.
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@bubblehok
I was putting them in with only a small tap root, I’ve mostly used the paper towel method without soaking 1st but I might start doing that. I used always do autos and put the seed in the big pots, I’ve been doing this with my fulls too but maybe not the best, the root system on my last 1s didn’t seem as good as my autos over the years.
@carraig yeah I found over the years that if I mess with them too much when they are young I have issues, I have tried all the jiffy pots and little peat blocks etc, the one way that has always worked for me has been soak in water, then into moist paper towels till the tap roots are about half an inch long then 1 knuckle deep into the coco, lightly covered with the coco I moved to put the seed in and slap a coke bottle with the base cut off over the top, wait till about the third day above ground and the domes come off, once the domes are off I keep the tents humidity in range and they are sweet. Just have to resist that urge to mess with them when they are babies and they are golden.
@im_sparky
Yea i’ve done that too, my buddy has only done it that way and has never had 1 fail to sprout, he’s always giving me shit for fucking around too much lol. i use soil but was thinking of maybe putting a cup of seedling soil or light mix in around where the seed will be planted. I’ve thought about using some sort of clear dome of some kind like you said but the humidity seems ok and i’d be worried i’d bake them.
@im_sparky just be careful adding too much peat, the peat can turn to mud around the roots and suffocate them. You can plant straight into coco and put the domes on them, I usually run 5 gal pots and I will plant straight into the coco/perlite mix and rarely have any issues.
@carraig I plant straight into the medium. You can mix your coco with some peat, which will help it retain water longer between waterings. I also put a clear glass jar over each to act as humidity dome until a couple of days after germination.
I kid you not, in all my years of germinating seeds, my first round of cannabis seeds resulted in one seed germinating with the tap root reaching to the sky after being put into coco seedling mix. It was the weirdest thing ever. I had to rub my eyes in disbelief!
I gave it a few days to make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing, and I kept hoping that what I thought was the taproot would either turn back down toward the medium and root or sprout leaves. After a few days, it withered and died. I excavated it from the medium and was shocked to see the leaves still curled up in a ball in the soil in a seed casing that was split open, directly underneath the taproot that grew straight up.
I have never even heard of that happening in any seed of any kind, and just chalked it up to some weird mutation or funky ju-ju.
And no, I had not been smoking anything. I wish I had taken photos of the taproot, but did not think of it at the time. I did get photos of the shell and leaves curled up in the medium after it died. C’est la vie.
still waiting on 2 to sprout, just realised i’m probably not letting the tap root get long enough 💡
@monkeydo thank you!
The coco should be wet at all times mate. Coco runs like hydro, it needs to stay wet so plant the seed in wet coco only 2x the side of the seed deep and moisten again to lock the seed in the media. Germination usually takes 2-5 days depending on conditions
Working within the resources I have thanks for this!!
@gigglingxdsquid
Hey there. And welcome to percys.
Sounds like your going direct in the coco for germination.
If so with a little pot, water until you get a little run off with PH adjusted water and then pop the seed in and cover with a little coco… You’d be better off though using them jiffy plugs or expanding cells as some call them. then afterwards, planting the young sprouted seedling in the coco medium.
Hi guys- do you wet the Coco medium before potting the seed? Or, is it dry and you water AROUND once potted?
The seedlings will always reach upward away from gravity’s pull to search for light, even if there is none. If it cannot find light it will stretch long and spindly searching but won’t necessarily die unless it’s deprived of light for several days. As long as you check on them daily you will be fine either way. Even without light the seeds are hard wired to grow upwards.