Every grow starts the same way: convincing a seed it's spring. Germination needs exactly three things — moisture, warmth, and darkness. Get those right and a healthy seed pops in 2–5 days.
What you need
- Two clean plates
- Paper towels (plain, no lotion or prints)
- Distilled or filtered water, pH 6.0–6.5
- A warm spot: 21–26 °C (70–78 °F)
- Your seeds
The paper-towel method
- Soak (optional but useful for old or hard seeds). Drop seeds in a glass of room-temperature water for 12–18 hours, no longer. Seeds that sink are usually viable; floaters often still sprout, so don't toss them yet.
- Wet the towels. Fold a paper towel onto a plate, wet it thoroughly, then pour off standing water. Damp, not dripping.
- Place the seeds an inch apart, cover with a second damp towel, then invert the second plate on top to trap humidity and block light.
- Keep it warm. Top of a fridge, a seedling heat mat on low, or any spot that holds 21–26 °C. Below 20 °C germination slows to a crawl; above 30 °C you cook them.
- Check twice a day. Re-wet the towel if it's drying out. Most seeds show a white taproot within 48–120 hours.
Planting the sprout
When the taproot is 1–2 cm long, plant it. Longer roots tangle in the towel and snap — and a snapped taproot is usually fatal.
- Make a 1 cm hole in moist (not soaked) starting medium
- Place the seed taproot down, cover loosely
- Mist the surface; don't compact the soil
- First light: gentle — a T5 or LED at 50 % power, 45–60 cm away
The two mistakes that kill most seeds
Drowning. A seed that sits in standing water runs out of oxygen. Damp towel, drained plate — that's the whole trick.
Fiddling. Checking is fine; handling is not. Every time you pick the seed up you risk snapping the root. Use clean tweezers exactly once: when you plant it.
Germination rates drop with seed age. Fresh seeds from a reputable breeder run 90 %+; a five-year-old bag find might give you one in four. Plant extras accordingly.
Once the first round leaves (cotyledons) open, you have a seedling — and a new set of rules. That's the next guide.