germination advice

hey, this thread aint awfully excitin' but i'm new to this game and it's practical nonetheless! i've read various conflicting accounts on seed germination....i've got a couple of queries....

1. lights on...lights off....granted that lights are'nt burning seedlings, is it ok or even gud to have em on?....what about when i've just sown the seeds?...i've got a grow book that says leave em on continuosly....
2. I've got som oasis to plant the seeds in...do i put the seeds the seeds in then cover them up with the oasis itself os they are'nt showing.....

any advice would be much appreciated...

 

My advice would be to leave the light off, it's not necessary.
Use kitchen or toilet paper that has been soaked but well
drained and place in a dish, cover with more tissue with the
seeds placed between. Anything from 1 to 4 days later the
seeds will sprout and as soon as you see the tip pop out
be very careful and place them in your growing pot with the
tip pointing down. Don't put them under the lights until the
seed case has naturally fallen off and you see the first
2 leaves. It's as easy as that. Lights should be on an 18 hour
cycle never 24h. IMO

 

Seed germination: seeds will germinate when given 2 (two) basic conditions 1) darkness and 2) moisture.
Procedure: fill a glass of water and throw your seeds in the water and place the glass in a drawer or other dark place for 12hrs. Visit your glass after 12hrs, tap all seeds floating on top and try to get them to sink. Prepare the pot you are going to grow the plant in (since I don't like transplanting, the pot I use is the one used for the life of the plant>>a 4gallon pot) by filling it with the soil you use and prepare the center of this soil by adding a small handful of the starter soil mix. Starter soil mix is an equal mixture of perlite, vermiculite and spagnum moss.
12hrs later you'll retrieve your water glass and find most seeds on the bottom, some showing a small split along the edge of the shell and a little bit of the sprout sometimes too. Pour of the water, slide one seed up from the bottom with your fingertip and gently remove it and place it about a quarter inch deep into the center of your pot's starting soil center. Poking a little hole with a twig or toothpick or such works well and then cover it up lightly but completely.
Now your seed is dark and moist and you can have your pot just sit in normal daylight. Make sure the temperature is halfway decent, like 70deg F or so; and you wait until the seedling emerges!
Initially the little plant is able to absorb very little light so using a fluorescent growlight of small wattage will do just fine and you can keep it close to the plant because it doesn't generate much heat at all. And if you give it 24hrs of light it'll grow just a bit faster compared to shorter cycles and will do so without any noticable differences compared to shorter cycles as well.
If your grow space is 2' by 3' you'll have enough space for 2 or 3 plants max. a 250 hps would be plenty. I would suggest using a MH light during vegetative growth, the spectrum matches the plant's needs better, the sodium's spectrum matches flower production better. Make sure you have enough height in your grow space because these lights will need to be more distant from your plant tops, even if you use a hood that's ventilated. 6' will do. And then you'll think about ventilating your grow space, right?? b1