To say that I'm a bit perplexed would be an understatement. Why wouldn't you just plant them in potting mix and forgo the bag method? I bet you would have had 90% or better germination rates by planting this way. Plus all of them would have good root systems and all of the sprouts would have been green (provided there was sufficient light).

Rodney

i personally believe he did it because gardening is fun and why the hell not.

Let me attempt to rephrase because apparently I came across the wrong way in my previous comment.

I'm curious as to why you'd say that you will use fulvic acid and worm castings from now on when they gave you a lower germination rate. Granted there are many things that could have affected germination but in this experiment the bag with only water gave you 5 of 6 seeds germinating whereas the other two only gave you a combined 4 of 12.

Also curious as to why you didn't also plant some seeds directly in a seed starting or potting mix.

And I think it would be interesting if you were to plant the sprouts to see if you can notice a difference in growth in a week or two. Assuming you still have the sprouts.

Rodney

." Why wouldn't you just plant them in potting mix "

it would be a tad bit harder to find and recover all the seeds, germinated or not...

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"Also curious as to why you didn't also plant some seeds directly in a seed starting or potting mix."

I wanted to plant some melons.

i had read that fulvic acid increases the ability to uptake minerals.

most people start their seeds in either paper towels, or in a soil-less media. in that respect, a paper towel shouldn't be much different, but, that would be a different experiment anyway.

My intent was to see if fulvic acid really made a difference. i had some worm castings, so, i was curious how they would stack up against the water and fulvic.

i also didnt start any in pure sand. i wanst trying to test every media.

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As fas as why i said i would use fulvic acid when it has a lower germ rate...

i want a healthy , strong seedling.

i dont need to maximize the number of seedlings that germinate.

if i really want more than one plant, then, i can plant 20 seeds.

my end goal is healthy strong plants

I sow canteloupe seeds, and the majority of my other veggie seeds directly into the garden and expect (and get) a germination rate so close to 100% that I never notice the duds.

For those that I start early for transplanting, the seeds are sown densely into heated seed flats until germinated, then transplanted directly into cell packs to grow under lights. 100% of my cells packs are filled with robust little seedlings.

My garden soil is mostly dense red clay amended occasionally with free wood chips. My germination medium is coarser than most, probably, and my preferred mix for the cell packs comes from Fafard....quite porous and fast draining.

I have to say that I have never understood why people germinate in paper towels, etc. That's not at all a criticism in any way. It's obvious that there are many ways to get the job done and we each will employ what we believe to be most efficient and successful and satisfying.