Common Germination Issues

When beginning your gardening journey, it's crucial to ensure the successful germination of your pods. While mistakes are common, it's important to be aware of potential pitfalls to avoid. To help you, here's a list of what to avoid:

1. Germinating Pods in the Garden: Placing pods directly in the Garden will not provide them with the appropriate environment to sprout. 

2. Removing Foil Sticker: The foil sticker helps retain humidity and reduce algae buildup. Algae buildup occurs in nutrient-rich environments with exposure to light, and too much can inhibit the flow of gasses.

3. Not Placing Pods in Netcups: Pods must be placed in the net cups and not directly into the nursery. Placing them directly in the nursery will drown the pod. 

4. Overfilling the Nursery: Water must be added only up to nursery’s ledge. Too much water will drown the seeds.

5. Not Keeping Nursery Closed: Keep the Nursery dome on at all times. Removing it will not create a warm, humid environment needed for germination. 

6. Not Changing the Water in Nursery: Water must be changed every 7 days, stagnant water can build up algae in the process.

7. Not Providing 16 hours of Light: Plants will flourish under most high-intensity lighting conditions. They need to receive 16 hours of light to ensure their success in the early and later stages of growth

8. Adding Nutrients to Nursery: The pods are too young to digest nutrients. Nutrients should only be added once they have been moved into the Garden. 

9. Not Cleaning Nursery and Netcups: Nursery and Netcups must be cleaned after each use to ensure any potential disease, fungus, or algae, is cleaned off. Use any (non-apple) vinegar, a highest percentage vinegar will have a stronger sterilizing effect on your garden, like THIS (2 parts water, 1 part vinegar). Once cleaning has been done we ask that you allow it to dry for at least 48 hours. (Note: Do not wash the nursery lid in the dishwasher as it will melt!).

10. Moldy Seeds: Molding often occurs when seeds become excessively wet before germinating. Unfortunately, any non-germinated seeds must be discarded. To prevent future molding problems, please follow our low-water nursery method. This method will help maintain slightly drier conditions, promoting optimal germination. First completely fill your nursery with water until the large-seed plant pods absorb all the water, then drain excess water, keep the dome on your nursery. Check the pods every 24 hours and repeat steps 1-3 until they sprout.

NOTE: Before germinating check that the seeds haven’t fallen out of your plant pods during shipping. Peel back the foil on the pods to check to see if any seeds are on top of the pod- if so, push those seeds back into the center of the pod. 

My Pods Failed To Germinate

Seeds can be unpredictable and some may require extra time. We ask that you allow 14 days for the seeds to germinate. If you notice that your seed hasn’t sprouted, please reach out to support@risegardens.com to let us know- be sure to provide the following information:

1. What is the email address you use to log into the Rise Gardens app? 

2. What is/are the plants that didn’t germinate? 

3. How long have they been trying to germinate in your Nursery?

4. Please describe what you're seeing going on with your plant(s). 

5. Please provide a photo of your affected plant(s) (see example below)

6. Please provide a photo of all current plants in your Nursery. (see example below)

NOTE: If you get a plant pod that doesn’t sprout, don’t throw it away!! Dry out the soil in the pod under sunlight, purchase seeds from your local seed store, and re-seed your pod!