Germination Tips

If your seeds are taking longer to germinate than indicated in the ēdn app, make sure you are following the below best practices:

1. Water - Fill your garden to 75% full during initial planting; ensure that you always let your garden drain completely to 0% before adding more water (even if your app indicates that it's at 25%). It is never good to maintain one water level at all times as the plants will be unable to regulate the water on their own.
2. Temperature - Plants are extremely sensitive to cold temperatures, so please ensure that your garden is away from any amount of cold air drafts, AC, and even windows. Cold air can severely impact your plant's growth rate and helps fuel algae growth which in turn can impact growth.
3. Air circulation - Good air circulation also helps germination, so if possible and not already being done, increase airflow in the room by turning on a fan for a few hours a day or temporarily move your garden to an area that may have more airflow i.e near a vent or an open walkspace.
4. Light - Ensure that your garden is receiving 12-16 hours of full light each day and is not being left on "dim" mode.
5. Germination - If you notice some SeedPods not germinating when it's surrounding siblings do, gently tear a piece of SeedPod material from the outer side of the affected SeedPod, and place it over the center hole on top of the seeds. This will create an optimal environment for the seeds to germinate.

Remember, germination rates vary by plant type. Different plants will germinates at different rates. Lettuce for example is very fast at 4-5 days, but Mint can take almost 20 days to germinate. It's important to keep this in mind when planting various types of plants in your SmallGarden.

If your SeedPods did not germinate in the time indicated in the ēdn app, please contact us for our germination guarantee.

If you planted your own seeds, please refer to our 'Plant Your Own' Guidelines for tips for sourcing and caring for self-planted plants.