[help] newbie

What you're referring to is germination. Lots of people will tell you lots of different things on how they do it. Here's how I've been doing it and I am 4 for 4 on germinating my seeds thus far:
Drop in cup of room temp water, leave in dark place for 12ish hours until I see the very beginning of a taproot.
Once the taproot is just beginning to show, I will sandwich the seeds in a moist (but not soaking) paper towel which I place in a sealed baggie, and place on top of my router to keep warm.
In a day the taproot will be long enough to place into soil about a knuckle deep.

Like I said, everybody has a method they swear by and this is how I do it. Others will just put it directly in soil. Others say using a paper towel is too risky.

As for soil, I've been using foxfarms happy frog soil. A lot of people go with foxfarms ocean forest but that soil runs 'hot' so some people have problems with it burning their seedlings. I have had no issues with happy frog though. Pot size depends on your preference and area to grow with.

To strengthen the branches, you'll want a fan blowing air across it from pretty early on. It helps prevent pests from getting established but also makes the plant thicken up branches to combat the wind.

/r/microgrowery Thread