Single crystal growth of organic molecular materials by melt growth is plagued by serious difficulties owing to poor thermal conductivity, non-availability of good seed etc. Of all the melt growth techniques, Bridgman technique is widely preferred because of the low cost, versatility, easy adaptability, simple instrumentation etc. In the Bridgman technique the control on the formation/birth of the first single nuclei is still an art and in this paper we have proposed a selective self seeding technique for initiating single crystal growth. Trans-stilbene crystals have been grown using vertical Bridgman technique and using a modified ampoule design. Trans-stilbene crystal grown by using conventional method and by the present method were characterized for quality assessment by DCD and time resolution measurements. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.