It sounds like your doing fine. I grow impatiens from seed each year and never go to the lengths you are doing. I am using a heat mat this year but this is the first time ever. The thing you must have is PATIENCE for your IMPATIENS! They seemingly take for ever to germinate. They also take a long time to develop but well worth it. Mine, after 18 days, are just coming up. I doubt 85 is too warm for this warm weather flower.

Seabeckg,
Thanks so much for the encouragment I truly want to do everything I can do to help get them off to a really good start. I bet it is sometimes nerve racking to wait so long for them to germinate. But like you said, I will need to be patient! What temp do you think it was when you started without the heat mat? And how many germinated, 50%, 100%?
I would love to see pictures of them! How do you get them to be happy and content? SO so many questions I could ask :) And really if you have any more advice I would benefit so much!!

I had a lot of luck with impatiens last year; it was my first attempt at starting from seed! I put mine in a little paper cup, and put them on top of a warm radiator during germination. I put about 3 seeds per cup, and I had a really high germination rate, like 90%. I put plastic wrap over them until sprouts appeared, then I just put them on a south facing window sill during the day, and then in a cool (62-65F) dark room during the night. The picture shows them about 6 weeks after I first planted the seeds. Mine sprouted in about 10 days. I didn't put them under any lights, as they are shade lovers anyway.
{{gwi:227801}}

Dear Started with bean,
WOW!!! That truly is amazing! your plants look awesome! And at 6 weeks they look so big and healthy. I love to look at photos of other's seedlings and such.
I didn't know that they would sprout without any light. I also did not know you could get such healthy plants without fluorescents! Makes me wonder now if the light over them is helping or hurting in the germination. To keep the soil temps around 75f I been leaving the lights on 24/7 is this a no no????? I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your pictures!!!!! I would love to see more if you have any, and I would love to learn from anyone willing to teach me!! Thanx again for all the advice and the great picture!

Chill!! "Needs light to germinate" means "do not cover with soil" not MUST ADD LIGHT. The key to germinating impatiens is to keep that top 1/8 inch soil moist and keeping the soil temp between 65 and 75. As I recall, 14-21 days is the germination time, so be PATIENT these are not radishes you are germinating.

Good news everyone!
I started my impatiens March 1st and today is March 5th and they all are sprouting! Yay! I can barely believe how quick they germinated the packet says for one flat in 14-21 days the other flat ( different variety impatiens) says 21-28 days till germination. All I can say is thats a blessing for sure! I been keeping the light on the seeds 24/7 and it has been a steady temp between 73-78 (soil temp) since I turned the one out of two light fixtures off the second day. I will most likely remove the dome once the seeds have lost there shell. Then once they all are completely germinated I will turn the light off at night, it generally doesn't fall below 65f when the light is off.
Does this sound like a good idea???

So glad you enjoyed my picture! I too get inspired when I see other people's seedling pics.
I read that impatiens like it cool at night. It was most likely the heat from the lamps and not the light that's been helping with the germination. Gotta keep them just moist! I went away and my husband almost killed them as he was just watering them every 2 days! BTW, it took a while to get buds though, but the plants really took off once I put them into window boxes.

started with bean,
I am so happy they germinated, I bet your right about the heat from the lights!
The seed coating is still on the tops of the leaves. So how often do you water?
I also am curious now that I got them growing, what now? I am clueless! ha ha! Well I still am trying to decide if it is to early to take off the dome? Do you fertilize yours and if so with what? And when? Questions, questions!
Again thanks so much for sharing your picture! It is worth a thousand words!
Do you keep yours pretty cool?