Oh and the potting mixture I used was about a 4 part mixture of Jiffy Premium Seed Starting Mix to 1 part Miracle Grow time release Potting Mixture. I tested this mixture to a PH of about 6.0 and I heard that the Lavender enjoyed about an 8 so that's why I added a touch of lime to the misting bottle. (Very small amount, I took a pocket knife and took a pinch from the bag enough to cover just the very tip of the knife)

I've never grown anything under lights, so I'm perhaps not the best person to reply. However, I do know that if you fertilise too much, you're going to kill your plants, so I suggest you stop feeding them altogether for the foreseeable future. Secondly, just keep the soil barely moist. Poke your finger into the soil as far as it will go. If the tip of your finger feels cool and damp, don't water. It's that simple. Don't allow any water at all to sit in the catchment saucers - that's Death guaranteed, too. As for lighting, 8 hours a day should suffice. Plants need their sleep, too, and these ones are babies.

Don't add any more lime to the soil. The soil ought to have been amended BEFORE you planted, and to add lime to babies is very risky. When you repot, once the plant is bigger, test the soil before you transplant. A 7 should be just fine.

The trick of growing anything is - don't pamper them too much. The biggest mistake made by beginners is to kill the plants with kindness! Lavender in particular doesn't mind doing it fairly tough, but of course, as with human babies, all plants need a little TLC in their infancy. Just not adult doses of it!

Like Daisyd I have never grown anything under lights. I prefer to work with my plants rather than forcing them to perform when they don't want to ie in the dark of winter. I'm afraid that you have embarked on your growing career by making things just about as difficult as you could. You are wanting to grow your herbs under the most unnatural conditions available. However, you have started them off so to get the best results listen to Daisyd. Firstly, never water indoor plants overhead. Stop spraying them and try to give them a bit of air circulation as well as the lights. Second, don't feed unless they are looking starved. Third, don't water unless they look parched i.e. the soil is dry a couple of inches down. It is much better to give them a good soak infrequently than to keep them permanently soggy with little squirts each day. Fourth, never let them stand in water. Finally keep them relatively cool. A centrally heated home is too warm so try to find a cooler spot like a glazed porch or unused room once they have germinated. Basically give them light, air and just enough water and leave the poor things in peace.

Thanks guys for the tips, the underpot waterers have been drenched for about 2 days now I dont know what happened. I think I might have gave them too much water underneath because the soil still looks damp. I guess it was a learned experience, I didn't realize it would soak up so much from underneath the pot, I mean gravity does go DOWN not UP, this invention still confuses me...

In fact the underwater pots look like the soil mixture has hardened its like a block now instead of the loose looking mixture it used to be! I think I really screwed that one up but I'll give it another week or so

I bought an elaborate system to grow seeds indoors 5 yrs ago and ended up starting the majority of my seeds using the wintersowing method (see www.wintersown.org for detais and the wintersowing forum if you still have questions). But still sow many annuals herbs & vegetables that I haven't been able to successfully wintersow. To start to grow seeds indoors you will need a grow light system, which includes a lighting system (using specific bulbs) hooked up to a timer (12-16 hours a day once seedlings emerge, anything before is just a waste of electricity); a heat mat with a temperature regulator set at an average 72 degrees; next you will need trays with clear covers (they are pretty cheap at any Lowes or Home Depot) the higher the cover you can find the better (this helps regulate the humidity without having to check it every single day), as for potting soil use a light soil-less mix...preferably without added fertilizer (most of it washes out before the seedlings get a chance to use it), next find a book or internet article on growing seeds underlights because it is way to indepth of a procedure to learn everything you need to know on any forum because each person that responds has their own experiences and recommendations. As a master gardener I teach starting seeds indoors and wintersowing and it's a 2-2 1/2 hr class as a hands on workshop...you may want to check out your local extension office for classes.

Consequences of over watering: you will rot the seeds just as they begin to sprout, green moss will grow over the tops of the soil which will compete for nutrients with your seedlings, as you have already found out the seedlings will rot or technically a fungus disease that causes damping off which is what happened to your seedlings when they "wilted".

The three herbs you mentioned are very easily wintersown, infact I've had better success wintersowing these herbs than sowing the seeds indoors...in particular lavender and I sow a lot of lavendar because deer don't eat it (at least not in my neck of the woods). A piece of advise on sowing perennial herbs from seeds in particular lavender...many perennial herbs started from seed may not end up as the true herb you were expecting because of cross polinating. Learned this when I went to a lavender farm, oregano is another herb this will happen to.

Don't give up trying to sow seeds in what ever method you try it is a rewarding experience, and the fun of gardening is experimenting.