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???

I wish you luck. A local grower says that luck is a large part of it as many of the seeds are not viable. The recent bible on the subject by Kerin Lilleeng-Rosenberger says to pretreat the seeds in hand hot water for 24 to 36 hours then surface sow them into a 3 part pearlite to one part potting soil mix, and germination is slow at two to six months. So far I have had no success with this process, as I think I have too much rain to be successful. I am at about 60 in per year of rainfall. John on Oahu

You need fluorescent lights. 48 inch shop lights are commonly used for these purposes. There are two kinds: One uses T5 bulbs and other T8. The T5 are fatter and use 48w per bulb. T8 s use 32w per bulb. I have two sets of T8 system. Each set costs about $20 (Fixture + bulbs). I can think that for an 8 ft x 8 ft area you will need 8 sets , if you use the whole area . BUT that sound like a commercial operation. Probably you can get by 4 sets maybe less. You will have to have a system that can be adjusted, as the seedlings grow. The easiest would be to adjust the lights. You will have to germinate your seeds first. For that, you do not need light but a warm place . Light is needed after germination. The distance between the top of seedling and the light should be no more than ONE inch. So there comes a need to adjust the lights very often as the seedlings grow. If I were you, I would start with 2 sets and do experimenting and you will then learn from your own experience and needs. There are wealth of information on youtube about starting from seeds on videos. It is much simpler that way to understand how to do it. There other other issues are involved beyond lighting, such as seed starting mix, watering, fertilizing, repotting.

Canna seeds are tough. For best germination, they should be nicked. To nick them, you can use a file, a grinder, or even a drill to drill into the seed a little. You just want to break the hard surface of the seed just enough to see a little bit of the creamy white interior of the seed. After nicking, soak the seed in water for a day or two. You should see the seeds swell as they soak up the water. Then plant in moist soil. Keep the soil moist and warm and your seeds will sprout. If started early, like during winter in a greenhouse, cannas grown from seeds can bloom the first year. However, the seeds from the hybrid cannas do not produce plants like the parent plant. They usually revert back to the small flowered type with traits of both the wild canna and the parent. Once in a great while, you may get lucky and a viable canna will grow from one of those seeds, but it doesnt happen often.