Enjoyed the links posted here. Here's my own 2 cents on this. I do all the seeding for a CSA (about 70 boxes per week), sow about 300 lettuce seeds a week for 7 months straight. The first and second year made many mistakes and got poor germination. Putting lettuce trays on heat mats did reduce greatly the germination rate. Putting the trays in a unheated hoop house also didn't work, it got too hot during the day. Now we just leave them outside. In spring gets down to 45F at night, maybe 55F during day. We use automatic overhead sprinklers, so the trays get over watered every day. Our seedling table must provide water for all the seedlings so must water enough for the largest plants. To prevent damping off, use a 1:1 perlite:peat mix (Black Gold seedling mix) with some sifted compost included 4:1 mix:compost. The overall mix is light and airy. A coir based mix didn't work, stayed too wet. Use only solid fertilizers, liquid ones get washed away with the overwatering. For the mix, I add in crabshell meal (Eliot Coleman recommendation), greensand, and soft phosphate. When I added in bloodmeal or fish meal to the mix I got damping off. To much available nitrogen. When the seedlings are about an inch tall, I sprinkle a mixture of bloodmeal and sifted compost over them. This gives them the needed nitrogen and once an inch high, I've never had any damping off. To save time I never tap the seeds into the mix. After filling the tray with mix, just drop/bang the tray against the table 4 times to get the mix to settle to a good firmness. Put the seeds on top and add a layer of fine vermiculite and overhead water. The fine vermiculite layer noticeably increased our germination rate on all seeds. Keeps the top moist and more importantly protects an emerged seedling from fungus. The vermiculite is sterile.

I have planted most of my seeds in milk jugs and lasagna pans with lids. I noticed these things: lasagna pans - more surface area for sowing - less depth of soil - less ventilation (in my case, I had about 8 pencil size holes) - possible to overheat sprouts (remove lids earlier) - earlier to sprout and slower to grow (perhaps due to lids off) - holds moisture longer with lids on - easier to take lids off and top water gently milk jugs - less surface area for sowing - more soil depth - plenty of ventilation so they won't overheat as easily - sprouts grow larger and faster and have deeper root systems - easier to bottom water - easier to transport Which one do I prefer? I donno. It's a toss up. Each one has it's own advantages. They both work well for me. My guess as to why they grow larger in the milk jugs is due to having greater soil depth and perhaps extra warmth in the jugs.

In the last year I've planted about 5000 seeds over many months, some expensive ones and a lot of cheap ones I bought on the Lily Auction where someone was clearing out their refrigerator. Plus I made about 550 of my own seeds. Germination rates vary from 0 to 100%, and seem to vary more by who the parents are than by who sold me the seeds. I saw this with my own seeds, and I know they had consistent treatment. The seeds from some parents like Shotgun Wedding often didn't germinate, though with a few co-parents the germination rate would jump into the 80s. This happened whether Shotgun Wedding was the pollen or pod parent. So maybe most of your seeds are from a daylily with a bad seed germination rate? I'm in Colorado, and most seeds get harvested in August when we are very dry. So we pick the seeds and immediately put them into a plastic baggie with a piece of paper towel without drying them first, label the baggie with the cross, and tuck the bags into the refrigerator's vegetable drawer. If I wait only a few weeks and plant, the germination rate is higher than if I wait a few months. So speed of planting can have an influence. Seeds I get off the Lily Auction in August that were grown that summer and planted immediately by me usually have 100% germination rates. But this is also a function of dormancy - these southern evergreen or sev seeds sprout faster than some of the northern dormants. I buy 6 or 8 inch deep storage boxes about 1.5 feet by 2 feet from Target and divide them into three planting rows with pieces of colored flagging tape cut to the length of the box and held down by two toothpicks. I use sterile seed planting mix about 4 inches deep and water it first. I plant 5 seeds of one cross and put down a colored plastic toothpick to divide it from the next cross, and keep going until I've filled the box, keeping seeds about two inches apart. I have a master seed planting chart where I write down each cross in its position as I plant them and note the color of the next toothpick. This chart is scanned into my computer so I can't lose it. Then I put the clear lid on the box and either put it under lights or in the middle of my living room floor where it doesn't get direct sun (don't want to steam my seeds!). My house is 62 degrees at night, and 68 degrees during the day. Seeds start to sprout in 2 weeks, and really go to town at 3 weeks when I'll have 30 seeds sprout each day. The lid is put aside as soon as the first seedlings start to hit it - even here where it is dry the seeds/seedlings don't need to stay covered at this point since the air stays moist above the soil. I keep the soil moist but not damp; I think it's best to err on the side of drier instead of too wet. With such a large potting container the soil dries out slowly so it's easy to keep its moisture level consistent. I wait at least 2 months to pot up each cross into its own 1 gallon pot with 5 seedlings per pot, though cheaper seeds will get put into those little tree pots that are deep but about 2 inches square at the top. However, if I get too ambitious and plant too many seeds like I did last year, the seed storage boxes can go outside during the summer - this works in Colorado because we don't get rain very often so not having drainage holes is okay. Otherwise drainage holes would need to be drilled in the box. This fall I planted some seeds I got from someone else, and two were a bit moldy. All the seeds except the moldy ones sprouted, but the mold spread and wiped out all the nearby seedlings. So throw away moldy seeds, or plant them in a separate pot if you must try them. I hope something here is helpful. Generally I find daylily seeds very easy to germinate so there must be something that is causing a problem. Perhaps too much moisture, too much humidity, too much heat? You may have better luck waiting and planting your seeds outside in the spring - using a bigger pot for 5-10 seeds is generally better than a bunch of small pots for each seed. Or plant your seeds in rows in your vegetable garden. May you have more success this year!

Yo Ken, if your still around your up on this one. Far as Composites go I am with the Larry/whoever We are for the most part. Composites are really no longer using recycled material because there is just not enough of it so most of the raw stuff is virgin,the energy used to make composite is an enviro no no, when its time to remove the project composite is not real big on bio degrade its tricky to burn shreading it would be silly. Bottom line composites are not so enviro freindly. Info like that might suggest its not all that good to clean it either, with anything. I dont agree>> composites will out last Ipe, left to go silver/gray Ipe is as close to no maintance as a person can get. With the softer composites like Choice/MoistureShield even trex= tjunk I have found a coat or two of TWP 116 seals up the decking,locks in the color and keeps mold,mildew,stains from causing major problems. Of course not needing to do this is the reason the Wallet goes for composite in the first place. I my own self dont like composites at all for the reasons stated in several posts here and on other sites. Welcome aboard Larry!!! Sorry I dident understand your intent at the begining . John