The best method I've found so far is to go to the bench grinder and just hold them between your fingers and buzz against the stone for a second. It gets through the shell in a flash and you don't have to file your finger tips off with a file. I get through about 100-150 in ten minutes that way. Then I soak them in water for a day or three and stick them in starting soil. I'm getting about 90-95% starts. If you use the peat pellet starters the roots will stick out the bottom within days of germination and you'll be potting them up within the second week. I'm currently starting about 3,000 seeds and expect flowers just before frost, or more likely next season.

Personally the boiling water method is unnecessary to me...I achieve max results by doing your first step hold them with pliers and sanding with a file or other means then I drop them in a jar of collected rain water. Next I observe a few days when the white nub appears I take it out and examine it further and if the skin flexes I peal the outer layer off then...and if not I put it back in the water until it is peal able. .but that step is also unnecessary cause all you really need is to see is growth (the embryo starting to emerge) and plant it as is and it will grow...All other steps are just us being impatient lol

@Katkin gw. Em (effective microorganisms) are beneficial bacteria. Like I mentioned, like probiotics for plants. I used to get them from Teraganix www.teraganix.com but now I get them from The Smiling Gardener www.smilinggardene He has both a ready to use kind and a 'mother culture' that you can make more batches with, that's the one I have. I use it about once a month or once every other month. I don't know the specific action the microorganisms have on the plants but. I definitely see a difference in my cannas and plumerias., and my plants in general. Last summer I had only one plumeria leaf with some rust pustules, which I quickly discarded. The rest of the plant had green, healthy leaves. my 'Tropicanna' canna was a mess, once again, it popped up healthy as could be after I started using the Em, they almost bloomed but I went out of town and they didn't get watered and the above ground parts perished. It did come back though. I highly recommend the Em. You can also use it to deodorize and they also sell some that you can take as a supplement. @Wisconsitom When i grew cannas and plumerias in Illinois I never had any problems with them, other than some mites when I stored the plumies indoors. When both were outside in the summer; healthy vigorous, no diseases or pests. I found it ironic and disappointing that when I brought them down to Florida, that they had all these problems. After all, they are tropical right? I thought they would flourish. Well, tropical plants in a tropical place, with tropical pests and diseases, ones that were nonexistent up north. I remember seeing plumeria trees and wondering why they looked so terrible. I didn't even know about rust. my cannas that I brought down really flourished for a long time, then they started declining. I also read about the dreaded leaf roller caterpillar, and my cannas did eventually get them, but they were very easy to control and they never showed up very often. I had more problems with the rust till I started experimenting with the Em.

I would keep an eye on the root heath cos fibrous junk and green froth doesnt sound all that great. I wouldnt want my chili roots sitting in it ;)