I agree reusing peat pellets is asking for trouble. You might get away with it if you sow outside but inside you have to be pretty careful not to create damp off. I use regular hydrogen peroxide to saok up seeds and have not seen any harm, also I did not see that is speeds up germination/ although my seeds do tend to germinate fast but I use optimum temps and lights and I had no control groups to experiment properly/. I really do not like starting in the trays since as you mentioned some seeds germinate fast and some don't and you wasting precious space under lights. My personal preferences lie toward Promix and using starting tray or pot, placed in the plastic bag or under plastic cover. I transplant my seeds as they germinate and use 7-7-7 fertilizer starting about half strenght and adding as seedlings grow. I have great results and so far very little no- germination or damp off. About eggplants and peppers- they really like it hot and will germinate and grow great with lots of light and gentle bottom heat. If you can't provide those conditions now you might want to start them later- your harvest will be later but you will have it.

I am bumping this thread. I have hellebores in two areas of the garden; one with mature plants and the second in an area where I've been scattering seeds occasionally. This year, I found hundreds of babies around my mature plants. I transplanted around 300 of the babies over to the other area and now have collected seed to scatter in the same area. The new area has partial sun. We are in New England. My questions are: 1) Should I scatter the seeds, scatter and rake in lightly, or scatter and then cover with a light layer of something? I would prefer not to pot them and then have to plant them later. (Too much chance of me forgetting about them!) 2) When I see a baby ( around an inch and a half tall, with a 4" root), did that sprout from last year's seed or this year's? And as a followup, is the young plant (around 7-9 inches, with larger leaves), a 2 year old? Thanks, I do love these plants!

Oh if you had asked earlier i wouldve taken pictures but i experimented with the paper towel method and i got seeds to germinate as quickly as 2-3 days! The longest one probably took about a week and i had a good germination rate. The seeds i tried with this were hollyhock, cilantro, basil, tomatoes and a few others. Some plants, like the basil had such a high germination rate that i had more plants that pots. I also did not use too much water on the paper towel.I took a paper towel a folded in half two times and added enough water to make a circle of water about two inches in diameter, so the corners and edges of the paper towel were still dry when i put it in the bag (however the water spreads out to the entire paper towel by the end of the day) This amount of water seemed just right because none of my seeds rotted and usually i have problems with seeds rotting when i do the paper towel method. One side note, i planted some seeds in the dirt as well to see how dirt-started plants compared to paper towel ones. I noticed that the paper towel plants germinated faster but were slightly weaker than the ones started in dirt. ie, the dirt-started ones could handle low temps, accidental epsom salt over dose, and other hardships better

Your statement is true but the reason for placing on the sloped part is: plant roots need oxygen just as we do. By placing cells in water, the root area soon becomes saturated depriving the roots of the needed oxygen. With this method moisture is drawn up as needed along with the oxygen through capillary action. You might research capillary action in google for a better explanation. I hope I have made myself clear. Thank you for asking. > >