What I do, and have good luck with, is to soak the seed between sheets of paper toweling. Take 4 sheets and fold them in half, you will have 2 sheets 2 ply. Lay half of this on a plate, put your corn over the toweling on the plate then fold the other half on to the corn. I pour just enough water to wet the paper towels and set aside. Keep the toweling damp, not too much water, til the corn swells and some will start to sprout. Saves me time and I'm sure that the corn seed gets the water it needs to come up. Hopes this helps. I also do this with beans and peas, any large seeds.

Quote from danielJ_209-09(6b): "What problem does pre-germinating solve for you?..." Thanks for the reply. I was thinking the upside for us would be: --- that if we do get a torrential flooding in the days of pre- germination, the seed is still inside and intact instead of flooded out and washed away down the ditch. --- Also, the pre-germinated seeds will have a headstart and take root faster? We can watch the weather and try to choose a shorter window for reseeding. --- I think it'll be easier to rinse the seed inside for those days than to keep it watered outside multiple times in a day. (Even though we don't need to reseed anywhere near the 3 acres, and not all of it is subject to flooding.) No worries, we'll do the proper work of preparing the ground, and of keeping it moist once it's broadcast. Note, I definitely would not try to trowel on a seed mixture as the Original Poster did! I've got a lot more area to reseed than 9ftx12ft! The author at http://homeguides.sfgate.com/pregerminate-grass-seed-40392.html says we can broadcast the pre-germinated seed in a mix. Assuming we CAN broadcast manually or with a spreader, I don't see a downside to pre-germinating. Maybe I should try a trial run of the method with a small amount of seed, and see how well it mixes and then broadcasts in various media. Quote from danielJ_209-09(6b): " Is there any way to install a simple drain from your low spot to the street before you seed? Your lawn isn't going to fare well if it gets submerged or at least saturated with water." Right. The lot does clear of flooding very quickly, though -- usually in a few hours. When we moved here, the grass was established,. It has never had a problem surviving well in the area. Any downpours and flooding situations (say 5" of rain in a few hours) are short-lived and it doesn't take long to dry out. The grass was mistreated, or the original grass would still be healthy. It's not a boggy area at all. We do seem to have had more of these downpours this Summer than normal, so they're on my mind as I think of Fall reseeding. But rain is welcome after some weeks that were too dry. We already have a dry well to help with flooding (about the size of a small car). We originally graded quite a bit, but the bottom of the wide and shallow ditch is not low enough given the sudden downpour or I suppose mainly the ability of the ditches to handle the water downstream from us. Neighborhoods were added; fields were usurped. There's nowhere else for that water to go except downstream, and it has to wait its turn. Luckily it all drains very well as soon as the water system can handle it, and water has never backed up anywhere near the house. I know the bottom of the ditch is higher than our foundation but it's a long gradual slope -- to the unpracticed naked eye it looks pretty flat. That concern about flooding in these areas is the main reason I thought of pre-germination to shorten our risk of losing any new seed before it's established. It's too long a line along the ditch to put in sandbags until grass is established. Who knows, the weather this Fall may be great for reseeding. Just thought we'd lessen the risk. And if there is a recommended mat or even burlap we might use in the most flood-prone areas that could be used over pre-germinated seed, I'll price it out. But I was thinking even a mat wouldn't help with a flood. Worst case, if reseeding doesn't take this time, I could lay sod in a few of those areas. I think plugs would be a lot of work. And overkill -- this is a 3 acre field.

Four O'Clocks, Mirabilis jalapa, are annuals in our zone; the seeds should be planted after the last danger of frost in your area. From what I have read, it does help with the germination of the seeds if you soak the seeds overnight or nick the seed casing. Now there is a native Four O'clock, Mirabilis multiflora, also known as Colorado Four O'clock, that IS a perennial (once it is well rooted) in Zone 5 (and into Zone 4,) and I highly recommend it. It dies back to the ground but comes back up in late spring once the soil is warm enough. I bought it as a plant at least 20 years ago; the next spring I saw no sign of it so ended up digging up the area to plant something else. The next year, the plant suddenly reappeared in my "upper garden" where I had dumped some soil from the bed where it used to be - either I dug up some seeds from the plant or the tuber itself and transplanted it. Anyway, it has been flourishing ever since. (No sign of it yet this spring, but I remain hopeful and have the area staked off so I don't disturb the soil.) Note that it grows naturally in dry rocky/sandy soils but somehow does quite well here in my lovely clay soil. http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MIMU Holly

I planted dry Cosmos seeds two weeks ago and now they're about 3" tall and feathery, growing like a weed. DH grows a lot of Zinnias and he never soaked them .