Get the best result germinating your seeds The most common mistake you can do, which causes your seeds to fail, is sowing them too deeply. A seed has only enough food within itself for a limited period of growth and a tiny seed sown too deeply soon expends that energy and dies before it can reach the surface. Another common mistake is watering too much. Seeds need a supply of moisture and air in the soil around them. Keeping the soil too wet drives the air out, and the seed quickly rots, on the other hand - insufficient water causes the tender seedling to dry out and die. I always recommend the plastic baggie method, which helps to avoid this problem. Most seeds will of course only germinate between certain temperatures. Too low and the seed takes up water but cannot germinate and therefore rots, too high and growth within the seed is prevented. Fortunately most seeds are tolerant of a wide range of temperatures but it is wise to try to maintain a steady, not fluctuating temperature, which I recommend in my seed instructions.located above in the menue bar. Once the first seeds start to germinate, you can reduce the temperatures by about 5 degrees F. Now, ventilation and light should be given. Some perennials, tree and shrub seeds can be very slow and erratic in germination. This may sometimes be due to seed dormancy, a condition which prevents the seed from germinating even when it is perfectly healthy and all conditions for germination are at optimum. The natural method is to sow the seeds outdoors somewhere where they will be sheltered from extremes of climate, predators, etc. and leave them until they emerge, which may be two or three seasons later. Dormancy, however, can be broken artificially. Breaking the dormancy, called stratification (cold treatment) Some seeds need a period of moisture and cold after harvest before they will germinate. This is necessary to either allow the embryo to mature or to break dormancy. This period can be artificially stimulated by placing the seed in a refrigerator for a certain period of time (usually 3- 5 weeks at around 41 F). With tiny seeds it is best to sow them on moistened compost, seal the container and leave everything in the refrigerator for the recommended time. Larger seeds can be mixed with 2-3 times their volume of damp peat, placed direct into a plastic bag which is sealed and placed in the refrigerator. Look at seeds from time to time. The seeds must be moist while being pre-chilled. Make sure, the medium is not too wet and the temperature doesn't fall below freezing. After prechilling the seeds, it is nessesary to immediately provide light. Place them in seed trays and only cover them very lightly with compost. A plastic sheet to cover the trays will help to keep the moisture. Some seeds even have a combination of dormancy's and each one has to be broken before germination can take place. Some Lilies for example, need a 3 month warm period (68-86'F) during which the root develops wiothin the seed coat and then a 3 month cold period to break the dormancy of the shoots, before the seedling actually can emerge. Alternatively the seeds can be sown directly outdoors in fall. This is as effective as the stratification process, just needs a bit longer. To protect your seeds from prediators, they are best sown in a container, slightly covered with compost and covered with a glass sheet. Breaking a hard seed coat, called scarification Some seeds like Cannas or Hawaiian Woodrose have an extremely hard protective seed coat that is impermeable to water. You can help the germination process by removing a bit of the seed coat. Prior to planting, take a piece of sandpaper and sand the end of the seed until you get through the seed coat. You'll know that you're through when you see the white endosperm. Basically, what you're trying to do is make a hole in the seed coat so that water can get through.Once the seeds have been scarified, they are easy to grow