Germinating Seeds

[hoko]

Hey, I just subscirbed today while doing a search and am pleased so far. I decided to do my first post today about somehting i didnt do. I read alot about planting and growing and i found it usefull my self to do this take a grip of seeds and drop them into a glass of warm water not too warm though. Wait over night and the seeds should fall the bottom of the glass. Once they do this they should sprout up in a day or so. Now for my question i read about germinating seeds and i have drop some in a paper towl and the first effects are a white stem pops out with in a day or so. I always hate this because of transplanting the seeds into the soil because it is so risky the last 5 or so i have done this way the stem breaks or the shell of the seed falls off and i end up breaking the head cutting the head of the plant. This time i just did my glass thing and droped them into the soil.....if anyone knows if that would germinate the seeds or not with out putting them into a paper towl i would really love to know i have had alright luck with growing outside and this is my first time indoor growing i got my plants under 40 watt 48 inch long grow lights and the last three plants i got are growing well but the new ones i just planted today and just wondering if they would have gotten germintated or not..... cause isnt germinating just getting them moist enought until they sprout?

[stinkbud]

YOU SHOULD USE A PAIR OF TWEEZERS WHEN PUTING THEM INTO THE SOIL YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER TOUCH THEM WITH YOUR HANDS IVE NEVER HAD ONE NOT GROW YER USING THIS METHOD
AS FAR AS THE ONES YOU LEFT IN A GLASS OVERNIGHT WELL IVE NEVER DONE IT THAT WAY THEY WILL PROBABLY STILL COME UP BUT ITS GONNA TAKE A WHILE LONGER

[JIMBO]

I use the paper towel method myself, but soaking overnight works perfectly well. Better to use distilled water (the bottle you buy for topping-up car batteries).
good luck.