I read somewhere that once you've placed your germinated seeds into their soil its a good idea to keep them in a warm dark place until they sprout and then turn them under cfls or whatever lighting to grow them until they're ready to transplant (I'm also switching them from CFLs to metal halide when I transplant). This doesnt seem right to me, I feel like after I plant the germinated seeds I should start them under lights immediately to get them to sprout. Is this wrong? Thanks for the help!
I also have this Burpee Seedling Starter kit that is basically 16 cells with soil tablets made of perlite and peat moss that expand upon contact with water and has a plastic translucent cover to create a kind of greenhouse moisture enclosing effect. It's also got a mat below the cells thats supposed to be submerged in water to keep the soil wet, but I know that the soil is supposed to stay humid and moist but not wet so does anyone think it would be a good idea to add the water to the tablets and make them moist and then leave the mat dry?
I probably should have compiled all these questions into the first post but I keep thinking of them and don't want to crowd the forum. I have used to search engine on all of my questions and answered most of them these are just the outliers. Should I keep my seedlings under 24/0 for the first week and switch them to 18/6 when they transplant or just keep them 18/6 the whole time?
Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm also a newby at this. I also used trays like you did and successfully sprouted a few seeds. From what I've gathered you want to keep them sealed, so that plastic top is good, or a party cup with plastic over top etc to keep moisture in. Once they've sprouted you want to put them under lights. I don't know if there's anything wrong with going from cfl to mh once they just sprouted but again I'm still learning. I keep mine on 24/0, some people do 18/6 I guess its just preference.