When all your seeds are in, give the pots a good soaking from the bottom, leaving them standing in water until the surface of the soil appears damp. Here again, always use water at room temperature. Water that is too cold may slow the germination process. The pots should then be covered with panes of glass, or, failing that, coverings of newspaper, wax-paper or what have you, and placed in a dark closet or cabinet to begin the germination process. The reason for covering the pots is that it helps to preserve the moisture in the soil and increases the humidity of the surface air.
As we said before, seeds require varying lengths of time for germination, from a few days to several weeks. Most house plants, however, are in the first category, and you will begin to see specks of green quite soon. During the germinating period check the pots every day to make sure that they have not dried out. The soil mixture should be kept damp at all times. The best temperature for most plants during this stage is between 60 and 70 degrees, or normal room temperature. When a pot begins to show green, remove the cover and move it to a location which has light but not direct sun. After a couple of days, put the pot in a spot which gets the sun during the day. Since vermiculite is a sterile medium and contains no plant food, the germinated seeds can’t be kept too long in this environment. As soon as the second set of leaves forms, then, it’s time to transplant them into a soil from which they can draw some nutriment. If you are growing a large number of plants you will probably want to move them first into trays and then later into individual pots as they begin to Crowd the trays. The use of plant trays (usually wooden boxes roughly 12″ x 24″ x 3″) saves space and handling. With fewer plants of course it is just as easy to transplant directly into the pots in which you intend to grow them.