Yes it is cause for concern. Your plant can't sprout until the coating is washed off. Water to the point of overwatering to dissolve the coating. Don't worry about damp off or the seed rotting. It can't do that with the coating on them. After the coating is washed off then water normally.

I always just spray carefully with a spray bottle until the coating dissolves. Be careful, though, because if you spray too hard/from the side, you can cause the seed to get pushed off to the side of the cell, which isn't a tragedy but not ideal.

I beg to differ.

Some of my pelleted petunias came up with the coating still sitting in a perfect ball on top of their seed leaves. With 100% germination, they are now about 3" by 3" seedlings and doing quite well.

I just mositened the soil and dropped them on top (no top watering or misting). In 3-4 days they all had germinated, still with evidence of the coating on them. I did have them covered so the humidity helped, but the coating was still there after germination.

This also worked on my begonias and impatients.

Keriann~

Well, thanks for the range of advice. I misted them in a hurry after oilpainter's response. My primary concern was burying the seed or waterlogging the mix. So long as they come up I'm happy.

Thanks again.

I use pelleted seed when ever I have a choice and have never planted them any different than non pelleted seed. The germination rate is always close to 100%. Al

There are different formulas for the pellet coating. Some seem to dissolve faster than others do. Like AL I just plant them as I would any seed but sometimes their contact with the damp soil may need to be "encouraged" just a bit.

Dave