6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I've sown a lot of seeds in my life but I NEVER sterilize my sowing compost. If you sterilize it you kill the good bacteria that are in your compost. Putting grit on top of your sowings make sense, especially if it something that takes a long time to germinate (Trillium etc.).
We need a closer higher details look to know for sure.
I failed at growing sunflower last year because all of them got heavily attacked by leaf miners that eat between the leaves, causing the leaves to be black like that. You can find little the worms between the leaves and pop them.
Last year and also this year I sowed seeds of deciduous Azaleas (mostly species like schlippenbachii, arborescens, quinquefolium and albrechtii).
I use professional ericaceous compost to which I add some sharp sand for good drainage. On top of this I put some peat moss on which I sow the seeds. I put a plastic cover on the pot to prevent drying out. Germination follows in 2 to 3 weeks time.
First year growth of most species is usually modest. In the second year I put the seedlings in individual small pots. Water adequately but be careful not to overwater because this can lead to phytophtera root rot.
Germinating seeds of Rhododendron [Azalea] albrechtii
1 year old seedlings of Azalea schlippenbachii
Over the last 25 years, I have ordered more seeds from Twilley than anywhere else. I only order from elsewhere when Twilley doesn't have a variety that I want. When Twilley has the variety I want, they almost always have the lowest price.
Twilley offers free shipping in the US. Yay.
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Willhite Seed is another seed vendor with amazing price vs seed count. Low handling fees. Link to reviews.
That's a shame - does it help to know something like this happens to all of us at one time or another.
My first guess would be a cutworm, although I suppose a slug or snail could have weakened it feeding on the base. No bait or fix is going to be 100% effective, I think very helpful would be the best we could hope for. And Sluggo isn't going to take care of a cut worm - my understanding is that the product Sluggo Plus will.
The first time I ever saw a rabbit in my garden was the first year I grew sunflowers. I came to learn rabbits are very fond of sunflower stems, which isn't helpful if the flowers were the goal ;)
Rabbits and hares are very fond of chewing stems so that the stems fall down and no longer block their view.
Regarding the above sunflower, I would be more inclined to think that it has met its end at the teeth of a cutworm rather than at the jaws of a slug. A very lazy cutworm.
Instead of using snailbait, I'd be inclined to use a physical barrier around future seedlings. The cutworms will only chew through them while they are tenderish, though I don't know what the cut-off point is.
Plant those stems deep! Never had an issue doing it. Peppers? Absolutely plant them deep. I grow over a hundred peppers a season, all of the stems sunk. I cannot see any reason why a person would NOT plant deep when transplanting stemmed plants. For those saying sinking stems causes damp off or root rot, they have other things going on, like overwatering and incorrect soil!
I buried the peppers up to the cotyledons, they were leggy and falling over. Seems to have worked well, they actually sent out roots and are nice and stable now. But they were strong enough at that point not to worry about damping off, in absence of gross overwatering.
It is definitely not legally advisable without extensive knowledge. You could by putting yourself into a situation like Mrs. O'Leary's cow. I considered it but then I quickly realized I'd need to be both an expert on laws regarding such sales and an agribusiness expert for every jurisdiction I shipped plants or seeds to. Of course I reject such a part without the expertise.
I wouldn't say they're ruined. It'll depend on the plant and the type of mold, of course, but generally light, air flow, and less moisture should do the trick. Since your plants have been outside (I don't know how long they've been out), be wary of fungus gnats.
From my novice experience, it depends on the type of seeds/plant you are growing, how deep the pot(s) are, and how warm the lights get. If you enclose an area, depending on the materials you are using, you can run the risk of mold and, if it's seedlings, weak-stemmed adult plants (though this has mostly just been my experience).
This is a pic of pepper seeds that were sowed into a germination mix. I really don't like germination mixes because they are too fine and dense, but I had run out of my normal sowing mix. Notice there is very little perlite and bark pieces. When I transplant these seedlings out, they will go into a much coarser mix. 
Here is a picture of what my normal SOWING mix looks like. Notice there is alot more perlite and bark pieces in the picture below. I typically will transplant these seedlings into Fafards 52 mix, my all-time favorite soilless mix. BUT, if your mix(in the white containers) looks like the mix below and is SOILLESS (meaning it only consists of peat, perlite, vermiculite, bark, and not REAL soil) then you should be OK. 
With that said, I think you need to get more soil into your containers. You are on the right track about sinking your seedlings during transplanting so they don't get leggy, but you need to provide them more soil to grow in AND provide a light source right above them or else they will get leggy real quick!
Here is a picture of pepper seedlings recently transplanted into their own containers (the clear cups work indoors only, I tried experimenting with them one spring. I prefer transplanting into 9 or 18 oz. SOLO cups, I just didn't have a good picture to show). Notice how high the soil line is in the cup? That is what you should be shooting for. 
Let us know what type of mix your seedlings are in, and if it was me (and I was happy with my soil mix), I would pop those seedlings up and out and add more soil to the containers. Hope the pictures help :)
p.s. I agree with the above poster, those domes should only be on for germinating seeds. If you have seedlings under them, get those domes off!
-m
The posters above have the best information, so go with them! I'll just feed in my own two cents from my own experience.
From what I understand, the problem with 'grow' soil is that it's often filled with fertilizers and other stuff that is geared towards full-sized plants a person'd generally get at a nursery, place in a pot (or a garden if it's garden soil), and let them be pretty and/or bear produce until their season is over. It's not made for seedlings.
The soil you are going to use when they get big enough will probably depend on whether you're having these plants stay inside all year, or have them eventually placed in a garden or in a pot outside for the growing season.
The biggest problem that you are having with germinating epherdra sinica are bad/ dead seeds. I tried germinating the seeds by soaking, freezing, etc. with no luck. Then I purchased some seeds from the ebay vendor out of Texas and success!! The vendor provides basic germination instruction. My secret to germination was to lay the seeds on soil (don't cover with soil) and keep moist by spraying with water using a garden sprayer at least two/three times per day. You really can't over water when germinating the seeds. The other secret is sun and heat. I used a indoor growing light and a heat mat. I had the indoor growing light setup on a timer to illuminate 16 hours per day. I had 90% success with germination. You can also probably get a similar success rate in the summer months outside. Once transplanted outside you must find the sunniest place available. In my case this was the side of my house where the seedling had sun from nearly sun up to sun down. I was having a problem with birds and rabbits eating the seedling so I fenced in the area with chicken wire. This is a real slow growing plant. My plants have been growing for 18 months. I've read that the epherdra sinica plant takes approx. 3 years to fully mature. Good luck.
linnea, more often in your climate they would have been sown indoors last month, but that doesn't mean yours will be too late. End of this month you could direct sow them outdoors.
Remember that the seeds of Ricinus are poisonous and wash your hands when you have handled them.
Sow at approx 1"deep in individual pots - they grow somewhat quickly so sow in something with a little depth, somewhat warm, about 70 - 75F. Germination may take as long as 14 to 21 days. Soaking overnight before sowing can speed up germination.
Your lighter colored seeds may still be viable if they look fully formed and roughly the same size as the darker brown seeds.
