I've had great success just planting my seeds directly in the pots.

Same here, sowing them in pots or beverage cups works the best for me. I tried the pellets once and was not too happy with the results.

I tried several methods last winter to see what was easiest and produced results without spending a huge amount of $$'s. Since I had a mix of seeds- some known crosses and others unknown- with the largest pack (50) being unknown crosses from a Florida seller I'm not sure if the crosses caused the lack of germination in some of the methods or my own inexperience. Lessons learned :).
On The Rocks - poor germination results. Could have been my own fault.
Presoaking in peroxide/water mix - 70% germinated but not all grew once planted in the medium.
No presoaking- planted seeds in plastic shoe boxes with the lid on(50 seeds),placed in a south facing window. No bottom heat. All but 2 germinated and produced nice size fans.
Downside to the shoe box. If you don't transplant early after the last frost to the outside garden bed, the roots really are tangled together and tough getting them apart. Upside - minimal space used.

Still alot of fun to try different methods and pass the time during the winter months. Was thinking to try grow lights this year but not sure about the overall cost for setup and running the lights.

Julia

On The Rocks is my preferred method and have great results. I keep the water level just lower than the top of the gravel. They also get some bottom heat.

Tanya likes her coffee filter method and it works well, but I didn't like it for some reason.

If you have flourescent light go get some 6,500k bulbs. I get mine by the case at either Lowes or Home Depot.

FWIW

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Nursery Room

"If you don't transplant early after the last frost to the outside garden bed, the roots really are tangled together and tough getting them apart" writes Julia.

Julia I haven't had this problem to that extent.. reason for my posting to this is I believe my adding the lightening agents to the soil allows them to shake free pretty easily. I've went out to 10 weeks in the boxes a few times... plants still came out fine.

Julia, thanks for the link for the "Rocks" metod. Never heard of that before, great photography!

I presoak for a few days, and then plant in the shoe boxes. I fill the soil up as far as possible in the shoe box, and don't have any trouble separating the roots in the spring.

I had let mine stay in the boxes too long and they were really crowded. I think it must have been July when I got the time to move them to pots and well, that was not such a good idea. I should have just put them in the ground but the bed I was working on wasn't ready yet. All the rain we got this year got the plants going at full speed ahead.
I use Promix for starting my seeds indoors.
What is lightening agents?

Julia

"What is lightening agents?"

Like coarse vermiculite... I've used the stryofoam balls used in concrete construction mostly of late... large bags at Menards or Lowes for around $6.

More air in the mix.. better germination.

Interesting concept. Had not heard of that process.
Julia