they dont need light until they start to sprout. the only benefit to light before hand would be any amount of heat the light would provide. I start all my seeds including citrus trees on top of my fridge with no light other than what is there for normal day to day light.

mike

Paula, A few flowers need light, but I don't know of any vegtables that do, but as soon as they sprout they will be searching for light. When you have sprouts, get them under the lights and DO NOT keep them covered.

I agree with what the others have said.

The easy way to remember it is that the seeds need the same conditions in the coffee filters that they need when planted in soil. So, for any seed you normallu cover with soil, light is not needed. With anything you normally surface sow and do not cover with soil, light is needed.

Vegetables all pretty much need darkness but different flowers have different needs when it comes to light or darkness, and some need cold stratification or other kinds of stratification as well. So, if you were doing flowers in the filters, some of them might need light.

Dawn

I have read that Lettuce needs light for germination. Not true?

Altho not veggies, there are some herbs that I've read some people may grow that need light to germinate, including:

Basil
Dill
Caraway
Sweet Marjoram
Summer Savory
Chervil
Thyme
Oregano

Susan

I don't consider herbs vegetables, I guess, and I don't know much about them. I plan to plant a few and will just researach the needs of each one as I plant.

I've covered lettuce seed with 1/4 to 1/2" of soil-less mix if growing in flats or soil if growing in the ground for well over 20 years and always have excellent germination, so I don't really agree with the statement that lettuce "needs" light to germinate.

I've got 15 to 20 varieties of lettuce growing now in flats and all of it was covered with at least 1/4" and up to 1/2" of growing medium, and most of it germinated in 3 or 4 days with some of the slower ones taking 5 to 7 days to germinate. Perhaps some lettuce types or varieties do need light or maybe just germinate more quickly with light, but my experience is that lettuce seed will sprout and grow whether I barely press it into the soil and leave it uncovered or cover it with 1/4" or 1/2" of a growing medieum. It also could be that even when covered with 1/4 to 1/2" of growing medium, enough light reaches the seed anyway especially with the ultra-light soil-less seed-starting mixes that don't pack down hard unless you go out of your way to press them down tightly into the flats, which I don't.

There are six kinds of lettuce (leaf, butterhead, crisphead, cos, stem and Latin) and thousands of varieties and while some of them may "need" light to germinate, none of the ones I've grown have failed to germinate though well-covered with soil. You cannot believe everything you read about gardening because every rule has an exception, and I think that's true of lots of the seed-planting "rules".

When planting seeds that truly need light, I don't cover them at all, but only gently press them into the soil without putting soil directly on top of them. With poppy seeds, I don't even press them into the soil...just scatter them and leave the rest to Mother Nature.

Lettuce seed may be like many "weed" seeds that only need a fraction of a second of light exposure in order for germination to occur. That's why so many weeds germinate when soil is plowed, rototilled or otherwise disturbed...because it just takes the tiniest, briefest amount of light exposure to induce germination.

As far as herbs, each has its own needs and I treat each according to what it needs, just as I do with flowers, but some of the ones you listed as "needing" light have grown fine for me when covered with 1/4 to 1/2" of soil, so they may need only brief light exposure or they may not truly need it at all. Generally, the tinier the seed the more it may benefit from shallow sowing. For example, I might just barely press chamomile seeds into the soil, but I cover corn or beans with a more significant amount of soil.

I started gardening long before I was old enough to read how things should be grown or what they needed, and despite my mishandling of them, the seeds I planted grew, so I take all those recommendations with a grain of salt, particularly if my real-life experience is different from what "they" say a seed or plant needs. I think both seeds and plants vary a great deal in what they need or require or tolerate and I also think that what works in one climate or what is needed in one climate may vary from what works or what is tolerated in another climate.

For example, you always read that corn "needs" to be covered with 1" of soil when planted, but I have deer corn sprout sometimes on the surface of the ground and it isn't covered at all, so I think those "needs" are highly variable. That's part of what makes gardening so fascinating....almost every rule has exceptions and what proves true in one situation may not prove true in another, so it is never dull and routine or boring because you never really know what may happen.