As soon as the first one begins to break ground I put the entire tray outdoors in the hot sun. The warmth of the sun will help the others complete germination. If the early one does not get immediate sun then it will have problems hardening off later. If cold at night then bring them indoors in the evening and keep them warm.

If really cold outdoors I plant them indoors in individual pots. when one comes up that pot is removed to the light. the others stay in the germination which is given room lighting. I check several times a day for sprouts. They are best caught immediately. I will even remove them to the light if I see the soil moving up and the seed wants to emerge. early is good as the seed absorbes light even before emerging.

It is critical that as soon as they pop up that the humidity cover be removed. the plant must be dry or it might die from damping off. do not keep them under the dome once they come up.

They will do better if they come up immediately to all the light possible. germination in a dark cupboard is not the best. You best remove them immediately from the dark as soon as anything is trying to break above ground or you can run into trouble with leggy sprouts that will be very weak for a long time.

The plant will be absorbing light even before it breaks above ground. They need all the light the can get. The plant turns light into energy. in the dark they get no new energy.

Never use a dome over the seed tray out in the sun. it will over heat in a few minutes in the sun and kill the seeds. You use the dome only indoors to retain moisture. Outdoors watch them closely and keep them moist but not over wet. although if dry you can wet them heavy and they will dry out again fast enough outdoors.

My best germination is outdoors in the hot sun keeping the soil moist. Then bringing them indoors at night to keep them warm. However, most of my germination is done in the dead of ice frozen winter and I have to do the entire process indoors.

Good Luck Down Under.

Kind of wish I lived in Australia. Nice growing there. Lots of sunshine. We get a lot of clouds. Also you are closer to the equator and warmer longer season. I am 43 North. Gets real cold here in the winter.

what kind of peppers are you going to try to grow there.

I start mine in individual cells with the tray on a heat mat. As they germinate, I pop out that cell and move it to another tray under fluorescent lights. I would be nervous about putting the germinating tray in the sun for fear it would be too stressful on the young seedlings and difficult to keep properly moist for those that haven't yet germinated- much easier to control inside.

Germination tray--1 seed per cell- not under lights
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Cell popped out

Growing out tray-this tray would be under lights

When they out grow that tray they get moved to small pots and stay under lights until they are ready to go outside

Thanks for the replies.

This raises an interesting question about the two initial leaves: are they true leaves? Do the perform photosynthesis?