One of the systems I've been using is the float plug tray system (specifically, this brand: https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/JSEF55), and while I've had success, there's been some problems.

tl;dr version: If anyone's used plug trays and/or float trays, what has been your experience/tips/etc? One thing I may try this year is to find a way to do soil in the float trays, for seeds that just push themselves out.

Notes

- I don't use heat mats. The combo of lights + reflective plastic seem to work just fine with heat.

- I only use domes at the very beginning. Once I seem any seeds have germinated, I take the dome off.

- I like this system because, when I get it to work, it enables me to grow flowers that dislike their roots being disturbed.

- I also have been experimenting with the baggie method (especially those that need stratifying) and putting some of the germinated seeds into pots and/or plugs (if I can get away with it).

PROBLEMS

- Mold and damping off. Oh god, damping off and mold. I honestly need to extensively clean everything with a mix of bleach and water instead of uh, half-assing it with cleaners. That is probably my main problem right there.

- Too much water? When I do the tried and true pot/cell and soil method, it quickly becomes a horror show of something getting too much water, or not enough, leading to many seeds just not starting at all or root rot. One of the reasons I use the plug system is that I'm a big fan of anything I can water ahead of time and not have to continually fuss about water levels. Maybe it's not any better?

- Type of water? One of the things I tried last year was using supplementing bigger seedlings with some water from from my small fish tank's water changes. Maybe this is introducing some problems with it.

- Seeds pushing themselves out. One thing I've noticed is certain types of seeds pushing themselves out of the pods. I don't know if I should plant them in deeper, or what makes certain seeds more liable to do this. I've been experimenting with the baggie method, but planting those into pods can be pretty dicey.

- Seed plug seedlings failing to survive the transition from float tray to pot. When I pot up the seedlings, I sometimes lose them due to not knowing whether to cover the plugs with soil, or leave the surface of the plugs bare to the air. I wait until my seedlings have their second set of leaves before potting up, generally. Probably my own fault here; i may just wait even longer before I pot up the seedlings.