Germination issues/failures and tips.

[Peanut]

I thought it might be handy to have a thread where we can discuss germination issues/failures and hopefully get some advice and tips from people who have successfully germinated the same seeds.

[Mark Rand]

Nemesia and zinnia both need darkness to germinate. Surface sown, but with a completely opaque cover seems to work perfectly. This is after several years of no success whatsoever when allowing light in...

[Peanut]

None of my old zinnia or cosmos germinated so I'll be throwing the rest of the seeds outside. Also having trouble with some sunflowers not germinating, I'm not sure how old those seeds are. Aren't they recommended as easy peasy for children to sow

[Containergardener]

Had the same issue with cosmos and one sort of sunflower.
Been a strange year.

[JoaoLeaftide]

Cosmos and sunflowers from old seed are really hit and miss. I've had packets that were supposedly only a year old completely fail and then ancient seeds from the back of a drawer germinate fine. Worth doing a quick test on a damp paper towel before committing a whole tray to them.

[Sweet savory]

I bought some echinops bannaticus seed and trying for over a month to germinate it. Where I bought it from said they self seed all over the place. So have put some more direct into the border. Maybe I’m just too impatient. I couldn’t see that they needed cold stratification but might try that if all else fails. W & S

[Andraste]

Echinops like to be surface sown & like to have light to germinate so if you covered the seed or the soil is shaded by other plants then that might be the problem. I've not tried cold stratification myself so can't comment on that but I've always sown mine indoors as it wouldn't get warm enough for them to germinate outdoors before mid-late May in our neck of the woods. It could just be that the weather needs to warm up a little more for you - which does seem to be in the forecast (if it doesn't change) over the next week or so.