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thanks for the answers

Sorry about that confussion with the names.  Paul is right with his ID.  I'm working with ironweed, flowering spurge, and rosin weed.  I chose them because I just like the look of ironweed and the other two, though ubiquitous, show such a tremendous amount of local variation that I wanted to increase the local genotype.  Rosin weed, for instance, can have either alternate, opposite, or whored leaves depending on its origin. 

I'm so new to this that maybe I over reacted to what I was reading.  I wanted to understand why these two pieces of advice were being given.  Alses in his useful web site cautions, "Use a fine sowing compost or peat, not a potting compost because this contains too much fertilizer.".   http://home.sol.no/~asles/   Both Powell in "From Seed to Bloom" and Smith in "The Prairie Garden" talk about covering seeds till they germinate.  Bloom advises covering seeds "with an opaque material such as newspaper, cardboard or aluminum foil in addition to the glass or plastic covering."  Thanks to all who gave me answers.

So far I've had pretty good luck with Scotts slow release fertilizer potting soil right out of the bag but the no fertilizer in the soil thing seems to make a lot of sense if it is directed toward discouraging pathogens.  The second one about the light I just couldn't figure out.  The seeds are usually covered with dirt anyway.  Also I think some of these prairie guys are tracking day length based on warmth cycle in order to decide whether it is really spring.  I've certainly had much better luck if I heat with overhead lights and make the "day" about equal to that of May 15.  It seemed to me that covering the seeds might blind them to day length.

Jim MacDonald
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