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sowing in seed sprouter

I have used my seed sprouter to germinate beans and peas.  The sprouter 
is designed to be rinsed at least once a day, so is not for someone who 
can't be hovering over the seeds.  I think it would be useful only for 
large seeds that sprout quite quickly.  If the seeds germinate and dry, 
even for a short time, it may stop further growth.  This doesn't matter 
if you are going to eat them immediately, but it matters a lot if you are 
going to transplant them.  I now pre-sprout my peas in a very light 
commercial seedmix so that I can pull out the seedlings easily for 
transplanting.  The seedmix protects the roots from drying out.

Some may think it odd to sprout such easy seeds as peas, but I have lost 
time too often not to do it for some of the seeds.  When I sow seeds at 
the beginning of March, and nothing has appeared in mid-April I have lost 
my chance for early peas that year.  Since I like to grow lots of 
varieties, each packet gets used over a number of years, and eventually 
the seeds are not very viable.  This is when it is important to 
pre-sprout.  The books say to test the seeds before sowing by 
pre-sprouting a few.  I decided to just pre-sprout the lot.
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