a good germination set up

Sorry if this is a little dense, I have been working on my thesis and its hard to shift gears...... I don't know what I am going to do after I graduate from here, but right now I have a set up that works really well:
    I plant one seed per cell in 200 cell plug flats using a seed start (non-soil) mix.  The unshaded greenhouse is 60 degrees overnight and up to 75 degrees in the daytime.   I water them until they slightly flood and then again immediately 2 or 3 times.  I typically repeat twice per day.  I think this helps to leach out germination inhibitors.  I don't what I am going to do when I have to germinate my own seeds on the window sill, but flooding is not an option!!!
    Again, this is with no pre soaking of any kind prior to planting, just two months of 34 degree refrigeration then planting in late January.  After perhaps a month or  5 weeks there is 80 percent germination of most crosses. Seedlings must be transplanted into six packs when they are around and inch tall, so it is space and labor intensive, but Some seedlings are 8-10 inches tall by the first of May.
    My guess is that presoaking the seeds would further hasten germination, and the best way to presoak them would be in slowly running water to leach out what ever inhibits germination.
    A few flats always wind up in the less ideal places on the bench.  Sometimes a flat would be visibly just a little bit drier than the others everyday when I would go to water.  To my eye, I would say they looked wet, but just not as wet as the others.  This tended to have very obvious effects as soon as seeds started to germinate because these flats would be much more sporadic and generally slower to initiate germination.

    I know everyone doesn't have access to a greenhouse and I won't either pretty soon, but I would recommend a few things:
Don't let them dry out ever.  It is better to water a little bit very frequently than drench them and then leave them until they are dry again.  If at all possible, set up a place where they can be drenched and the runoff can be collected.  (make a small lip {1/2 inch} on a table and then line with plastic, like a large trash bag, and shim the table so it drains off one corner into a bucket).  I think watering this way might be more effective than simply keeping them damp.
    Incidentally I do this with Japanese iris and many species (versicolor, setosa, virginica and pseudacorus to name a few)  and it seems to work well with most of them, though the greenhouse may be too hot for setosas.


 

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