Wait another week.

well most of mine took 7-9 days this year. ive seen some come up in 4, 2 sounds crazy. anyway what are your conditions ? ive posted in other threads the single biggest issue ive found was soil temp. the moment i went from 70deg or so to 85-90deg the plants started really popping up. some may recommend using a wet paper towel to presprout em. let us know what your setup is and im sure someone will have suggestions. also when your say "hard to get" could the seeds also be older as well?

I've seen them pop anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks. Bottom heat seems to help a lot in speeding things up.

Anthony, Ill try to help ya out...
I germ mine with scotts seed starter, and peat moss+vermiculie solution. Basicaly just nice fluffy dirt.

In cell packs (not Peat pods) put them on top of your fridge where it is warm 24-7...place a plastic lid on top, to hold in water (humidity) and mist those cell packs twice a day. When you get up.....and before Ya go to bed! You know.... with a little windex-type spray bottle......

Most quality seeds will germinate after 3-5 days. If they dont germinate, well... try another seed company.

My favorite for germination.....hands-down..."Totally-Tomatoes" Bought some in Feb....every, single seed has germinated thus far......

Its not too late just Google them and Good garden to Ya!

Not only did I wait another week, I probably waited 3.5 weeks in total (last year and the year before...up to 2.5 weeks total as of today), and over the last 3 years, of all the seeds that did not germinate between day 2 and 7, exactly 0% of those ungerminated seeds germinated between day 7 and day 25. I did have excellent success with most seeds, 100% or one seed short of 100% for most (in cases in which I did 4 to 8 seeds), but others performed much worse...was really wondering if there is a point waiting because from my (admittedly short) experience I have found that there is little point...which is unfortunate because those hard-to-get seeds that I acquired are at 12.5% germination (1 of 8), just planted another 2 of each, will see what happens. Seeds from tomatogrowers.com had the most success for me...seeds from other companies were far less succesful.

I start my tomato seeds inside of a wet paper towel in a ziplock bag like ecoberryfarm mentioned. They seem to sprout a lot quicker that way. You also know which seeds are actually going to grow that way.

I sowed Monday night. Where are my seedlings?!!!!!

Just kidding. Yeah, takes a week more or less.

Wanted to add that one year I left the 6-packs I sowed that hadn't germinated on the deck under a shade cloth. When the temps got real warm outside, I had germination, even a month later. So they do want to grow. Sometimes we fuss and worry too much about it. Basic conditions being right for germination help a lot.

I'm going to chime in here because I think you guys might be right. I'm having terrible luck this year. Just grow lights keeping the trays at 80F, no heat mat. Something killed the first batch. Of the second batch, the few that have come up are quite weak, so I think I need to try some bottom heat next year. But I think if they don't come up in at least 10 days under those conditions, they aren't going to.

Keep them warm and moist, it helps a lot as mentioned above. I have found that some varieties just take longer than others. Some come up stronger with bigger, sturdier plants, some pretty wimpy. Patience if a virtue in sprouting seeds.
Bill P.

I've posted an observation and an after thought on my final successful germination of Canna x generalis seeds in the Canna Forum.

You might want to read those posts. It does require a wee bit more than just patience to germinate seeds. You've got to provide what they need, including ... time.

I know this is a older thread but hey maybe someone might be able to give me some advice on a stupid mistake of mine! I left the seed tray lids on too late this morning and they have heat mats under them. When I checked the temp it was 41C. These are flower seeds. Do you guys think I killed them? I hope not!
Thank you!

Yeah, 8 years old thread BUT the question is always new.
Here is my 2 cents:

1. germination time is NOT variety dependent., me thinks.
2. If you could not germinated within 12 days (max) then you've had problems:
   a) you had bad seeds, ( not kept/stored properly)
   b) You did not provide enough/constant moisture.
   c) The temperatures were too low. This is very unlikely because, tomato seeds will germinate in room temperature without need for heating device It will just take a little longer, say 10 days instead of 5.

With a little help from a heat pad I have been germinating in as short as 3 days, 5 days being a routine. I have sown some seeds on 3/1/16 @ 12 noon. after today (3/4/15 @ 12 noon) I saw 60% germinating ... that is in 3 days. The rest will take less than a day or so.

Seysonn

I would chime in and say a heat pad underneath makes a HUGE difference. This year I found one of those cheapo Walgreens heating pads (wasn't willing to shell out the $$ for a germinating heat pad through the catalogs) and it easily cut the time to germination in half. Previously, I had the seeds in dixie cups in a plastic container in the warmest room of the house (always between 60-75 F) and it would take an average 14 days. This year, same setup, same dixie cups and seed starting mix, same room, same planting date, and the addition of the heat pad gave me germination in only 5-7 days.

aniajs, .. 5-7 days is pretty good.
Yes, heat pad/mat makes a big difference

I don't use cups because even if you fill them half way up and sow seeds way up there, the seeds might not get enough heat. I find egg cartons and commercial starter cells better.

Hi countryladies

It really depends on what you are growing. The above answers are for tomatoes (after all this is the tomato forum), but you mention you were germinating flower seeds. All species will have their specific requirements so you need to know what kind of flowers they are, assuming they are not tomato flowers LOL.

Best luck

PC