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I only seem to get about 50% germination from sweet peas and suspect failures are the prettiest colours - autumn ones were just sown direct into loo rolls in early November.  Can anyone recommend way to ensure replacements I'm about to sow actually come up? (Have tried chitting with a knife in the past but scraped fingers too much).

I started off on the window sill ,now they are in the unheated greenhouse, under cover, I don't chit them . this way I have good germination every time hope this helps.
   June.

I always soak mine for 24hrs, when they swell and  the hard outer shell splits you can see they are viable, after this just sow them in the usual manner. I get very few failures this way.

I dib a deep hole put seed in untreated but dont fill the hole. This seems to reduce rotting off(works well for sweet corn to)

Usually get 90/100 % especially if you stick them in the propagator for 10 days.
You havent got mice sneaking them away?

Good luck
cant wait for gorgeous smelling vases of them in June.
x Sunloving

Thanks for the suggestions - think I'll try soaking as it certainly works for morning glory. (Definitely no mice - cats make sure of that!)

I put mine in damp kitchen roll to chit  I keep a good eye out to check none have gone mouldy.  A find a few drops of aloe vera reduces this.   Then once there is a root I put them in pots.  If there iare any which are still hard I then use a bit of sandpaper to scatch the surface.  I would expect near to 100% germination for Sweat peas. 

Hi, I soak mine but only for about four hours. Although lots of "experts" recommend not to soak, I find that it makes them swell up and gets them off to a good start. I've never had problem with germination.

I saved my own seed last year and then sowed twice as many as normal in the Autumn. They have come up like a forest and sat happily in the cold greenhouse all winter. First time I've tried starting them in the Autumn. In the past I've had germination rates anywhere between 0 and 50% in the spring and always thought it was because they were too cold. The greenhouse has been down to minus 4 this winter so I was surprised they didn't die.

Quote from: garrett on February 20, 2012, 19:34:04
Hi, I soak mine but only for about four hours. Although lots of "experts" recommend not to soak, I find that it makes them swell up and gets them off to a good start. I've never had problem with germination.

I once put some in to soak and forgot about them for three days  :o  they had sprouted quite a bit, I planted them anyway and they were fine.
I'm not of course recommending three days or anything like that, but it does go to show what one can get away with.  ;D 

Bought a new pack from T/M about first week in January straight into 3" pots they were all up in 5 days looking a bit rope think the cold got at them in the greenhouse but they should be ok ;)