COVER THE SEEDS.
After you’ve sprayed the seeds, put a damp cotton cloth over them to discourage evaporation and retain moisture. Choose undyed cotton cloth that’s thin, smooth, and has a wide weave, such as the fabric from a bed sheet; avoid heavy fabrics, such as terrycloth or cotton bath towels. Cut a piece of fabric so that it has the same dimensions as the container or tray. Put the dry cloth on top of the seeds, then spray the cloth with water. For subsequent sprayings, it’s possible to leave the cloth where it is and simply spray the seeds directly through the cloth. The danger in not removing the cloth is that you can oversaturate the soil but not know it. Covered seeds typically need to be sprayed once each day.
Here are a couple of other precautions. While cloth is recommended, paper towels can also be used. However, they’re not as suitable as cloth because soaked seeds are much more likely to cling to paper towels than to cloth. In addition, not all seeds should be covered. Don’t use cloth when starting mucilaginous seeds, such as arugula, basil, cress, and cloth on top of the seeds, then spray the cloth with water. For subsequent sprayings, it’s possible to leave the cloth where it is and simply spray the seeds directly through the cloth. The danger in not removing the cloth is that you can oversaturate the soil but not know it. Covered seeds typically need to be sprayed once each day.
Here are a couple of other precautions. While cloth is recommended, paper towels can also be used. However, they’re not as suitable as cloth because soaked seeds are much more likely to cling to paper towels than to cloth. In addition, not all seeds should be covered. Don’t use cloth when starting mucilaginous seeds, such as arugula, basil, cress, and flax, because these sticky seeds will cling to the cloth rather than to the soil. For your first several crops, you may prefer to skip using the cloth so you can view the unfolding miracle of germination. This is understandable. Feel free to postpone using the cloth or simply dispense with it altogether. Providing a top lid to your container both helps to retain moisture and provides a clear view of the germination that is unfolding, so rather than using cloth, use the lid. (For more information, see the section on preparing containers on page 38.) If you use neither, be sure to check the seeds two or three times each day and spritz them with water if they look dry.