Beginner help

Hooray, my seeds are starting to germinate. Amaranthus is up about an inch, and coleus black dragon starting to peek through. I've never tried this before. I have them in the domed seed flats. At what point to I take them out to prevent damping off?

I found a store that carried Thompson and Morgan and bought Salpiglossis Chocolate Royale ($$$$$$$ for 10 seeds!)
It talks about starting it on top of moist soil, covered with plastic, in the dark. Would this be a candidate for the method some of you talk about in paper towels?

I'm nagging at DH to get me fluorescent lights rigged up, but haven't won that round yet. (He keeps mumbling something about overloaded circuits, ancient house wiring and fire insurance) Apparently he doesn't realize how important these are!

This sounds like a great opportunity to get your house up to code! It will eliminate the risk of fires, cut down on your fire insurance, and make all of you sleep better at night. Fluorescent lighting adds such a small load to your energy requirements that, if it puts such a burden on your safety, you ought to get that checked out and fixed really fast!

BTW, I'm an electric utility consultant, so I do know of what I'm speaking.

Lol, pins, yeah, we know it's overloaded, however it will cost a small fortune to fix, since we not only need to rewire the entire house, which was built in 1915, but we desperately need additional service to the property. There are two homes running off one meter. We have a friend who is an electrician and when we asked him about costs, he said we'd need a second mortgage, or win the lottery!

Yikes! That is a lot! Nevermind... ;-)

Terre--
To answer your questions you should take the dome off the flat as soon as you have germination. Or at least prop it open until the flat is all up. Then remove the dome. It's always a good idea to have a fan in the vicinity to keep air moving around the plants too. Last of all, don't over water. Brenda

Terre sometimes I put the tray in plastic bags sometimes domed lids on the trays I usually dont mix seeds in the same starting tray because the germ times vary. I remove the bag when 50 percent are sprouted. I remove the dome when seedlings are quite small and in both cases get them within 3 inches of the flourscent lights.

About your elect overload cant you find a circut that you can just remove a light bulb or two from or change out a couple with low wattage flourscent bulbs. Ernie

Terre, I got some salpiglossis seeds in a round robin trade. Sprinkled the seeds on top of seed starter mix in a little tray, moistened, and put a pc. of aluminum foil over the top (for the darkness). Then it went on a heat mat. About a week later, most had sprouted and I took the foil off and put them under fluorescents. They greened up quickly after that.
Hope this helps,
eileen