I put mine on a cable box until they pop open... The extra heat seams to help them absorb the water so they are pliable and able to open. Then I put them on my audio receiver which is slightly less heat. The cable box gets pretty hot though. I germed 4 seeds and 4 out of 4 germinated. I like to take 4 pieces of paper towel and place them on top of each other then look at them as 4 sections. I place the seeds in the middle of one section and then fold the paper towel so that they end up with the other 3 sections on top of them so the water runs down to the seeds so they get pretty soaked.