I found the quickest way to germinate my seeds is the paper towel method, wetting the paper towel folding it over a feww times and placing the seeds in between the layer, or fold. But then what I do is I take that paper towle and put it in a lil ziplock sandwhich bag, close it up and put where ever. It's not really in the darkest place but the light really doesnt effect my seeds. The longest I ever had to wait for them to open and sprout was 3days using that method usually only takes 2. Hope that helps try the ziplock bag!