It's really not possible that it just dissapeared. You most likely just mistook it for dirt. By going deeper I mean that when I put my seeds in the soil the soil was BARELY covering it. I mean, I could almost see the seed, and then sprinkled some soil over top. But when I watered, it pushed the seed down deeper. You don't need to pack your soil, watering it will do that.

The cup method does work. Bag seed is kind of a gamble. You never know what your success rate is going to be. That said, one of my plants is from bag seed. And it's growing stronger than my other plant. So...you never know.

If you want, you can do the cup method, and then go to the paper towel method. This seems to work for most. I simply skipped it as it was suggested to me that by doing so I'd be less likely to mess up the root and as I'm a newb. the less fool proof, the better!!!

And also, are you using the same seeds as your previous attempts? Because if so, this may be an indication that your seeds are not mature. That doesn't mean that none of them will pop, it just means that not all will. I think that was the case with mine.

Everyone I've talked to is pretty much in this forum. Another good place to go is the chatroom. There are usually some very helpful people in there. That said, anything you could want to know about germination can be found here on the boards using the search function. Trust me!

Remember green seeds, or even plain tan are usually not mature enough. You want to give the seeds a little squish to make sure they don't crack. If they crack, they're no good. There is plenty more info like this out there. Hopefully you figure it out. Good Luck!