Hmm. Ok, I'll tell you what I've done and how far I've come and my success rate...

I bought 8 seeds from a relatively cheap seed company, one of which arrived crushed so it probably was not viable but I still gave it a shot. I put 3 seeds directly in moistened paper towel (moistened with tap water... rather hard water too, leaves scales on all my pots, uh) and 5 I soaked in a glass of tap water and happily bobbed them under for about ten minutes with the end of my pen until I got tired of waiting for them to sink (die damnit, already, DIE) and then stuck them in similarly moistened paper towel. The paper towel I put in a standard plastic ziploc bag left opened and then layed it on top my stereo. After a day I got bored of waiting so I took tweezers and squeezed the seeds sideways until they cracked a little... hey, I was helping the buggers get out, I hear that shell can be tough.

All but the crushed one popped and I took them with tweezers and moved them into plastic juice cups filled with storebought dirt. One I buried too deep and by the time I realized that it was toast. (And yes, in order to find that out, I was digging them up...) Another seedling broke the dirt and then the cotelyden leaves broke off.... that one wasn't my fault, I swear! Anyhow that was the end of it.

The seedlings that remained seemed to be stuck until I gave them a shot of Miracle Gro All Purpose 24-8-16 and then they exploded. Whee hee. So now, a couple weeks later, I have five lovely green plantlings... the tallest got a bit of burn from the CFLs one weekend when it grew too much on me, but other than that they're doing great.

Oh ya, my setup. I took a dressor, ripped the drawers apart, put the doors back together in a sheet to make a door, lined the door with mylar and stuck the seedlings in there with a desk lamp and a 23 watt CFL, giving off 2100 lumens. (Now I just upgraded to two CFLs, which will soon be four as soon as I finish wiring the lampholders and the possiblity to upgrade to more if I want) There is no fan, no humidity control, no odor control (though I'm gonna have to move on that, the puppies smell exactly like dried bud, and their just babies yet) no CO2... etc etc.

Anyhow, my point is: these plants are made to grow. KISS. Keep It Simple, Stupid. I mean, I could have killed mine lots of ways already. My advice would be for you to try it the totally simple way. You got the germinating down, stick 'em in some dirt, and let them do their thing.

Of course, this IS my first grow, and I AM only three weeks into it, and my plants aren't exactly outrageously successful, but I'm more than happy with how their doing. And you did ask for opinions!

Good luck!