May 26: second try worked. Will keep inside on heat mat in peat pot for a week max and then plant into 4 gallon grow bag.
May 28: seed #2 is dead. So it goes. I think it overheated under the grow light. I’ve had a bad run of luck with my autos this year. Previous try was too cold to germinate, and these were too hot and got cooked.
I had put foil loosely over the light to dim it for the new seedlings. What I forgot about was heat, apparently, and she and the auto opium both got cooked pretty fast. I waited a day to see if it would recover, but no.
Started third and final seed in water today. Try again - still lots of time to start autos for this outdoor season.
June 1: seed into soil with an apple slice on top of soil to provide some ethylene gas in the dark at 25 C.
June 2: warm enough to be out in greenhouse where it is a nice 22 C this afternoon. Want to avoid using my grow light after having cooked the last round of auto seeds. Natural but diffuse light in the greenhouse will work.