I agree with everything said above. Get the mix moist BEFORE pushing seeds in.
Here's my super-easy way to bottom-water. The other way I tried just clogged the drain in my bathtub, and still did not water the seedlings uniformly.
http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...
"If you use propagation trays or "six-pack" inserts, make sure their bottoms rest
on the mats to establish a capillary connection to the soil."
It might be too late already, but most commercial seed-starting mix from big-box stores are either MUCH too fine and water-retaining, or else they assume that everyone REALLY knows how to avoid over-watering seedlings grown in mostly-peat. I never learned that.
Professional growing mixes like Pro-Mix and Fafards usually come in big, compressed bales, but are much better than the peat-dust-junk from HD.
I always add something gritty or with small chunks, to improve the aeration by improving the drainage. Grain size around 1/10 inch (2.5 mm) is ideal, with a little larger grains being better than grains that are much smaller.
Coarse Perlite is a good amendment for improving aeration/drainage, but expensive.
#2 chicken grit (crushed granite) is good but pricey unless you get a 50 pound bag from a warehouse. Crushed stone would be good, if they double-screened it to remove the sand and dust.
Sand, even "coarse sand" is too fine.
I love home-screened pine bark shreds. I mix them with any commercial potting mix to make a seed-starting mix that is hard to over-water. It also makes the mix much cheaper, since bark can be gotten very cheaply, even if you shop around for dry, clean bags. You do have to screen the bark. You can use the big chunks as mulch outdoors, and use the dusty fines in outdoor beds. Or grind up the big chunks and re-screen them.
If I mix equal parts of bark and Pro-Mix, the price of the Pro-Mix is effectively cut in half.
