Actually these seedlings are of the same age as the others, Jo Ann (about 6 month). They were just crowded together in a very shallow tray (about 3/4" of soil), while the others have been separated when being about 1/8" to 1/4" in diameter.
No idea about seed viability and watering.
I usually spray all my pots the same way, without caring too much about not wetting the stalk itself. We had quite some rain this summer and the stalks got soaking wet, but this does not seam to have an impact on seed development at least from what I saw when harvesting half of my stalks. The sprouting ratio will show next year.
Last year we had a drier summer, I watered more and sprouting rate this year was more than sufficient for me.
Maybe Kevin
@JungleShadows has more experience to deal with?
