Your tip is an excellent one, and I wish I had read and understood it before I ever started my first seed. Maybe I could have avoided developing habits that I still can't break.
I think everyone but me knows NOT to top-water seed-starting cells until water comes out the bottom.
And to NEVER over-water a peaty mix, where anything more than "barely moist" is too wet.
I used to treat seed-starting the way I would transplant a bush or tree: lots and lots and lots of water "to settle it in". Of course, that is a great way to kill tray after tray of seeds. That, I have plentiful experience with.
I guess it is possible for most people to learn how NOT to over-water, but I haven't mastered it yet.
Instead I make really fast-draining seedling mix (mostly small bark nuggets with enough generic Pro-Mix for wicking) and set my seedling trays on an absorbent mat that draws water DOWN and OUT of each cell as much as it provides bottom water TO each cell.
Sometimes the most adverse condition a plant faces is the gardener.
http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...
