What
@Proph said. But also, watch your temperatures. Seeds like to start warm. ~30C seems to be ideal, and less than 25C is not, IMO, a good idea for consistent results.
Good luck with the next round.
What gets me is that I bought a strain I really wanted last year and couldn't get a single seed to germinate, breeder sent me a replacement three pack of the same strain and they ended up not thriving, two germinated and promptly died, the third was a complete dud.
Last Summer I did a seed run making my own hybrids with some regular auto seeds and a Fastbuds White Widow. I did a germination test with 12 of my hybrid seeds (I actually ended up with thousands of hybrid regular seeds from different crosses but I am growing out the White Widow cross right now). Out of those 12 seeds, all 12 sprouted over night in a glass of distilled water with a few drops of H2O2. I broke the tail off of one while planting but the other 11 are thriving in my smallest tent I use for seedlings. Once they show sex I intend on culling the males and attempting a feminized seed run on the females.
In my outdoor grow area where I did the seed run last year I now have dropped seeds sprouting from the soil. There has been snow falling about four times in the last week. It is currently 34 degrees Fahrenheit outside this afternoon and nighttime temperatures have dropped as low as 22 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 Celsius) and the sprouted seedlings in the outdoor grow area are still alive. I'd expect most other plants to die from those extreme temperatures. Just prior to the current freezing temperatures and days of snow I had one day around 60 degrees Fahrenheit and the next day in the 70's.
The failure of some seeds from commercial breeders to germinate or thrive has soured me on buying more seeds from seedbanks at prices near or above $10.00 a seed. In my own limited experience I've come to the conclusion that regular seeds are possibly more viable than feminized seeds. Another possibility could be that seedbanks ship out old stock not stored optimally. Just because we buy seeds and plant them a few days after receiving them doesn't guarantee they are fresh to begin with.
I doubt I will ever buy seeds again unless prices drop substantially or some buy a pack get a pack free comes around in the US again. Now that I have plenty of seeds to experiment with I will attempt to do some feminized seed runs from the hybrid seeds I harvested last year and then grow out the breeder's strains I still have put away and do seed runs on those.
From my seed run last year I collected all the seeds by strain and put them spread out in plates to dry out for about a month before jarring up and storing in a basement refrigerator. I waited until many of the seed hulls on plants had opened up and seeds had fully matured before I even started harvesting seeds to insure I wasn't wasting my time harvesting immature seeds. To the point that seeds were beginning to drop from the plant.
Cannabis seems to be a very hardy weed that can thrive in some harsh conditions but I have lost faith in getting quality seeds from my previous go to breeder/seed supplier.
Someone on this board gave me some hints on increasing germ rates last year. One was to use a seedling mat, but I never bought one after seeing many product reviews where seedling mats were shorting out and burning.
Another was putting a few drops of H2O2 in water you soak seeds in. I use that one now.
Also, scoring the surface of the seed before soaking with a bit of sandpaper which allows water to soak through the seed faster. I've tried that one on some seeds and it seemed to quicken germination. Just my recent experience.