Thats pretty much the same with me, except I just plant the seed, no soaking or paper towel. I started out using the paper towel method and it worked well for awhile then I had a run germination problems. In hindsight it was probably who I was getting my seeds from back then, but I kept up with just going in soil. I also plant in final pot, either 3 or 5 gallon. While we're discussing this now, I've been in a discussion in the chip bag thread. There is a post by ThatKracker showing his chip bag plant that is flowering way more than a same plant that is more than double the size that is in a 3 gallon pot. I mentioned I've read Mitch saying they plant in smaller pots and flowering starts earlier and then they transplant to larger pots. This kind of shows what Mitch says. It's got me thinking now.