Just harvested my first grow. I started with Jiffy Pellets. Seed straight into the moist pellet. No soaking. No moist paper towel. The two plants appeared in 3 and 4 days. Grew just fine. The other controversy I ran into was remove or not the casing around the pellet. I finally went with leaving it on as the manufacturer recommended. Here is photographic proof that whatever roots wanted to come through, did.