Shelley, Nancy Bubel's book, "The New Seed Starter's Handbook" says, "Days to germination: 10 to 12 days at 75 deg F to 80 deg F....Plant seeds in the garden after frost or four to six weeks early indoors."
I don't start under lights, but I did start them in plastic cups in the carport and transplanted to 3 gal pots. I soaked my seed in Maxicrop seaweed solution overnight before planting, but still had spotty and slow germination (about 3 weeks). My dear friend who gave me those seeds said hers reseed easily, and she ends up pulling them like weeds, so didn't know why mine took so long. However, looking back on my notes, it could be that I experimented and added coir (may not have been aged enough, and I later found the coir caused problems in other plants) to the starting mix. That was over 2 years ago, and I still have a pretty magenta one that's been growing, dying, and coming back in the same pot ever since. I'm not sure if it's from reseeding or from tubers. I do notice, it gets some kind of leaf disease when it rains a lot, then dies, but another healthy shoot reliably comes up to replace it. I read this is a drought tolerant plant, and responds well to good drainage. I still have some seeds, so if you'd like to try, PM me and I'll send you some.
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