[edwardyeeks]

Hi michael, you need not cover them with peat, but since it's lightly covered, it should be fine. While they like high humidity, make sure there is ample air circulation otherwise the seeds will be attacked by fungus and most likely not survive or germinate. Keep the media moist but not soggy wet. And since winter is around the corner for you, you might want to make sure that the germination containers are kept warm enough for seeds to germinate.

As for germination rate, it depends on how old the seeds are. Extremely fresh seeds (harvested within the first week when the seed pods pop) can germinate in 2 weeks + whereas in most cases, seeds that are a month or two old can take more than a month to germinate. Beyond that, there are cases where the seeds take half a year or even longer to germinate. Just don't give up unless the seeds are totally rotten. Good luck.