Never grew those strains. As for germinating-Lately i dont really bother to germinate the seeds first, they come up in around the same amount of time and it requires less handling of the seed and all that. also im a bit lazy. lol. However, I can certainly tell you the best way to do so in my and alot of other peoples opinion. You are going to need a cup with water and a drop of peroxide(it seemed to help when i used it, but it is optional) and a warm and dark spot. Take the seeds and put them in the water, make sure their are no air bubbles under the seeds. put in dark spot. wait 8-12 hrs, see how many have popped, remove any that have and put in soil. If a seed is still floating check that their are no air bubbles under it making it float. wait 8-12 hrs. if after 24 hrs in the water a seed hasnt sunk and sprouted its not going to imo, some people like to wait 36 hrs to be safe though.