There are so many different ways to germinate but after quite a bit of trial and error I was able to find what I believe is the fastest method usually only taking 24 hours or less. Take whatever pot you are going to begin growing with then fill it up with your growing medium after that you are going to want a piece of plastic or just a paper towel will do but can dry out if you don't keep an eye on it with the paper. The best kind of plastic is the stuff they use on construction sites & sell at home depot, when it comes to this stuff there is a million and one uses for it anyway but what you want is the lowest grit or thickest plastic drop cloth, it's not that cheap (not that expensive either) but you get like 150 yards of it by about 2 yards wide. Cut a rectangle from it then either put your seeds directly on the plastic or use something damp like a paper towel or anything that will retain moisture and fold the plastic in half over it. Make sure the soil in the pot has already been watered heavily, put the plastic with the seeds in on top of the soil, if there is no moisture between the plastic on the seeds don't worry because there will be. Once in the pot with the plastic & paper towel then cover the entire thing with something light weight but thick enough to block any light from getting through to the seeds and then turn on your grow light. Adding a humidifier and covering the whole cage in plastic to trap in the moisture not only makes it faster but assures that your paper towel doesn't get dried out if you forget to check it and you can also add organic rooting chemicals inside the humidifier which can cut the germination time in a half if done properly. If you are going to try any of this I would suggest doing several tests on simple "bag seeds" until you get the hang of it so that you don't ruin any high quality stuff but as long as you've got this method perfected, it should never take more than a day (24 hours) to germinate.
I know the above sounds like a lot of work but if you know how to do it properly it works awesome, especially if you are germinating a whole bunch of seeds at one time because you can have as many seeds as you want all germinated within a single day.
The less intensive approach that works very well is the old refrigerator trick, that is unless you have a new model fridge. What you want is an older style fridge that gives off a lot of heat from the very top like they all used to but only a few new ones still do. If you do have one of these refrigerators then all you have to do is use about 5 or 6 paper towels folded over one another, dampen the towels, put the seeds in the middle where there is no light at all and then put them on top of the fridge over night. There are some sprouting chem's you can add but I don't really recommend it, natural is always better. The "Fridge Method" works good and will germinate within 2 days in most cases but you don't have the control that you get with the method described above.
Bottom line is that all you need are 1. high humidity 2. Heat source 3. total darkness (in most cases) 4. seeds 5. Just a little water to keep up the dampness & humidity 6. Your pretty much golden if you have 1-5.
I know I'm wordy so sorry about that but hope this helps and gives you a few ideas, don't be afraid to experiment using bag seeds until you find the best way for you to do things because everyone's going to tell you something different and different things work better for different people/environments.
Good luck to you, I hope your tomatoes are the best at the country fair.
