do the paper towel method, place seeds in a danmp paper towel, place them in a zip locc bag, and set in a dark cool place, give em about 2 or 3 days to cracc, then place in the AG
I'll go with the way weed has been germinating its entire evolutionary life. Besides that if a seed does not sprout, it probably wasn't going to thrive anyway.
I have always gone straight in and if my seeds are fresh, i get 90+. Plus no chance of contaminants or fungal growth. Weed is not an aquatic plant and moving tap roots is very tricky indeed.