I made a heating bed because my germination station is in a cold exterior room. I insulated and used a reflective interior paper. But once the seeds are germinated, I begin the cooling process, to more closely match the outside conditons. When its time to harden off, they start the transition to outside living. Most cool weather plants, I use winter sowing techniques - and save the heating bed for the warm loving plants to get them started. And I just like to see them germinate!

If you are not using that heating mat, please send it to me 😁! Had no idea there were heating mats that expensive. I have two one tray heating mats purchased over 20 years ago, still in good condition and they still work. While I do use them to germinate things like peppers, tomatoes and eggplant, I mainly use them because I have them. When I started gardening years ago, I thought I needed all kinds of paraphernalia. Not so much now.

We don't have a basement ( I have heard most homes in America do not) and our home is too small. There simply is no room to put trays anywhere, nor would we want them taking up valuble space that is used for other things. Putting them on the floor won't work with our pets. So all we have is a double wall 9'x14' green house that we heat if the temp. falls below 35f. We over winter our potted herbs and plants in there also. The heat mats allow us to start as early as we want depending on plant type. We live in zone 8 - Pacific NW.

Absolutely spot on advice. I use them for hot peppers and pull them off as soon as they are up. Grow/germination area is about 60F in Jan-Feb so they help here in the ass freeze zone.

Good video, very complete. Can you do a video about using a fan or not on seedlings?

Great video! You can put styrofoam underneath the heat mat for a little more efficacy. A growlight might reduce leggyness when temperature remains on the high side. I use a propagator on top of a heat mat with thermostat and growlight to create an incubator for my (self sown ex vitro) Phalaenopsis seedlings (only during winter). It's a pitty the thermostat only has one setpoint (no day/night regime). Anyway l'm still learning. Also read your book Soil Science for Gardeners 😀

@ArRi533

Жыл бұрын

Pity (I'm Dutch).

We have heated floors in the bathroom. Works great for the seeds that need it.

Great work. Thanks for clearing that up.

A side note, some plants require a diurnal temperature range to germinate, 10 deg Celsius is not unusual, in those cases heating mats tend to inhibit germination unless used carefully on a timer.

My heating mats are only used for propagation, in the spring for hardwood and fall for softwood. it can speed uprooting to add some bottom heat.

Thank you Robert. ❄️💚🙃

Good video. I agree with you fully. Cheers !

I have some ornamental pepper seeds that absolutely refuse to germinate unless the soil temperature is at least 80 F / 26.5 C so I have to use a heat mat. I put it on top of a piece of foam insulation and then put a piece of 12 inch x 24 inch ( 30 cm x 60 cm ) porcelain tile over it to spread the heat evenly. It uses a variable heat controller, no actual temperature controller. Now I want to work on a Raspberry Pi Pico based system for temperature control and to automate the misting/watering.

Humidity dome works great for me when germinating peppers and other slow to start seeds! Have never needed a heat mat.

I use a.crock pot sitting on low on.the shelf.below seed tray on those that require higher heat. I got.jeating mats lut.the kazoo with thermostats i do a lot.of flowers

It seems your underlying assumption is that germination is taking place inside a house, probably the basement. I don't think I am all that unusual in having a small unheated greenhouse. At this time of year the night time temperature regularly gets down into the 30s Fahrenheit. This is too cold for good germination, particularly for the warm weather seeds I will be starting in a week or so. So I use heat mats.

Another great informative vid. What about a heating pad for rooting cuttings. Does it help ?

@aoc8548

Жыл бұрын

It is often used for softwood cuttings in commercial propagation, since consistency of striking cuttings is important. Also helps for speed of strike.

Is it day temperature or night temperature to grow seeds? And where to find the details of germination temperature of all the flower plants?

👍👍👍Thank you

keeping it real

It's needed for cloning and helps with germination set it at 85 degrees when cloning and that increases the humidity enough to clone with aloe

@Gardenfundamentals1

4 ай бұрын

A heating mat won't increase humidity

@minekush1138

4 ай бұрын

@@Gardenfundamentals1 the heat mat makes water start to evaporate and then condense increasing the humidity

Do you need to switch off your heating mat at night to create a day/night temperature fluctation just like in nature ? Does that give better germination percentages ? I would like to know your thoughts on this.

@Gardenfundamentals1

4 ай бұрын

No. Temperature fluctuations are mostly important for triggering flowering.

Im not sure I agree that heating mats don't help increase the overall temperature. Im not sure if it's energy efficient compared to increasing the temperature in your house, but I think there's something to keeping roots of plants warm to help them with their overall temperature. This is why a lot of gardeners used to use soil warming cables outdoors and why perennial plants kept outside have mulch over them near the bottom, to keep the area around the roots warm.

@Gardenfundamentals1

4 ай бұрын

"heating mats don't help increase the overall temperature" - that depends on the size of room. Anything that generates heat will increase temperature. How much depends on the surroundings. Roots like to be cooler than the top part of plants.

well, how old does an "old frig" have to be? :)

Is it hard to germinate a sycamore fig seed?

@Gardenfundamentals1

8 ай бұрын

Check out the Ontario Rock Garden Germination Guide

If using a mat without a thermostat, watch the soil temp. Mine reached 125F and I pulled if off the mat real quick. I hope I didn't harm them and hope the germinate ok.

@susans1679

Жыл бұрын

Wondering if that was temp at the soil surface or heat mat surface. I was surprised to find when I measured each that the soil surface - where it matters for germination - was 3-4°C (37-39F) cooler than the heat mat.

@carllopresti697

Жыл бұрын

@@susans1679 hi Susan. I stuck a probe in the soil. I insulated it with some bubble wrap between the top of the pad and the tray and got it down to the 90's

Depending on what type of plant you are trying to grow, Cannabis plants is the main reason why people buy these plants. Which requires a 75 to 80ﾟ temperature

Thank you Robert. ❄️💚🙃