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seeds Seed Starting Heating Mats...Good deals?...Alternatives?

You get what you pay for. Considering they will be on for an extended period of time, and they can potentially have water droplets spilling onto them, I don't personally consider this to be a good area to cut corner and save a buck. But I have have seen some people here who do and it works out fine, so good luck!
 
I use a heating blanket but for my grow it would get super expensive if I just used heating mats. the cons is that mine has a 12 hour shutoff point, so I time it, also I had luck using a space heater, becuz if you keep it 70 to 80 in the room the soil temp will be that, I started them in my spare room temped at 80
 
I fully concur with Stefan_W on this. This is definitely an area you don't want to go on the cheap for the areas he mentioned, and the fact that the ones that are in that price range tend to last forever and a day...
 
Water bed mattress heaters --- pretty much the same thing and usually cheaper !

Also have used an old electric blanket in the past but needs to be an older model since the newer ones shut off after a few hours now !
 
I just happen to have a couple of these light ropes I don't need,1 used,1 new.

http://www.vegetable...s-seed-starting

http://doorgarden.co...t-seed-starting

The one I used worked great but I don't have room for the setup anymore.

I got the ropes for under $10.00 after Christmas.
They are made to hang outside and are water proof etc.
Another way to use them is to loosely coil it in a box and fill the box with sand.
Sand gets warm so you can heat more area...

More

http://www.ehow.com/how_12137529_diy-warming-tray-seed-starting.html
 
I stared seeds in a plastic dome that I put ontop of the wireless modem.
Any piece of electronics that generates heat can work.
People used to use the top of the fridge back in the day.
 
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I've struggled to find a germination heat mat here in Japan, so my next thought was does reptile heaters work? Cheers gumbii!

A pal of mine offered to ship a germination heat mat from the states, I want that to be last resort cause of the transformer I would need also.

Reptile heat mat it is then! :)
 
the heat tape isn't specifically for reptiles... the only reason i used it is because i had a lot left over tape from both my snake racks :rolleyes: and my chicken brooder... both of them, they are controlled by a ronco thermostat...

if you don't want to invest in a thermostat, i suggest you use a light dimmer switch... it's super easy and cheap... only like 5 bucks...


i think you can also use those defrost cables with some type of controller... some herp hobbiest use that stuff too... the ones you put on the roof of the house to melt the ice...
 
I'm using large plastic box filled with water and with submerged cheap aquarium heater - cheap and very efficient.
 
I made the rope light heater and i put a small container of water on it over night to soak some seeds. There was also three layers of towel in between the container and the surface of the homemade heater. The next morning the water was over 100° so I'm sure i fried my entire pack of Carolina reaper seeds i had just got in the mail. I went ahead and sowed them into some grodan blocks but i also ordered another pack and a hydrofarm seed mat. Needless to say, I'm not pleased with the diy rope light seed mat.....
 
I had heard that the rope lite thing had to be spaced far apart or it got too hot before I made my set up.
They do put out some heat.
I found that you HAD to put the ones I had as far apart as they said too or they got too hot.

I did the lites covered with sand method which might be different than the other methods.( I put the lites in a box and cover them with sand.).
I eventually used Pomice instead of sand.

I originally got the 2 strings but found I only needed 1 for what I needed to use for the heat and size box I had.

I Did run the set up before I put my seeds over it to see what the temp. was(used a thermometer that kept the high and low for 24 hours)).

Not everything on the internet is cool.

A lot has to do with stuff working the way the poster used it,any variation makes a LARGE difference.

That is why I pre tested it first.

Wasting expensive seeds on something you haven't tried before isn't the best way to go.

I also put a mini greenhouse on it,not the zip lock type germination thing.

I think if I put zips and coffee filters on it I'd have cook the seeds,not enough stuff to heat up.

Heating several 72 cell mini greenhouse worked great.

I stopped using the rope lite thing because I lost my garden space and the setup was too big for what I needed to sprout.

I went from 400+ plants 2X a year to 80 plants 2X a year.

I now use a thermostat with heat mats placed on foam now.

IM004352.jpg


72 cell foam insulation set up.

IM004351.jpg



Rope lites heat a bigger area than I need.

Even Heat mats on a shelf get too hot or stay too cold without a thermostat.

They try to heat up whatever they are sitting on and run 24/7.
If the grow area is cold you don't get the temps you want.

If set on an insulator(foam/grill/non heat conductive surface they work better).
The probe is in a cell and all the heat goes to the mini greenhouse,not to heat or try to heat up the shelf the heat source is sitting on.

Any heat source has it's own use.
I know people who put their seeds on their modem,mine gets and stays way too hot.
The fridge top gets hot and cold....
Whatever you try should be tested out first.
Just because something worked for me it might not for you.My set up might get more attention by me than yours or whatever.
 
Yeah hindsight is 20/20. It was pretty foolish of me to go straight to my expensive new seeds without having any idea how my setup was going to work. It was definitely one those "what the hell was i thinking" moments.And I had done all of this before i ever even saw this thread so i most certainly wasn't pointing fingers at anyone. When i get excited i get impulsive, and i never benefit from it!
 
I use a heating pad that was bought for $11. Modern heating pads have an auto shutoff so I was able to take apart the control mechanism and disable the auto shutoff by desoldering the IC chip. It was really easy and I have used it for the past month to germinate seedlings with no issues and great success. First germination was on my own habanero plant seeds and I put the heating pad under a plastic storage bin. Had about a 85-90% germination rate and all 25 plants are going strong. Currently have it under a Jiffy starter and getting great results. Still waiting on some super hots to sprout still.
 
I'm with socapots on this one..
I use my wifi.
On top I place a Hydrofarm 10 cell greenhouse.
I like to sprout in smaller batches and this has worked well for me.
Last year I did use a heating pad and the cablebox, and both worked too.
My best results are from the wifi by far..
 
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