Heat mat or heat cables?
athagan
18 years ago
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18 years agoRelated Discussions
Heat Mat versus Heating Cables
Comments (2)The cables are meant to be buried in the potting mix and not laid on top of shelves. I used a heating cable from Stokes several years ago. We built a heat table by making a framework of 2x4's, stapling hardware cloth to the bottom (to allow drainage), laying a sheet of landscape cloth in the bottom (to hold in the potting mix) then filling the "box" with several inches of ProMix, with the cable being buried in the mix. The whole thing was on folding legs that are available at HD etc. The table was setup in front of a large window and worked well for sticking cuttings for a couple months. Then suddenly the cable just quit working.....That was the end of that table. I went to using heat mats and found them much more versatile. I have now been using mats for about 5 years. I have one 4 foot one and 3 single tray size ones and they have been reliable and useful. You only want to put your seeds on heat for germination. Seedlings themselves prefer cooler temperatures and if left on heat will become elongated and weak. In fact, different seeds have different temperature requirements and some aren't put on heat for germination, such as columbines, delphiniums, coneflowers. You will need to look up the requirements for each kind of plant you intend to start....See MoreHeat cables
Comments (19)Capoman, I'm using the same setup as Bruce except that I'm running three individual tray mats. Yep, one larger would have been cheaper than three small but I accumulated them over a few seasons as needed. Anyhow, I'm using the same dual fridge & freezer thermometer as Bruce and I'm not too concerned about mat temp variations, my mats are all within a few acceptable degrees of each other (I'm happy in the 82 - 86 zone). I'm also not concerned about a mat not monitored by the thermostat going crazy and frying my seeds/seedlings because the fridge/freezer thermometer allows you to set alarms for below and above temps. If a mat gets too hot I get an alarm. A bonus is that if the thermostat goes wonky then I'll get the alarm via one of the other mats getting too hot. Prior to my current digital model thermostat, I had an analog one that failed in the always on position. I was lucky to catch it before baking my seeds....See MoreHeating cables for heating enclosures
Comments (1)These are good at providing heat to the area they are attached to,you would need to wrap the trunk to keep heat close to it.I tried this last year in my single layer(pvc-plastic)umbrella greenhouse 44"x49"it provided no heat to air surrounding palms,then I tried a 100wt light bulb that provided 3-5F,after that I used a 125wt heat lamp,this added10-12F I used this the rest of the winter,on cold nights(below 0F)I used a layer of plastic and or a tarp this added 20F but beware the extra layer of palstic added 50-70F during a sunny day in mid winter and it would be very easy to fry your palm!This method was for T. fortunei I would not advise this for a washy...See Moreheating pad?
Comments (4)Several seed catalogs that I have received have what is called a heating mat, upon which the seed flats are directly placed. One such place is Park Seed Company in Greenwood, S. C., as well as in catalogs from several other places. If you are referring to a heating cable, which we place outside in a structure, similar to a cold frame, but with the addition of the heating cable underneath soil or other soiless mixtures, it is called a hot bed. Horticultural Supply Company, Inc. in Wisconsin, approximately the same address as R. H. Shumway, has several sizes of the heating cables, but I do not know, but I think that the heating mat is what you want. I think the heating mat only comes in one size, but to cover a bigger area, you just order a greater number of heating mats. Heating cables are harder to find than heating mats, because just about any mail-order seed company has the mats, which are for propagating a smaller amount of plants, while the heating cables are only in two catalogs that we received, and are mainly for plant propagation outside....See Moredeshima
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