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Hosta seed and heating mats

Jennifer Schwarz

14 years ago

Be careful if you use a seedling heating mat. I used one this season and destroyed most of my seed. It was so disappointing. I have been corresponding with Ron Livingston and he told me that the mats take a number of days to stabilize and in the meantime they can get too hot and destroy your seeds. By the way, he said he made the same mistake and lost some of his best seed. It made me feel better that a pro like him made the same mistake. Hopefully my story can help someone not make the same mistake. I do know some people use heating mats for their seeds without a problem. I am sure it depends on the mat or room temperature. I just wanted to share my experience so you could at least be aware of the potential threat. Good luck with your seeds!

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
i dont understand ...

mine is a constant 72.. the only problem i had.. was if i let the plants get completely dry ....

others have a thermostat .... and i suppose you can set it too high ...

for the most part.. with hosta.. you ONLY need heat at night.. when the house temp is kicked down.. usual daytime temps should be fine otherwise... so put your mat on a timer ... if rated for such ...

hosta are not foo foo temperate region plants that need high soil temp for germination ... its just that they dont need 60 degrees at night ...

regardless... it is a variable which should be kept in mind ...

ken
Jennifer Schwarz
Original Author
14 years ago
Hi Ken, Thanks for your input. One of the problems with my mat is it doesn't have a thermostat. The instructions said it would warm the soil area 10-20 degrees fahrenheit over the ambient temperature. Apparently that was too much for my seeds since they were already in a warm room. We have a discussion going on over at the hosta seedling forum and it sounds like my problem is not uncommon. A few people lost seed using the mats. It seems that the people who have success with the mats regulate the temps with a thermostatic controller. Frankly I wish I wouldn't have used the mat in the first place or researched the pros and cons first. I grew seeds successfully for two years without a mat and decided to use one this year to speed up the growing process. It does sound like they can be used successfully in a controlled environment. I am too chicken to try again :) I just started round 2 today! No mat this time. haha!
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heat mats for seed starting
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Comments (6)
I use heating pads under my seedling dome it works it speeds the germination of seeds. But you have to provide bright light as soon as the germination starts to show up or the seedlings will be leggy and weak it happened to me and I had to transplant the seedlings deep. Transplanting young seedlings trying not to injur tem is pain in the A I forgot about sponges and these craps I saw the seed directly in JEFFY paper pots and put them under the dome no ned to waste time for transplanting pain
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I agree with mandolls....fluorescents don't put out much heat compared to incandescent, but it still puts out noticeable heat which surprised me. I am also a newbie and need to invest in a soil thermometer, but I can tell by experience so far that the shelf I added immediately above my top tier 4' 2 bulb fluorescent light fixtures stays a nice comfortable "warm" and has been perfect for germinating all manner of vegetables so far. You could even box in (or just tent it with plastic) the area above the light and it would become even warmer but that's not necessary for my setup inside the house where the air temp is usually 70-75 anyway. With a cooler basement setup you may want to build a sort of grow box to trap more of the heat rising from the light fixture as your germination station. Now I've just planted daylily seeds on the rack to germinate so we'll see how they do but I expect good results. Good luck with your seed starting!
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Comments (6)
I use heating cables under the tables in the GH and that's a much more economical way to go but I can't use them in the house. Do you use the tape in your house or the GH? I've had a few Hydrofarm mats that have proven to be pretty low quality and another whose maker I can't remember that's marginally better. My commercial heavy rubber mat is at least 8 years old and works great but takes up so much space. I don't need 18 sq ft of bottom heat inside but did want more space then the average mat had. These Ultratherms came in a nice range of sizes and so far I'm really happy with it. The heaters made for reptile cages seem to be a better quality then the ones made by Hydrofarm and the like. I have a few small heat mats in my gecko cages and haven't replaced them in 7 years. BTW the Ultrathem mats are a few dollars less expensive when you go thru Amazon as opposed to going directly to the Bean Farm. I paid $30 and the same size is $33 direct.
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WANTED: Heated seed mat
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Comments (0)
If anybody has a heated seed mat they will let go for a reasonable price send me an e-mail. Thanks!
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just1morehosta
14 years ago
Thers a host seedling forum? Who knew.
cAROL
donrawson
14 years ago
Hosta Seed Growers Forum

Hosta Seedlings Forum at bobsforum.org

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