They're not made for that. I've heard that waterbead mats are dangerous to use and I'd imagine so are ones for your back. You don't want to mess with electricity.. bottom line.

Dax

peeps have argued that a water bed heater should be able to take water .... i wouldnt bet on it ...

back pads are probably not water proof ...

please... at least have a ground fault plug installed .. in case failure occurs ... if someone can install it for free you are all set ...

if you have to pay an electrician .. you may as well invest in a proper mat ...

good luck.. and be safe ...

ken

If water bed and back heating pads were dangerous then we incontinent old geezers would be fried to our metal bed frames.

I have a friend who uses water bed heating pads and swears by them. After all, they're made to go under a WATER bed, which is not impossible to leak. I plan to get one myself, have checked them out on ebay.

Thank you to everyone for the advice! I very much appreciate everyones time. I am currently using the top of my fridge and quickly running out of space. I use solid flats for germintaion so that there is no outside moisture. I am going to try the waterbed heaters, of course grounded and dry and with a thermometer to avoid any high temps. Wish me Luck!

Again, thank you!!
Jessica
garden_n_mom

Last fall I went to the second hand store and bought a three level heating pad. I cut the plastic off and ran the cable onto a piece of plywood, making sure the lines didn't cross, staples them, again making sure the staple didn't enter into the cable and then used mortar to place tiles on top. I let it dry completely. Using Dax's caution, I plugged it into an area out of the house away from any flammables and plugged it in January, at the lowest setting, checking it frequently at first, then I forgot about it all together. I sat an aquarium, also from the second hand store, on it, bottom layered with 1.5 inches of gravel, it came with the aquarium. Stuffed toilet paper tubes with starting medium and stuck in some cuttings and covered it with aluminum foil. The cuttings were taken in January, juniper, cedar, forsythia. They were kept in the dark for two months with bottom heat. The forsythia are starting to flower, not sure if there are any roots. I am going to transplant the tubes this spring and avoid pulling on the cuttings. If they grow-they have roots, if they don't-they don't have roots. I will try a different method next time. I am not real successful at propagating, but for some reason, I just keep trying. Makes the long winters bearable I guess. I wouldn't try this without caution. I just used the same method for putting in floor heat in my bathroom under the tile. The last two months seem to be OK.

Will try and tell about my probation box. I think it's about 2X3 foot.made from scrap material in garage. 3/8 or 1/2 inch plywood, boards would be fine. Just make a box with a bottom and about three inch sides. Stapled a heating cable in u shaped paterns. Be very carefull with the staples, not too tight or don't hit the wires. Now I put about two inches of sand over the cable. With a water bed heater, make the box size to fit the heater pad. A good layer of sand will protect the heater pad. works pretty darn good. The size of box will depend on how long the heating cable is so you may need to experiment with it.

I have used basic meant-for-human-use heating pads to germinate seeds for years. Mine all came with a vinyl covering. To germinate seeds, a no-holes flat is used to hold cells filled with potting soil that have been seeded, soaked and well drained. A clear top goes over the flat. The heating pad is set to the lowest temperature and placed on a laminate counter and the covered top is centered on top of the mat. The flats are longer than the heating pad but it doesn't seem to matter. Every morning and night the flats are checked for ANY sign of green growth. At the first sign of growth, the heating pad and clear top are immediately removed and the flats go under lights. Then, an oscillating fan is turned on low in the room to keep air circulating.

With bottom heat, some seeds will sprout in as little as 24 hours that usually take 14 days. Often, the cells don't need additional watering since the top keeps the moisture in. If the surface begins to look dry, the flats are watered from the bottom with just enough water to make the surface moist but not wet.

I just couldn't justify the expense of "real" propagation mats.

I have successfully propagated hundreds of plants and shrubs using back pain heating pads and I will keep using them because I cannot afford the expensive propagation pads!

Elly