We have a standard electric heat pad that gets used for all purposes -- body aches & sore tummies, making yogurt, seedlings. Just now it's under some bantam chicks. I think it cost $13 and the amount of use we've gotten out of it is completely worth it. Before I had the heat pad, I once germinated tomato & pepper seeds -- only a few of each -- by warming bricks in the oven and setting the peat pots on top of them. I think that might be a bit tedious for more than about 5 plants though :) Kristin

>> I wouldn't sentence any plant to spending winter in that stuff if I had something else. Alright, good points. I repotted both into the 511 mix I had. The Makoyana had these cool-looking tubers for parts of its roots. I felt like the one on the bottom left in the photo had to go in the pruning process because that root was just way too long and I would have had to wrap it around the diameter of the pot like twice, which I understand is not a good idea. The other Calathea also had its roots pruned. Now my understanding is the plants may shed some leaves to balance the newly-smaller root systems, and to help them both recover, I bagged them both. >> AFAIK, I've never had a plant die of low humidity, even in OH, running electric heat pump or gas furnace. I've had some good, albeit limited, experiences with bagging plants. Some hoyas seem to recover after a repot better when bagged. An alocasia poly roots started jumping out of the pot just 6 days after being bagged and under lights. Finally, rooting of a long and spindly maranta vine cut up into 7 or so segments was a smashing success this summer. Granted, you rarely get a "control" plant that was NOT bagged under otherwise similar circumstances in order to compare, but the circumstantial evidence is rather strong, I'd say. But you gotta watch for mold or stale odors out of anything bagged and air the plants out often. >> Green, are you planning on placing your Calatheas on the heating mat??? Don't think I would. Well, I mentioned the mat to ask how plants could know if it is winter. I do want to use the mat for some of my plants. Calatheas should not be among them, huh? I see online mentions of them tolerating lows of 60-65. What about helping them heal faster after a repot and root-pruning - does warmth generally help plants recover? For lights, I use four 4-foot 54W 6500K T5 high output bulbs, turned on for 16 hrs a day with a timer. They do not generate much heat, but even if they did a little more of that, that'd be fine because my apartment is generally too cold rather than too hot for most plants. Plants can be very close to the light bulbs, as long as they do not touch.

Seems a little risky. Have you tried to find the required floor sensor and the thermostat compatible with the mat unit?

Thanks for your response, IMO. What do you mean by 'spot' heaters, I wonder? You don't really say why you wouldn't use one-what I'm hoping to hear are some pros and cons, drawbacks or pluses and what they are. Also, I would love to hear from someone who does have one and is using it. You are right, a space heater would help, but for a number of reasons, that is not the way I'd like to solve the problem of my cold floor. Does anyone have a heating mat, or know anyone that does? Thanks.