I have the same shelf as zenman, but I don't use a heat mat. I buy the mylar blankets from the sports dept at Walmart. They are in a small box hanging on a rack and the cost is about $3. I drape this small blanket over the top shelf and attach it with clothes pins to cover down to the next shelf. I don't use any lights on the top shelf, and because heat rises, the heat from the lights on the second shelf heat the area above that shelf. The blanket holds the heat in and the tray with the dome cover holds the moisture in the tray. At the first sign of germination, I remove the dome and move the tray down under the lights and drop the lights down until they almost touch the plants. I grow in a building that is well insulated and will only add heat if the outside temp is below freezing. The lights create some heat, but I intentional grow tomatoes on a cooler shelf. Peppers, on the other hand, need to be on one of the open shelves that has a light under it as they will benefit from the extra heat that rises from that light. I also have my light fixtures plugged into surge protectors so that I can control all of the lights by just flipping a switch rather than plugging and unplugging cords. The sports blankets that I use look a little like aluminum foil, but are soft and almost transparent. When I first start the plants I use another blanket to wrap around the shelves because the silver color tends to reflect more light onto the plants (I think). Sometimes I remove it from the lower shelves and some years I just add a small fan to make sure there is some air movement on the plants. Later in the season, I remove it because I don't want the plants to be too hot, but I leave the top part covered and continue to use it as a germination chamber. I am attaching a picture, but the light wasn't on in the room when I took the picture so you have to look closely to see the top shelf which has no lights. I have watered from the bottom, from the top, and misted and I never have had damping off, so I can't say which is best. I would never mist if I wasn't running a fan though. Here is a link that might be useful: My shelf

Long day. Its finally stopped about 11PM. 12" here, and probably very close to that at National Airport. Still lots of wind and blowing and drifting, but the skies are now clear. Yesterday, up until about 4am it was a "warm storm" with temps around 32. Its been below 20F since about 8am here. The snow held and held and held on for longer than expected. This was definitely the storm of a lifetime, EVEN IF we had not had the 2 feet here last weekend, just the sheer conditions this storm produced, especially the whiteouts, and the near hurricane force winds along with 4-6 foot drifts, countless downed trees...etc. etc. etc. was a once in a lifetime event here in the Mid Atlantic. However, since we did have 2 feet on the ground already, it was just all the more historic. TZ7, Be safe! I hope you guys dont get it as bad as we did here, especially in terms of the winds. Many of our streets look like the photos you posted, and some were with downed traffic signals. Post more pics if you can! Suffice it to say, all of my palms, including the large trachy in the pot wrapped in plactic and xmas lights, are buried. The in ground palms were buried as of last saturday, and now they are under 3 feet. My smaller trachy unfortunately had spear pull, although that may be more attributed to the fact I left the xmas lights on it one day when we hit 49, and the palm cooked to well over 100F im sure. It somewhat dessicated after that, and has not looked good since. I think these storms just pushed it over the edge. Well see if I cant get it to come back. Ok Im going to bed. Ill post more photos tomorrow. Night all! Be safe.

I received a great box of goodies from Cathys1951!!!! She sent the following seeds: nepeta (catmint), lithops, chocolate Joe Pye weed, unknown sedum, calendula, sumac, yellow tansy, lanceleaf coreopsis, nicotiana, ladybells, cinnamon fern, globe amaranth, liatris, sneezeweed, yellow rose, & Phillipine lily. As if that wasn't enough she also sent this cute little pot scrubber set that the bottom looks like a pot & the top one looks like a flower. She also sent a little kit with pumpkin seeds, soil, etc. for kids (which my daughter has claimed), a weave basket planter, 2 pretty flower pot stakes with birds on them, a bag of 25 plant labels, & what I needed most, a waterhose attachment (I'm not kidding either. The one this one immediately replaced was duct taped because the trigger was broken). Thank you so much!!!

My guess is Netflix, hulu and such would not stream good over dial up but someone correct me if that thinking is wrong. I know I couldn't drop my cable like a few of my friends did. I like to watch shows when they are current and even when I use a few netowrks apps on my tablet to watch a show I miss some want me to log in with a provider so if you don't have one you are out of luck if you miss a show. I have time warner internet and TV, don't have a house phone so no need for their phone service. We have one box on the living room TV and that's it. We do have a TV in the bedroom but only get expanded basic on it, no box. I can access time warner live TV and on demand stuff on my laptop at timewarner.com when in bed or I can use the time warner app on my android tablet to watch live TV and on demand stuff up there so you might see if charter has that option of an app but of course you need wireless to do that. This saves me from paying for another box. I do subscribe to hulu and Netflix but don't have a roku for them and just use the apps on my tablet or watch from the computer, works for me as I am a big TV watcher myself and that's what I choose to spend money on. Now to convince the other half I need a 10" tablet for Christmas to watch movies on, he he. Mary