Heating Seeds

[nes]

Does anyone have a home-made suggestion for heating soil for germination?

I'm going to start some herb seeds in the near future so I can have them over the winter (and calm my growing-need) but I really don't feel like purchasing a heated seed mat unless I really have to.

I was thinking I could place a rack over a vent in our home, but we don't turn the oil heat on until late December. Otherwise most rooms in our house are in the 20-22C range for proper germination but I understand the air/soil temperatures aren't the same.

[TZ -OH6]

In side the house air-soil temps (in pots etc) will be the same. Outdoors the mass of the earth and the heat capacity of water (soil moisture) means that the soil temperature changes much more slowly than the air temperature, it's not the same for small pots surrounded by air.


Room temps (20C) should be fine for most things. You can always put the pots on top of the refrigerator, computer etc. but floor vents would possibly cook the seeds. Warmer temps (heating mat) simply speed up germination so you can simply wait a little longer when using lower temps. About the only thing that needs to be warm to germinate are pepper seeds, and for them I simply put them in a spare bedroom and turn the temp up in the room until the seeds sprout. You could put an electric space heater in a bathroom too. I have heard that lettuce seed is picky about temps also, but I don't recall what temps they need.

[nes]

*doh* That makes more sense!!! I was wondering why soil would warm more slowly, guessing it had something to do with the density- but that didn't make any sense!

Thanks TZ - I'll get them germinating soon . I already started some lettuce a week or so ago & it went fine at house-temp too.

Are there any organizations that will measure/estimate the soil temperature in a given area? (I'm thinking sort of like environment canada) I was already thinking I should buy a soil thermometer.

[NatGreeneVeg]

Does anyone have a home-made suggestion for heating soil for germination?

I'm going to start some herb seeds in the near future so I can have them over the winter (and calm my growing-need) but I really don't feel like purchasing a heated seed mat unless I really have to.

I was thinking I could place a rack over a vent in our home, but we don't turn the oil heat on until late December. Otherwise most rooms in our house are in the 20-22C range for proper germination but I understand the air/soil temperatures aren't the same.

Have you considered stopping by your local nursery or greenhouse? Many of them should have healthy plants for $2.50 or less each. What a great price, equal to or less than the cost of cut fresh herbs in packages in the produce center.

You'd have a ready made plant, save the hassle of seed germination facilities and you wouldn't have to wait till spring to harvest.

[nes]

That's a good suggestion - but it's not a hassle to me!! I really enjoy starting thing from seed .

Plus it gets expensive when you're buying all your plants at a nursery instead of seed .

[applestar]

OK, I've been told that this could be a fire hazard, so I'll mention that part right away, though I'm still here.

I put down aluminum foil, then lay outdoor holiday lights -- more clustered for more heat -- then waterproof trays of seedlings in pots directly on top. The waterproof trays are usually take out containers intended for re-heating in the microwave (so they're heat resistant and won't melt or anything). You can also coil holiday lights AROUND the trays to raise ambient temperature. Always have a thermometer ready to keep track of temps directly on the lights as well as ambient temps and adjust as necessary. These lights can put out enough heat to cook your seedlings if you're not careful.

I DO only plug them into outlets with a Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor.

[nes]

have I mentioned before hubby is an electrician?

I don't see anything wrong with your set up apps - as long as you've got a GFI that should be safe.

That's a really interesting solution though!! I assume you mean the old incandescent Christmas lights?

I think I'm going to look like a nut-job with lite-up seed-trays in my windows but we'll just trend they are holiday decorations...

[Kisal]

I have an old heater left over from a water bed that I have used to provide bottom heat under seed flats. It looks somewhat like a heating pad, but it's designed to be waterproof. I just set it on the lowest setting. You might be able to find one cheaply on Craigslist or eBay, or maybe at a garage sale.

[rainbowgardener]

Agree with marlingardener. I put a regular drugstore heat pad under the tray. Works great, I've been using the same two, running them 24 hrs a day 4 months of the year for a decade or so now. They aren't expensive to buy, are very neat and easy and self-contained, just plug 'em in. Whatever I paid for them initially, amortized over the ten years or so I've been using them, probably comes to about a dollar a year each.

[nes]

I have a regular heating pad - I'm not sure what would make it water-proof or not. Just a regular drugstore heat pad you say? hmmm...

[gixxerific]

I have a heating pad but haven't used it yet. I am using an electric oil filled floor heater that gets warm not super hot and is adjustable. It works great and is pretty safe. The heater wasn't very expensive. The Heating pad would be even cheaper.

You could always use a regular incandescent light if you have and old fixture laying around. They give off quite a bit of heat, though the actual light that comes from them is basically useless for growing.

I would not use heater ducts. I have heard that the heat coming out of them is 5-10 degrees more than the air temp, or what your thermostat is set to. Something like that I believe I heard that on here. But yeah that would cook them.

My very informal experimental growing apparatus thingy.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/DSC03074.jpg[/img]

[applestar]

Then, there's always the famous Mike McGrath method -- I read it in an old Organic Gardening Magazine when he was the editor (don't know who is now): Set up a rickety old ironing board with the padding/cover removed. Hang a double shop light fixture with one tube cool, one tube warm over it, and put an old (I think the term he used was "your mother's old" and maybe "ugly" was in there somewhere too ) living room side table lamp UNDER it with a 100W incandescent bulb (or maybe it was a 3-way with up to 150W) in it.

[NatGreeneVeg]

That's a good suggestion - but it's not a hassle to me!! I really enjoy starting thing from seed .

Plus it gets expensive when you're buying all your plants at a nursery instead of seed .

Cost depends on how many plants you want and how many you're cooking for or how many herbs your using. If you lived near me, I could set you up with most of your common and not so common culinary herbs for a simple barter. Therefore your cost would be essentially money free.

Most people don't need more than 1-2 plants per variety. The cost of a seed packet.

If you want a simple set up, use craigslist to find a used waterbed heater mat. You can use a layer of sand in a simple frame or a swimming pool floating mat filled with water on top of the waterbed heater mat. Both sand and water will retain heat. I know people who have done both with great success for late winter seed starting.

[pharmerphil]

before we spend over a hundred bucks on two propagation mats, we used an electric blanket covered in heavy construction plastic.

Years ago, I had a spare room with a water bed, and used the whole water bed, placing the trays on top.
if we have a couple trays only, we use a regular "OH MY BACK ACHES" heating pad

we start everything from seed, and the reason is that around here, If we did not, we'd be very limited to variety...