Seedling Heat Mats

[djlen]

My wife requested, among many other things , a seedling heat mat for Christmas.
I'm looking for some feedback on what would be a good choice/size to get her. These will be sown indoors in mid-Winter and some of the particular seeds she'll be growing require bottom heat.
I'm looking at this: https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MT10006--19-1-2-Inch-Seedling/dp/B0001WV010/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1353085818&sr=8-6&keywords=heated+mats
Wondering if anyone has experience with them and also any other leads for good mats.
Any help would be appreciated.

[DoubleDogFarm]

If you are serious and plan to use it for many years, I recommend one like this.
https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10052&storeId=10001&langId=-1&division=FarmTek&productId=600926

Thermostat
https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10052&productId=600936&pageId=ItemDetail&isDoc=N

or you could go to a thrift store and buy a sore muscle heating pad. Make sure it does not have the auto shut-off feature.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

I would build her propagation chamber.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33290&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=propagation+chamber&start=0

Eric

[Dillbert]

perhaps some minor clarifications would help.

there are seed types where "bottom heat" is recommended.

otherwise it's a "environmental temperature" thing.

in my x-greenhouse I built a plywood frame sized to fit an old storm window glass; with rails and slats such that the seedling tray was about half way up the "depth" of the frame.

used a temp controller with remote bulb, which "energized" an el'cheepie hair dryer - made for heat and air circulation in one go.

note to self: do not water when hair dryer is running . . . .

also (still) have a rubber foam "propagation mat" - also controlled by remote bulb thermostat - no clue as to maker - it dates from the 1980's - but still keeps things warm from the bottom.

variations are near endless - depends on your degree of Rube Goldburg-ness and tolerance for "nothing can go wrong regardless of what I do."

[djlen]

Thank you for the feedback. I think that the one in the link I left above is going to be adequate for our purposes. It gets really good reviews, something that I put a great deal of credence in.

[rainbowgardener]

That looks fine to me. I like the ones that are the size of one flat. I run two heat mats through seed starting season. The ones I have are the pharmacy ones sold for people. But that's because I got them something like at least 12 years ago. At that time the seed heating ones were a lot more expensive. Now I don't think you could get a pharmacy one any cheaper than the price of the seed one.

But not every seed needs heat to germinate and all of them can come off the heat once they are germinated and have true leaves. So it's nice to have flexibility of which trays have heat under them and which don't.

As far as the propagation chambers providing ambient heat. My seed starting set up is in my heated but cool basement (in the upper or lower 60's depending on time of day/week). The only extra heat is the heat pads and once they come off those, they just have the regular environment. Everything seems to do fine that way.