Heat Pad to Help Seed Starting

[lakngulf]

I have had decent luck growing plants from seed, but (1) want to start a bit earlier this year and (2) always have problems getting peppers and egg plant to germinate. I have a decent light setup. What is my best bet for a heating pad to help with the process?

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, I think you will have much better results - faster and more reliable germination - with a heat pad. I just use regular heating pads sold for people. But I bought mine more than a decade ago. I wouldn't recommend it now and if mine finally die, I won't buy them again. It is very hard now to find people ones that don't have automatic timed cut off, which you don't want. And the prices of the mats designed for plants have come down a whole lot. At the time I bought the heating pads for people, it would have cost something like three times as much to buy plant mats. Now the prices are very similar.

greenhouse megastore, which is where I get most of my seed starting stuff, has one for $20 that is sized for the 1020 trays:

https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... d-starting

It does not have a thermostat, but I looked and couldn't find any that do. You can buy thermostats separately, if you have a reason to need precision control and plug the mat into one. But really you don't need it.

[PaulF]

Peppers are tough for me too. I have tried several heat sources over the years, from heating pads to fairly expensive heat mats. Like Rainbow said, heating pads for people are not the way to go. I used one like that for many years with some success. That said, you must be very careful because they are not to be used around wet conditions because you can get shocked very easily. The new ones have automatic shut offs and the temperature cannot be controlled.

For peppers and eggplant the mat temperature needs to be quite high, so I would recommend a heat mat with a thermostat so the temp can be up around the 90 degree mark. There are lots of places to get seed starting heat mats and they are mostly the same few brands. I had good luck a couple of years ago looking on e-bay and found what I wanted at about half the price of the supply companies.

[lakngulf]

greenhouse megastore, which is where I get most of my seed starting stuff, has one for $20 that is sized for the 1020 trays:

Amazon (aka Santa Claus) delivered one yesterday. Ready to give it a try.

[imafan26]

Why not use a heat mat. It is designed for this purpose. Probably safer to use. A small heat mat will fit under a standard seedling tray. And it is about the same price as a people heating pad. Some kits include a domed seedling tray for a few dollars more.
These are a couple of sites I found.

https://www.fullbloomhydroponics.net/20- ... fgod1gwAwQ

https://www.amazon.com/EcoGear-Seedling- ... 33ZOMUKZ9G

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... dition=new

[rainbowgardener]

Isn't that what I said and linked to?

[imafan26]

Yes, Rainbow, I just linked to different sites with similar products. It's my bad, I read your post but did not really pay attention to the link. One of the links was to the same product as yours. Hydrofarm also has a thermostat for the heat mat that is sold separately.

[lakngulf]

Isn't that what I said and linked to?

That is what I ordered, and received. It was shipped rolled up like a tube, so I have in under some weight on the den floor now, smoothing out so it will be ready soon.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[applestar]

It will flatten out faster if you plug it in

[lakngulf]

Well, first test is in the oven, figuratively speaking. I received some new tomato and pepper seed and wanted to test it for germination, and test the heat pad. So I placed tomato seed in one flat, tomato and pepper seed in a second flat. Put under grow lights, and the tomato/pepper flat is on the heat pad.

Film at eleven....

[applestar]

Are you going to measure air and soil temp?

[lakngulf]

Are you going to measure air and soil temp?

No. This is an "unscientific" experiment.

[lakngulf]

Are you going to measure air and soil temp?

No. This is an "unscientific" experiment.

We are pushing 80 degrees here in central Alabama on this first day of winter, so the seed may get confused!

[lakngulf]

First Results

First little plant to show was a Celebrity tomato in the flat with the heat pad.

[lakngulf]

First Results

First little plant to show was a Celebrity tomato in the flat with the heat pad.

He's little but its a start