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Hello everyone, I have a question about leaving my seedlings on my heat mats, Will it hurt to leave my seedlings on the heat mats? I still have a few peppers and tomatoes germinating but some of my seedlings are getting bigger, My peppers have been planted for almost 21 days but I have some seeds still popping up. My tomatoes have been about 11 days and I still have a few sprouting. Are there any negative effects associated with leaving the bigger seedlings on the heat mats? I know they dry out quicker being on the heat mats so I have to water more. Thanks everybody.

Not really. They will be a little more tender, so will need careful hardening off when you bring them outdoors.

I find tomatoes grow too fast when warm and end up lanky. Peppers prefer keeping their feet/bottoms warm... some varieties more than others. And then, some peppers do better when taken off the heat mat and placed in room temp of upper 60’s to 70’s.

Peppers stay on the heat mats until hardening off; tomatoes have the heat taken off at first re-pot at the two true leaf stage. Tomatoes seem to be healthier when growing in relatively cool temps and peppers do better with heat on the bottoms. That's my way and as we know, there are lots of ways to skin the...

thank you