Do You Need a Heating Mat to Start Seeds?

What are the benefits of a heating mat and when do you need it?

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Do You Need a Heating Mat to Start Seeds?

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[bilalkawsara]

Great video, thanks for sharing. I had a moment of fear when I heard what sounded like a crossbow shot at 2:10 in the video.

[dahutful]

I made a heating bed because my germination station is in a cold exterior room. I insulated and used a reflective interior paper. But once the seeds are germinated, I begin the cooling process, to more closely match the outside conditons. When its time to harden off, they start the transition to outside living.
Most cool weather plants, I use winter sowing techniques - and save the heating bed for the warm loving plants to get them started. And I just like to see them germinate!

[lettucesalad]

Good video, very complete. Can you do a video about using a fan or not on seedlings?

[sbffsbrarbrr]

If you are not using that heating mat, please send it to me 😁! Had no idea there were heating mats that expensive.
I have two one tray heating mats purchased over 20 years ago, still in good condition and they still work. While I do use them to germinate things like peppers, tomatoes and eggplant, I mainly use them because I have them. When I started gardening years ago, I thought I needed all kinds of paraphernalia. Not so much now.

[joelmesh]

Absolutely spot on advice. I use them for hot peppers and pull them off as soon as they are up. Grow/germination area is about 60F in Jan-Feb so they help here in the ass freeze zone.

[lifeonhuckleberryhill]

We don't have a basement ( I have heard most homes in America do not) and our home is too small. There simply is no room to put trays anywhere, nor would we want them taking up valuble space that is used for other things. Putting them on the floor won't work with our pets. So all we have is a double wall 9'x14' green house that we heat if the temp. falls below 35f. We over winter our potted herbs and plants in there also. The heat mats allow us to start as early as we want depending on plant type. We live in zone 8 - Pacific NW.

[ArRi]

Great video! You can put styrofoam underneath the heat mat for a little more efficacy. A growlight might reduce leggyness when temperature remains on the high side. I use a propagator on top of a heat mat with thermostat and growlight to create an incubator for my (self sown ex vitro) Phalaenopsis seedlings (only during winter). It's a pitty the thermostat only has one setpoint (no day/night regime). Anyway l'm still learning. Also read your book Soil Science for Gardeners 😀

[DDGLJ]

We have heated floors in the bathroom. Works great for the seeds that need it.

[jeil]

Great work. Thanks for clearing that up.

[lisalikesplants]

Humidity dome works great for me when germinating peppers and other slow to start seeds! Have never needed a heat mat.

[OakSummitNursery]

My heating mats are only used for propagation, in the spring for hardwood and fall for softwood. it can speed uprooting to add some bottom heat.

[michaelg]

I have some ornamental pepper seeds that absolutely refuse to germinate unless the soil temperature is at least 80 F / 26.5 C so I have to use a heat mat. I put it on top of a piece of foam insulation and then put a piece of 12 inch x 24 inch ( 30 cm x 60 cm ) porcelain tile over it to spread the heat evenly. It uses a variable heat controller, no actual temperature controller. Now I want to work on a Raspberry Pi Pico based system for temperature control and to automate the misting/watering.

[aoc]

A side note, some plants require a diurnal temperature range to germinate, 10 deg Celsius is not unusual, in those cases heating mats tend to inhibit germination unless used carefully on a timer.

[indianb]

Good video. I agree with you fully. Cheers !

[sislertx]

I use a.crock pot sitting on low on.the shelf.below seed tray
on those that require higher heat. I got.jeating mats lut.the kazoo with thermostats i do a lot.of flowers

[randymack]

Another great informative vid. What about a heating pad for rooting cuttings. Does it help ?

[indianb]

Do you need to switch off your heating mat at night to create a day/night temperature fluctation just like in nature ? Does that give better germination percentages ? I would like to know your thoughts on this.

[minekush]

It's needed for cloning and helps with germination set it at 85 degrees when cloning and that increases the humidity enough to clone with aloe

[davidford]

It seems your underlying assumption is that germination is taking place inside a house, probably the basement. I don't think I am all that unusual in having a small unheated greenhouse. At this time of year the night time temperature regularly gets down into the 30s Fahrenheit. This is too cold for good germination, particularly for the warm weather seeds I will be starting in a week or so. So I use heat mats.

[borntolearnandearn]

Is it day temperature or night temperature to grow seeds? And where to find the details of germination temperature of all the flower plants?