Starting Seeds Heat Mat Advice - Greenhouse Off Grid Homestead
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
- Starting seeds can be simple and easy using a seed starting tray, cover, AND a heat mat. Heat mats are deceptively simple, but there is some confusion in catalogs. Learn how to avoid heat mat pitfalls.
Organic gardening is a way of life for many. For us, organic food is our preference. Organic food from our garden is an important part of our diet, and a way to make delicious food more affordable. So, getting healthy seedling starts going predictably is vital to our gardening.
Our continued Organic Garden Experiment At BrainStorm Acres Homestead is the latest of our 14 year experiment of living off grid in Northern Arizona. We'll follow how the heat mats make seed germination more predicable.
We strive to make our lives more sustainable by using solar power, wind power, local resources, and careful, thoughtful purchases.
We collect water from rainwater catchments that are stored in our cisterns. We use foraged food when it's available.
Our objective is to grow more of our own food for dietary reasons, and the security of knowing how our food has been raised. We are sustainable with a limited number of plants, and are working towards greater self sufficiency.
We are embarking on a new gardening year. One that relies on our raised wicking beds and our off grid greenhouse.
BrainStorm Acres challenge is multiplied since we are off grid relying on solar power and water catchment.
Thanks for joining us on our continuing journey.
Take care.
Henry & Irene
BrainStormAcres
PO Box 105
Ash Fork, AZ 86320
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Starting Seeds Heat Mat Advice - Greenhouse Off Grid Homestead - Навчання та стиль
3 steps instructions on the heat mat, straight forward complexity ^~^
great knowledge I have learnt from you about heat mat, thank you.
Snacks and Foods we try to make information accessible to everyone who is interested. Thanks for commenting. Take care and stay healthy.
WeI have used heat mats and they do work well for starting seeds. We forgot we had them and didn't use them this year. I just felt like watching your most popular video today, so this is were I landed. Glad I did. I like watching older videos so I can see how they have evolved over time. thanks for showing us.... TTYL...
Nice practice Ken! We try to do the same as we are able. Life is never dull here! Take care.
Nice advice for starting seeds. We have four seed heat mats that we rotate our seeds trays on for germination.
We started using heat mats more than 10 years ago because we keep our house cooler at night than seeds generally like. Hope you folks have a great day!
Good advice and tips mam, my Vivosun mats that I purchased on Amazon are doing great!! Y'all have a good week!! Dan
Home In The Sticks we love the results from our mats! We saw that you might be getting more weather coming your way. Hope it isn’t too bad at your place. Have a great week and take care.
Excellent! Great advice. I have decided to add heat mats into my budget at least before next seed starting season and this is very good info to know. I never considered the different types so I will definitely be careful when ordering. Thanks!
Thanks for commenting. Irene very nearly made a mistake Amazon, even though she knew of the different types. Heat mats make a huge difference for many folks. Have a terrific day!
I use the simple plug in and use heat mats as well and need to buy me a few more also. Thanks for the how to and info. Hope you two have a great day!
We discussed which kind of mat to buy. For now, like you, the simple plug is the way to go. A controller version will be in our future IF we begin starting picky seeds. Thanks for your comments. Take care and have a terrific week!
Hi, I'm new to your channel but am late to the party regarding this video. New to gardening actually. I've been suffering from paralysis through analysis the past few weeks when it came to buying heat mats. I'm in Wisconsin, it's cold and we keep a cool house so my seedlings will need a little help. Reading reviews and researching on my own left me confused. Some are very expensive with a lot of fancy gadgets. I believe I just want a simple heat mat for a tray of seedlings. Watching your video helped me make up my mind to buy the 2-mat deal on Amazon with no temp gauge. Maybe it's your down-to-earth way of explaining things or just the fact that simple may be better when it comes to this. Thanks for explaining the mats and I look forward to watching our videos on this channel.
Very glad to hear that you are finding our info helpful. I think we all suffer from analysis paralysis sometimes! Especially when we are faced with sooo many choices. We both grew up in New England, and we keep a cold house, too. Using a heat mat and a dome on your seed tray will make all the difference in the world. Even though all of the seeds are up in two of our seed trays, we still have the mats on and the domes on at night. Right now our greenhouse is still getting down in the 20’s at night, at least part of the time. Don’t hesitate to ask questions if you have them. We usually get to all of them every day. Unless the internet is down! 😟😱😩 Have a great week and congratulations on being brave enough to try gardening. It isn’t always easy, but it sure can be tasty!
Great advice, @UCv4AZmVDrCvkNx6aWKqw5mA. Many don't know that keeping those cell trays warm is important for good germination. In the seed rack that I built, it holds the temperatures well. Many blessings to you.
It’s easy to overlook exactly what seed producers mean when they give a germination temperature, especially for new gardeners. Or when starting seeds early when temp swings impede germination. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Irene! I'm a new sub who loves to garden but I'm still learning about starting my own seeds and such. How long do you typically keep the heat mat under your seedlings? What about the hydration dome, how long do you keep that on? In the past I've had problems with my seedlings damping off. I think I just don't have my timing right. I appreciate your tutorials, thank you!
Ellen's Abundant Life on Less hi Ellen! Irene here! How long the heat mat stays on depends on the seedlings and the temperature of the room. For instance, we have a 1020 tray of tomatoes and peppers in the great room right now. I kept the dome and the heat on all the time until most of the tomatoes sprouted. Then I would take off the dome and turn off the heat, if it was a sunny day, but the dome and the heat go back on at night. Peppers take longer to sprout, and like more heat. If the day was dreary and cool I might leave the dome on with the heat off. As soon as all of the peppers were up I stopped putting the dome on at all. At night I move the tray of seedlings away from the window and turn on the heat mat about 7PM and off about 6AM. The tray is rotated every day to make the seedlings bend back and forth for the sun. Damping off is usually a combination of too much moisture and mold. The soil could be too wet, or it could be contaminated. If you are using good potting soil or a seed starting mix, that usually eliminates the contamination part. If your domes have vents, opening them a bit may be a good idea, too. Our trays are in direct sun, so I check the moisture level at least twice a day. Hope this helps!
Gardening is harder than it looks.
Hiya! Nice to see you here. Thanks for commenting - it isn’t too bad, but you are right. Mostly it’s a lot of knowledge combined with learned skills. Take care!
Was wondering about power consumption of the mats. I am off grid too
It’s fairly low. We’ll have to look at our notes, but if memory is close, the mats consume about 100W fir a 21 x 48” mat when they actually need to heat. You can figure that the heat mats consume 0.1 W per square inch when heating. Digital temperature controllers turn the actual mat off and on to maintain the temperature. So the total power consumption depends on the temperature outside the heat may. Thanks for asking. Take care.
Use an old electric blanket......works awesome too of u need so many....
Thanks for the tip! Bet it could work well. Take care.
👋😊
All my tomato seedlings have a purple stem and purple under leaves. I think it's because the soils temperature is too low and they're phosphorus defiant now. I didn't think I would need a heating mat (this is my first year growing from seeds), do you recommend purchasing one? I usually water every couple of days and leave them in sunlight (they're about three weeks old), it's also starting to warm up, but I don't want to risk killing all my plants.
Apvill, Irene here. Some varieties of tomato have that color naturally. What company did you get the seeds from? What is the variety? Have you seen a good picture of them? Once all of my seeds are up I rarely use a heat mat. Long term, having a heat mat will make your seed come up faster, and using one actually makes an even bigger difference for more difficult plants, like peppers. The frequency of watering will depend on the temperature and humidity. It is a bit of a balancing act. And the more sunlight the better. If they get lanky, you can just plant them deep, but it is nicer if they stay stocky. I hope this helps!
hii, what water or vitamins do u mix with your water solution??
and how much ater you pour on it? how often do u pour water to the bottom of the tray?
Hi! Thanks for asking. We use plain water for starting our seedlings. We do put water in the bottom tray to help moisten the potting soil. Since we live in a very dry climate we’ll start with 0.5” to 1” (1-2.5 cm) of water in the bottom tray. We use a fine mist from a small container with a misting nozzle. Seeds do not need any addition fertilizer until after the first true leaves come out. The seed starting mix we use will support the seedlings, but we use fish emulsion to fertilize the seedlings after the true leaves are out. Good luck!
Hi,
I was wondering if the mat says how many watts/amps of energy it requires.
Depending on the exact mat, they typically consume 20-25 watts when actually heating. The controller turns off the electricity when the temperature that you set is reached. When the temperature drops too low it turns back in. Hope that helps!
thank you! @@BrainStormAcres
could a person just use a plain heating pad? I could regulate the temp (if the lowest setting is too warm) with a voltage dial device i suppose...or set the tray on heat vent on my floor...
The hard part with a heating pad is knowing what temperature it is producing. If it is consistent, and low enough temperature, and you have a waterproof heating pad (spills happen), I guess it would be fine. I have used a heating pad set on low to make yoghurt before, but that is just for a few hours, not for days or weeks. The problem with a heat vent on a floor, other than being tripped over, it that the air movement is really going to dry the soil out, and it is not a constant heat. A dome on the tray will help with the drying effect, but the temperature swings caused by the heat cycling on an off would not be good, you might roast the seeds. The goal is a steady, gentle, non-drying warmth, that you can keep steady for as many as 3 or four weeks. Most seeds will be up in two weeks, but there are some that take longer. Heat mats are really not that expensive, and they eliminate the drama of a lot of the make-shift solutions. A warm location in your house might be better than nothing. We keep a cool house in the winter (we both prefer it that way), but I am willing to move my plants twice a day for sun and warmth. The heat mat lets you “set it and forget it”, as long as you have moisture and a dome.
@@BrainStormAcres ok thnx; im going to get one tomorrow; i have artemisia annua to plant n accelerate then put in lg pots on deck.
Awesome! Let us know how they turn out. Take care and stay healthy.
@@BrainStormAcres i wear gloves and a 5 layer salted mask while in stores works well
Lauren we’re pretty pragmatic - what works, works! Do drop us a line with your results using a heat mat. We always like to hear others’ experience. Take care and stay healthy.
My hear mat gets up to 100f degrees. Is that too hot?
Generally speaking the vast majority of seeds germinate best between 70-80f (21-27C). Some seeds like lettuce go into “thermal dormancy” around 90f (31C) which will keep them from germinating. If you have a temperature controller, drop the maximum temp to 80. If you are using a heat mat without a controller, and the mat is working correctly, turn off the heat mat when your room temperature reaches 60 degrees. Most heat maps will raise the temps by 10-20 degrees, which means that the maximum soil temp will be 80 or below. You can find germination temperatures for specific varieties at most seed seller’s websites. Good luck. Take care and stay healthy.
@@BrainStormAcres shucks. I had it in 24 hours didn't realize it got that hot. Turned it off but I'm wondering if I killed my seeds. Well see in 10 days.
Sorry - hang in there ... do you have more seeds?