****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I was tired of having germination problems, particularly with my peppers. Because of this I decided to purchase a heating mat this year to aid in the process. This looked like a great option which would allow me to heat 4 seed flats.The room I am using this year is a bit cold, running around 60 degrees. Previously I have used other areas in the home providing 73 degrees. I was not concerned about the temp difference, because I bought a heat mat and thermostat this year. Turns out the thermostat was overkill because this heat map is quite unlikely to over heat my plants. In fact it is struggling to bring them up by 10 degrees.I also purchased new T5 High Output lighting this year and those lights are doing more to heat my seed beds than the mat is. In fact I had to turn off half of the bulbs to keep the temperature down. Didn't realize I needed a thermostat for my lights. I am probably going to add some circulation to keep temps down once the seedlings emerge but for now temp is stabilized. In the mornings, the seed bed is just under 80 degrees which means the heat mat is unable to reach the 80 degree mark that the thermostat is set to. Perhaps I was expecting to much lift from this mat, but I am getting about 10 degrees.--------- Update 3/27/2014It has now been over a month, and all my seeds have sprouted. My tomato plants look better than they ever have. They easily look better than the commercial plants at Home Depot, that has never been the case before. They have thick trunks that are easily 1/4" in diameter and are at least as wide as they are tall, not leggy at all. My Basil is still small but is also doing very well. If you look through the pics you will see a couple of mine.I have been unable to create healthy pepper seedlings in the past, but now have 20 plants growing in 3 varieties. My bell peppers still did not sprout but those seeds were old, and likely not viable.I made a mistake and accidentally left the thermostat out of the growbox in the cold air of the room. I may have underestimated the heating mat, as the temperature inside the growbox became very warm, still over 90 deg after it had cooled for a bit. It very near cooked all my plants, but thankfully nearly all survived, it was only one night. I definitely recommend using a thremostat with the mat if you are also using HO grow lights. I raised my review to 4 stars.I've been using a pair of these heat mats to start seedlings for seven years - for the price, I never expected them to last this long, but here we are going into year eight. I start around 80 vegetable plants from seed every year in 3" peat pots in open trays, and use these mats in combination with a grow light. Using these two mats is sufficient to keep all of the seedlings at the appropriate temperature IF you arrange them carefully. Put your seeds like eggplant, which like higher temps to germinate, in the center of the mats, and your cooler temp seeds at the edges of your trays, where the heat will radiate to give them a boost but not be as intense, and you're good to go. I have around 99% germination rates, and I have seeds that are a decade old (stored in the freezer) so they need ideal conditions to germinate. These mats do the trick.My fiance keeps a worm bin for compost as she is an avid gardener. Before I met her she had bought a "custom made" worm bin warmer online from a very questionable source. It appears someone simply took a non-grounded extension cord, cut off the socket ends, and attached a very questionable array of wires to the end of it with shrink tubing and connectors. After the unit gave her a shock, and a cold snap coming, I wanted a better solution. What good are electrocuted worms, or worse, electrocuted fiance or burned down house?So I did some research on the worm composting sites it was recommended to get a seed tray warmer for cold snaps. I selected this one because its dimensions fit nicely in the bin, not quite fully covering the top of the compost materials, but enough to warm.The unit never gets "warm" or would never be hot enough to injury or burn. You put the warmer on the top of the compost, not under the warmer or in the compost, so the environment is no more damp and dirty than if it was sitting under seed trays with moisture and warmth.In our first cold snap into the mid-20s it worked - perfectly. Worms will start to die if the compost gets to around 40 degrees, but they are smart enough to congregate close to warmer at the top. That's exactly what happened.So another use for this product - if you live in a tepid climate where temperatures might drop as low as 20 degrees, this will work perfectly for keeping a smaller worm bin warm.Works fine.
