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dowlinggram

heat mats and growing plants

dowlinggram
9 years ago

Is there a reason must you move plants off of the heat heat mats once they are rooted.

I have large heat mats. They are very good for starting seeds and cuttings. I also have my light setup in an unfinished basement and it is cool down there so I want them for a bit of heat too. My seeds and cuttings do very well on the mat but not so well when they are removed. So which is best--

Leave them on the heat mats or put a mesh tray upside down under the growing tray to move them a bit away from the heat but still have the heat surround them.

I also thought about enclosing the whole set-up in mylar but that won't allow for good air circulation unless I put a fan in there which would be a possibility

So---what would you do?

Comments (2)

  • ralleia
    9 years ago

    What kinds of plants are you growing?

    I think that generally, one is encouraged to remove the heat mats for two reasons:

    1) higher heat encourages faster growth, but if light is insufficient to support this growth, the plants will tend to be spindly, and

    2) as the plant growth increases, water demand increases, and bottom-heat plus increased water demand will make the plants dry out faster.

    I usually find that my fluorescent tub lights put out enough incidental warmth to keep my seedlings in the basement warm enough.

    But I have also in the past draped my lights with reflective mylar with a small fan for air circulation. This would have the additional advantages of higher light levels due to the reflectivity of the mylar and encourage sturdier plant growth by the slight agitation from the air movement.

    I might experiment with your latter idea if it is not too much trouble.

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    9 years ago

    I have a cat heat mat that has carpet on the top. I have been using it under some of my Red Robin tomatoes. It was under all of them until I re-potted them in to one gallon pots.

    There wasn't enough room for all of them in bigger pots. They are about 18" tall now.

    It is supposed to be at a cat's normal temperature, so that would be around 100 degrees. I think the carpet acts as a buffer, maybe kinda like your idea of a mesh tray? And all of the plants are sitting in old cookie sheets for bottom watering.

    The toms on the mat have much thicker stems and are much greener than the ones on the cold counter top. The temps in that room are around 50 degrees average.

    I swapped them around over the weekend to see if the others will thicken up their stems. I left one on the mat, it was starting to bloom.

    I hope my 2 cents helps!