GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Help please with this heated seedling mat

26-03-2003, 05:08 AM

(Elpaninaro) wrote in
:

Good evening all,

The Paph flasks are now in compot and going great! And my seedling mat
finally arrived yesterday to keep the plants warm.

I never thought much of it at the time, but now I realize that I was
about to place this mat directly on the metal grid shelving of my
indoor growing set up.

Is this asking for trouble? Do any of you who recommended this mat use
it on metal? If so, should I take any steps to keep the metal separate
from the mat- ie a rubber mat or perhaps some bath towels?

Also wondering if you guys leave this plugged in 24-7. For now just to
be safe I am tempted to use at night only, and perhaps also buy the
regulator that is optional. The ad said 10-20 degrees over ambient
temp so I had assumed it was adjustable. Granted there will be plastic
trays holding the plants, but I am concerned about things getting too
warm.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Tom.

PS- To all the sanderianum growers out there- just tonight ordered my
flasks of that and Sam's latest PEOY. I will keep good records and
pics (delivery expected in 3-4 weeks after a few big shows are
completed) and look forward to hearing further on everyone's results.

I use a seedling heat mat in the winter time to boost the warmth for some
of my orchids. I keep in on 24x7 with no problems. I use it on a
plastic ventilated shelf so I'm not sure if metal would be a problem, but
I tend to think that it won't be. I do put a scrap piece of styrofoam
type insulation under the mat mainly to insure that any heat dissapation
occurs up towards my plants. I place a humidity tray on top of the
heating mat and try to remember to add water regularly ;-)

--
Dana