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.

(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

I doubt that it's any sort of immediate safety hazard, but I would be
concerned that the bending of the embedded wires around the wires of the
grid could ultimately lead to cracks that could become hot-spots.

Some of the heat will be conducted away in the metal, which will effect the
heating of your seedlings. My guess is that the "10-20 degree" rise in the
uncontrolled mat is determined by the overall resistance of the wiring in
the mat coupled with how fast the heat is taken out. Dana's idea about
insulation under it obviously means more is pumped up toward the plants.

--

Ray Barkalow First Rays Orchids
http://www.firstrays.com
Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info!


"Elpaninaro" wrote in message
...
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.

Tom,

I doubt it is a hazard but you may want to see how much heat you lose if the
mat sit on an open shelf. My old heat mat (that I don't use much right now)
is encased in a metal frame that suspends the plant tray about 3/4 inch
above the matt.

You probably want to place the container that will hold your small plants on
the mat and put a thermometer inside to see what the temp is at various
times of the day.

The old mat I have will get quite warm.

Let us know how it works for you.

Good Growing,
Gene

Thanks to all for the help!

Sounds like this will be okay. The only issue now may be the fact that the mat
will have to remain curved up at one end for space, but I will see how it goes.

Will do some several hour test runs this weekend when I can be here to babysit


Thanks again all!

Tom.