Re: Okay, serious stuff

Just a side note, I thought Gardeners Supply carried a wicking heating mat,
but I'll have to look it up. My set up is in the green house so I can water
with worrying about ruining anything. I use a heat mat and heating cables
(separate flats) and it's worked great this year. This was my first attempt
at seed starting in a long time. So far all is well. I did cover mine with
either saran wrap or those plastic covers for flats until the seeds were
germinated and well up. It was pretty cold in the greenhouse when I started
them so I felt they needed the heat trapped. It worked great. They all
germinated rapidly like that. 


> [Original Message]
> From: Fort Wayne, IN <4042N15@nationalhearing.com>
> To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
> Date: 3/5/2005 3:29:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] Okay, serious stuff
>
> Jim,
> I've often wondered how to utilize both capillary matting and heating pads
> as, since I use APS units I sense that my seeds are too distant from the
> heat mat to benefit.  Your irigation/humidity cookie pans - will the water
> be always in contact with the medium or is this just to catch the excess
> moisture?
> I wouldn't think you'd really need to place anything between your heating
> mats and the wood.  They only get to something like 75 F, not likely to
> start a fire or anything.  Heating coils, though - I think some of them
come
> with adjustable temperature gauges and could be set hotter.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "james singer" <jsinger@igc.org>
> To: "Chat" <gardenchat@hort.net>
> Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 2:16 PM
> Subject: [CHAT] Okay, serious stuff
>
>
> > I think I'm going to clean up a big part of my garage workbench and
> > install a seed-starting station. I've got seed beds outdoors for big
> > stuff, like palms and loquats, but no really good place to start small
> > seeds--peppers and cacti and such.
> >
> > The bench has fluorescent shop lights overhead and they can be altered
> > so they can be lowered and raised as need be.
> >
> > The top of the bench is 2-inch by 12-inch pine/fir planks. I want to
> > lay down heating mats or heating coils. What, if anything, should I put
> > between the mats or coils and the wooden planks?
> >
> > I think I will put something like cookie sheets, the kind that are
> > shallow pans, on top of the mats/coils so I can control both irrigation
> > and humidity. I do not intend to enclose the growing medium [some
> > variation on peat pots, unless someone has a better idea] in a tent or
> > one of those little "greenhouses" since the garage never gets below 50
> > degrees.
> >
> > What else do I need to consider? What would you do differently? I've
> > never started seedlings indoors before [bet it shows, eh?].
> >
> > What say ye?
> >
> > Island Jim
> > Southwest Florida
> > 27.0 N, 82.4 W
> > Hardiness Zone 10
> > Heat Zone 10
> > Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
> > Maximum 100 F [38 C]
> >
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