Ghetto Seed Starting Mat

[Morpheus]

My family grows a garden outside and we (mainly me) sprout some of our plants indoors to get them an early start. All the seeds except the pepper seeds germinate extremely well. This is most likely due to the cool temperature of the basement that are germinated in. Since im going to be moving out for college in less that two years i dont want to spend a whole lot of money on professional seed starting mats. i was curious if you guys would know of any ways to easily and relatively cheaply raise the soil temp? ive heard of some people placeing the seed tray on rope lights but i dont know how effective that is.

 

[CCPS]

seeing as you still live at home, I bet you could talk your parents into a $25 purchase for seed starting. http://www.hydrogalaxy.com/propagat...-9x19-5-17w/?gclid=CKmjv9imnrUCFQSqnQodyhEANg

However, you don't really need this for any CP seeds at least none that I have experience with.

 

[swords]

Do you/the family use shop light strips to light the germinated seedlings indoors? If so just put the seed trays who need bottom heat over those lights on a shelf or something. It works dandy for bottom heat and you're loosing the radiated heat from the top of the lamps anyway, might as well make use of it.

 

[DonH]

I would look for heat mats that occasionally go on sale at online hydroponic stores for about $20. Many offer free shipping. They are worth it if you want to start seeds when it's cold. They can increase temps up to 10F from room temp.

Here are my ghost chilis that I started in December with a heat mat and a mini greenhouse dome.

 

[mato]

Did someone call for me?

 

[Morpheus]

I'll probably end up buying one if I can find it that cheap. I've never seen one cheaper than 35 dollars.
@DonH those are amazing ghosts. I've never been able to get more then a few seeds to sprout and I've never gotten size like that out of them.

 

[DonH]

Here's one that's less than $25 + free shipping for a single tray heat mat:
http://www.thehydrosource.com/hydrofarm-seedling-heating-mat.html

I find chilis easy to germinate if the seeds are fresh. I use the moist papertowel method to sow the seeds. Keep them in the dark at around 80F and you should start to see roots in 10 days. Then transplant the rooted seeds in starter plugs, give them warmth and light and they grow pretty quickly. I need to start potting them up but it's still a bit cold outside.

 

[Astroidea]

I made a heat mat with rope lights

Heat output is not much. I haven't measured temprature yet.
I've got some Drosera seeds on it now, nothing sprouted yet.

 

[Api]

Dude, do you live in the jungle? What a nice view!