heat mat

[cycle]

I'm thinking about getting a heat mat to help nurse along my little ones.

Who uses them? What do you think worth it?

And if anyone has one they'd like to trade or sell PM me.

[baphomet]

I had one made up which cost me a fortune, 1.5m square, it does help here in Melbourne though but it's kind of awkward and impractical, where's the water going to go?

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

Mine came from a reptile supply place, it wasn't too exy. Plenty of em on ebay in the reptile supply section.

A fish tank heater in a big jar inside a fish tank is pretty good and keeps up the humidity, but you dont get any bottom heat.

Hillbilly

[cycle]

where's the water going to go?

It's not water proof?

Thanks Hillbilly that's a great suggestion!

Edited October 17, 2008 by cycle

[Ace]

Got anything spiny to trade for a seedling heat mat approx 20x40cm (or maybe 20x50cm)? I think I paid around $30 for it and never really used it (second hand condition, from hydro shop [built for seedlings/plants and pad is waterproof], approx 12 months old, works fine and looks brand new). PM me if interested

Otherwise, as mentioned, hit reptile stores, ebay, hydro shops, garden centres, etc. Plenty around and probably cheap enough to buy brand new if you'd prefer a shiny one

[watertrade]

I have a few different types that I have never used - I bought, borrowed, made etc. the one I like (I think - if I ever used it) is an 8m length of heat cable that you just plug in . this would be stuck to the bottom of a tray and covered in sand and then thick plastic or maybe another tray. I think its about 80 watts . waterproof too.

If I had to do this again I think I would just an already made one -

[fringle]

keep an eye out for waterbed heaters at garage sales and ebay, you can get them really cheap. At a guess id say there waterproof for safety reasons. You could also cut the heating element out of an electric blanket and adapt that, these are cheap too, at op shops, ebay etc.

[Chiral]

I have used with great success in the past as a heat mat the hot water unit outside ..mostly everyone has one..just put your trays on top of them and they stay nice and warm ..

worked for me..

H.

[kushizm]

I breed reptiles and have many variety of heatmat (waterproof and not). PM me for trades or offers!

[Wobbygong]

fwiw I'm new to cactus seed growing and i didn't have a heat mat. So about a month ago i devised i this fish tank heater method:

I got a rectangular plastic container (roughly 450 x 300mm) and put about 30 - 40 mm of water in it. Into that i put the fish tank heater set on 25C or whatever. Then I just plunked the seed tubs into the heated water 'bath'. The water level rose to about 60 mm. The weight of the sand inside the tubs stopped them from floating off.

The thermostat in the heater keeps the water temperature steady. And because the the tubs are surrounded by water the wet mix inside them is kept at the same temperature as the water.

I was concerned that there could be a hot-spot near the heater. But when i checked with a thermometer this wasn't the case. In fact the water seemed to heat surprisingly uniformly, even when the container was full of seed tubs. I guess the water mixes through convection. Often the heater is touching the plastic tubs etc, but there's never a problem, the water absorbs the heat.

The temperature of mixture in the pots took about 45min or so to stabilize at the water temperature. This was with closed seed tubs, open ones had a T about 1C lower than the water.

Its cheap and gives me very good control over the temperature in the seed tubs. The temp in the tubs is uniform...( I obsessively measured it over 2days b4 risking my precious new seeds!). Ive used cups and bags in it too...seems to work the same.

Like I said I'm new to this, and i only made this a month ago, but it seems to work a treat. I grew my first cactus seeds -lophos - and they mainly sprouted in about 9 - 14 d and stacks of trichs which germed in about 4-5d.

[kushizm]

Easiest for me seems to be a heat mat and a rheostat ( Very cheap light dimmer ) Good luck all!

[Ace]

i devised i this fish tank heater method

Sounds interesting Wobby. My only concern is that all your pots are going to be constantly overwatered leading to certain demise to the plants in them (especially if they happen to be cacti as described)? Perhaps I have read it wrong? I think a better setup utilising a water heater would be to use a double tub setup like a colonising chamber for the PFTek in fungi cultivation. That way the inner chamber will be at the constant temp desired and the plants can be watered like average pot plants instead of being constantly sitting in water.

[Wobbygong]

I should have made it clearer, it was getting late!

I dont put regular plant pots ( ie ones with holes in the bottom) into the container of water. It is like you say a kind of double tub In fact I used takeaway food containers for seed "pots". These of course are sealed and self contained. So the contents of the seed container are not in direct contact with the heated water. I could have used dry sand in them if i wanted.

Cups or regular pots in plastic bags work the same way because they too are sealed off...that's if the bag is the right way up of course.

cheers

[Ace]

Ok - that makes more sense Should work a treat I think