Your 2025 Garden

[R2elk]

Transplanted a tomato plant into a bigger pot.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Transplanted a tomato plant into a bigger pot.
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I keep seeing YouTubers getting their stuff started and now I’m starting to get nervous about not having started any of my seeds yet.

 

[Sally PB]

I can't start my seeds in the green house until mid-late-March at the earliest. Hubby has talked about setting up lights in the basement. We'll see if he was serious when I mention it.

Does anyone use heated seed mats to start seeds?

 

[R2elk]

I keep seeing YouTubers getting their stuff started and now I’m starting to get nervous about not having started any of my seeds yet.

Still plenty of time. I don't start tomato and pepper seeds for the garden until mid March.

 

[R2elk]

I can't start my seeds in the green house until mid-late-March at the earliest. Hubby has talked about setting up lights in the basement. We'll see if he was serious when I mention it.

Does anyone use heated seed mats to start seeds?

I used to. Now I set them on top of the hopper of the pellet stove. When I used one, I put it on top of a piece of 2" thick styrofoam.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I can't start my seeds in the green house until mid-late-March at the earliest. Hubby has talked about setting up lights in the basement. We'll see if he was serious when I mention it.

Does anyone use heated seed mats to start seeds?

I got some for Christmas so I will be this year. That said, every year prior to this I didn’t use any and stuff sprouted just fine.

Aforementioned YouTubers said the heat mats could be detrimental to cold weather crops and needed to be turned off once most of the seeds sprouted. Apparently you can also put cardboard or a towel between the mat and the seed tray to buffer the seeds against too much heat.

Still plenty of time. I don't start tomato and pepper seeds for the garden until mid March.

That’s when I start most of mine too, I just have to keep reminding myself that some of these people are in California or otherwise much warmer areas than I am.

 

[R2elk]

Apparently you can also put cardboard or a towel between the mat and the seed tray to buffer the seeds against too much heat.

The mat I used had a temperature controller that you could set.

I start cold weather crops other than cabbage and cauliflower directly in the garden.

 

[NanaK]

Transplanted a tomato plant into a bigger pot.

That is a very nice looking tomato plant. I see more in the background.
I usually start a couple early so I can get some early tomatoes. I need to get them started soon. Then do more a bit later.

Does anyone use heated seed mats to start seeds?

I have but my lights are set up inside the house in a spare bedroom so I have found no real benefit in a warm room. In a cool basement it might help.

At first I used a rack made for cooling cakes . It had short legs and the heat mat sat under it with seed tray on top. It kept the seeds from getting too hot.

Later I purchased a brooder plate and thermostatic controller that also worked with the heat mat. This kept the temps more consistant.

 

[tripletfeb]

I can't start my seeds in the green house until mid-late-March at the earliest. Hubby has talked about setting up lights in the basement. We'll see if he was serious when I mention it.

Does anyone use heated seed mats to start seeds?

I did last year. It seemed to work fine. Whether it was needed is up for debate. I will be using it again this year, simply because I have it

 

[tripletfeb]

I did last year. It seemed to work fine. Whether it was needed is up for debate. I will be using it again this year, simply because I have it

I will also lower my lights a little. My sprouts last year were pretty spindly. I think they were reaching for the light that was too high