Anybody have any suggestions or experience with the heating mats on Amazon?Trying to find a safe one that lets you dial the temp in.Any suggestions?The reviews on a lot of them all have one pic where the pads almost started a fire def no bueno.
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I use the standard heat mat and a timer 15 on 30 off or something list that
Paps
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Consider a combo that includes a basic temp controller. Or separate.
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I purchased that after doing research but never worked with it. It looks like people had good results with it from what I had read.
I purchased the above Vivosun combo one recently to add a third mat, have used it several times, works good snd pretty accurate as well
Have the same one….what temp do you set it for @TopShelfTrees1?
I second the Vivosun mat @GramTorino posted, I use that exact one and it works great.
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i have one it gets to hot, needs to be controlled
I’ve never used a heat mat bc I find all the options to be daunting lol… will definitely take some of these suggestions into consideration. Useful thread.
I set it for 78-80 but place a drying mat between the pad and the base of my tray. (The kind you get to set wet dishes on to dry) it’s like microfibre but thick, to dissipate heat and hot spots, also keeps the condensation drips from building below. I also use the little thermo/hygrometers in my domes to make sure I keep it in the money zone, 74-78 IMO
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it’s hard to read , but you can see it, this is the only pic I have on hand as I have no clones or seedlings going atm . Can also basically see the drying thing between the tray and the heating pad. Wish I had a pic of the way I set up all three trays now, it’s a shelf system and it is absolutely mint. Soon as I fire some up, I’ll post a pic. I’ve been procrastinating but they need to be done within the next 5-7 days max. I also gradually drop the humidity from 95% and up the temp from 71-72 in the first week or two (size dependant) for clones and a similar regime for seedlings.
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I’ve use that mat for a while, pretty accurate thermometer. Used for both veggie garden seed sprouting / seedlings, and for my JohnnyPotSeed 2000 seed starter tray 
For germinating, I like to keep it right about 80F
Prior to that I had a 20" x 48" mat, can’t rememeber the name as it finally quit on me last year, but I had it for years (no thermostat controller though).
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I’ve seen this one pretty good price too for what it’s worth.probably put a seedling tray upside down to keep it up off that a bit for even heat distribution.
Me too! The friend that is mentoring me said her two work great.
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I set my seedlings in the tray and set it normal on the mat. I have two and been using for 4 years. Why would you put a tray upside down to keep them off. That defeats the purpose. You just set the temp you want. I also set mine at 80F without any issue. Even distribution across the mate.
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I do clones like I do seeds solo cup sandwich bag over the top lol…I dip the end of the clone in some honey then into the soil
I agree. Its not a point source heat which would benefit from such an area… The entire point of the mat IS a spread out heat source…
And I do the same, set to 80F, and forget it. No matter where I put the probe, its the same temp reading, so it does a good job of evenly distributing the heat (even tested with a laser thermometer, it checked out)
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I wonder has anyone considered turning the heat off at night to see if the temp swing helps to generate roots. I know I have used a cup in a window sill when the season is right and they generate roots pretty quickly if the days is in the 80’s F and night around high 60’s F. Last attempt was 5 for 5 within 2 weeks. Just in a cup of water and change the water every other day.
Filtered light in this case but in an east window.
the tray is like less than inch and heat rises.How does that defeat the purpose ?Those mats have hot spots if you look at them with a heat camera.I do something like this on the heating trays I use at work it gets even heat distribution.
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