Question about Heat Mats

It never occurred to me until today.

Are heat mate used just for germination? Or should they be used after too? I have tomato, peppers, kale, aubergines on my heatmats and they have all germinated. Should I now take them off the heat mate and just put them on the table, this is in my conservatory so wont go below freezing.

Thanks

 

First get a thermometer, preferably a min/max type as see what temp your conservatory goes down to. Some folks are almost as warm as the house, others really cold ...

Most of what you have sown are heat loving plants and probably need at least 10c overnight to keep healthy and growing well.

As @shiney says some bottom heat will be good, so even if your heat mat does not have a thermostat, just switch it on at night, using a cover if its forecast really cold.

Also be careful during the day as like a greenhouse, a conservatory can get up to 30c+ in a strong winter sun, so use some newspaper to act as a shade.

 

Might get too leggy. Been there done that.

 

Its always a balancing act, heat , light , water - its often due to starting things off too early.

Leaving things a bit later might not seem good, but often they will be ready for putting in the garden nearly as soon as the ones started off early.

Most seedlings get drawn if there is not good light, just set them deep when transplanting.

Using a led grow light can also help before the end of March.

 

My 1.2 x 0.6m thermostatically controlled heat mat is situated on top of my similar sized grow light box in my greenhouse.

It doesn't get turned on until there's sufficient natural light for the seeds germinating on it. So it's left until April before I start using it.

Until then, I have 2x that area in thermostatically controlled propagators, and about 3x as much space covered by growlights.