Gro Mat alternatives am I nuts?

OK- I start all my seeds in the basement which is chilly- on a pair of shelves my DH built me behind my dryer. I want gro mats but the darn things are $$$. So I thought of a couple of alternatives please tell me if I'm nuts....

1. there are twin size electric blankets on clearance at WalMart for $15 with creative floding I could use one twin size blanket and heat all the shelves- would this work if I kept it on low?

2. would regualr heating pads you buy at Walmart work? they have these new ones you can even get wet for moist heat....

3. doing something craetive with the dryer vent with pvc to pump the warm air into the sleving unit (I cover the front of the whole thing with plastic to try to create a green house type effect.

Somebody please help- I am on my 3rd spring and am addicted.... LOL!!!!

Heather
Proud Mama of Wyatt and Rhiannon
Queen bee of the Banana tree (don't ask my kids made it up)

I wouldnt trust a electric blanket , seen to many house fires started becouse of them.

I broke down and bought "official" seedling heat mats & a thermostat last week!

I've been putting seeds that need a warmer start on a metal shelf with a couple of 40 watt pot lights on the shelf below to provide heat. I'm not sure I trust an electric blanket or heating pad not to get too hot, but maybe you could put a thermostat control on it, with a probe in the soil of one of your pots/flats. People have posted about making a box (or boxed-in shelf area) for seed starting, putting in a 20 or 40 watt incandescent bulb for heat, and wiring it up with a thermostat to keep the heat level where they want it.

Last week, before my mats arrived, I was also germinating seeds in my electric oven. With just the oven light turned on and the door slightly ajar (held with a kitchen towel), it was a nice constant 80 degreen in there!

Be careful guys, you wont save any money if you burn down your house !

I too drooled over the heat mats for a couple of years and then bought one from Parks - no thermostat. It has worked so well though.

If you are really short on dollars, you might try having some type of light bulb below a shelf, (but not touching or close enough to anything to be a fire hazzard). I would think that a 40 watt bulb would have enough heat moving up to give some bottom heat to whatever is on top.)

Just be careful whatever you do.

Light bulb below a shelf works best if it's a metal shelf. Raised the temperature about 10 -15 degrees for some seedlings in my cool basement last year.

I agree about being a little skeptical about using an electric blanket or heating pad for this purpose, in terms of fire danger. Better to have an incandescant bulb that's unattended than one of those. As long as there's nothing flammable near the light bulb, you'll be fine. Pot lights (those "uplights" the designers love) are cheap fixtures that work very well for this.

People have also reported having good luck starting seeds on top of the fridge, on top of a TV or computer monitor, etc

"pixiedish" posted the following suggestion on my recent thread about heat mats:

"I've had really good luck this year using a soil heating cable with a thermostat. I built a wooden box the same size as my plant shelf in the greenhouse and about 5 inches tall. I wired the cable onto a piece of hardward cloth cut to fit the bottom of the box. This is really time consuming, but I think the cable is cheaper than the seed mats so I could cover more area for less cost. I put about an inch of sand in the bottom of the box, put in the cable, and covered with 2-3 more inches of sand. Now I have a 74 degree sand bed under lights and my seeds have germinated like crazy. I've had some that germinated literally overnight. I got my cables locally, but Gardener's Supply at [HYPERLINK@WWW.gardeners.com] sells them. Don't know if they are the cheapest. "

I have been using a electric heating pad on lowest seeding not hot lowest with my seeds in flats with covers and grow light on top
I started them 2 nights ago first morning had one seed germated yesterday 3
I havent had a problem

Way to go, roses! What kind of seed did you have that germinated overnight for you?? I thought I did well when I got a Vigna caracalla seed to germinate in 2 days (in my 80 degree oven)...

As long as we're playing 'true confessions', I confess that last year, before I had my greenhouse, I, too, germinated seeds on the kitchen windowseat using a regular heating pad on the low setting. I had great success. If I could have found heating pads large enough to heat my entire seedbed, I'd have bought them. Please keep this info between us! :)
Pixydish

I'm confused. This thread is posted in three different places. Jessamine

I admit being a newbie I posted this in a couple of places- I didn't know where to place it to get the "right" people to answer the question I had- and not realizing how busy the board really was I may have overdid it and then one got moved- sorry.

Anyway after I let my DH read Paulgrow's post about the heat boxes (I let him peek) and looking into the prices of grow mats, heat coils, waterbed heaters ect...

He is outside building me the mother of all propagation shelves! LOL!!!
It is 2 feet deep and 5 feet long-- enough for 5 flats per shelf and there are 3 shelves! I LOVE THAT MAN! And for the same cost as 2 grow mats for the 2 small sheves I had

We'll wrap it in plastic on the sides and back- and eventtally it will have plexi sides and doors! We also got the Sprit Elemants catalog and saw a shed I adore- we are going to build and modify a version of it later this summer! Did I mention-I LOVE THIS MAN ?!

Once I figure out how I will post some pics...... off to make dinner now

Heather

I got buckwheat