Soil heating cables.

Ok , I got tired of my over priced heat mats burning out so I got cables.

These are to be used in the house so I was wondering of instead of a sand box to lay them in ......

could I arrange the heat tape on a piece of foam insulation as a base ?

The 24 ft. long cables are supposed to handle 6 sq. ft. each which would accomodate one seed rack shelf.

Then put the seedling trays upon this ????

Whatchoo think ?

TIA,
Shirley

Shirley,

I'll be cranking up the greenhouse this week and will take some pics of what I came up with years ago with heating cables and creating my own heat mat....when I get this done I'll provide a link...

Ed

Thanks Ed

Scooterbug,

I finally got some pics taken so if you'd like to see the heating mat I created you can ck it out at http://www.pbench.com/gh-info.htm

Ed

WOW ! Genius !

So much better than what I was thinking of.

Hugs from here,
S

Where do you get all the little plant tag thingies?

Your heat coil set up is great! Mine came with the greenhouse and the coil is embedded in sand which is then covered in plastic but I can only fit a few seedling trays on the 'heat boxes' so want to make more. I think I'll attempt your instructions!

Gwendalou

Hi gwen, The setup you speak of is normally how the heat cables are used.

If I had a GH that would be the way for me too.

My problem was that my portable seed rack is in the dining room .

I didn't want to have a box of sand in there taking a chance on it getting knocked onto the new carpet .

Doin the happy dance ;-)

Gwendalou,

Most are purchased through plant tag companies - which I order in the thousands on a yearly basis depending on crops I'm growing - and I also receive them from the companies with which I order some of my plants through, specifically patented varieties such as the Proven Winners and many more. Sometimes I'm a bit inundated with them.

The heat mat I came up with quite awhile ago because I didn't want to deal with burying the cables either and wanted something simple....I figured they could be sandwiched/insulated with some sort of rubber or whatever...so I went looking at the hardware store and put that together...it works just great! I have a few other ones that I put together too that have 'zones'....more than one cable...so as I was seeding and such I'd only use one area at a time or plug in another as needed. They do end up getting some moisture between the mat layers, but nice thing about that is is that the water doesn't bother it. And, when it needs to be cleaned up really good you can basically take them outside, hang on the close line or whatever, and let them dry. The top layer I give a good scrubbing to at times and hose it off and dry. Then roll them up and put them away for the summer and winter months.

People really get a kick out of this set up and I'm glad I'm able to share it with you....

Ed

Scooterbug, my sand is totally enclosed. It would not spill out even if knocked over. But sand is so heavy I cannot imagine is knocking over! It's in a wooden box sort of thing, just low pieces of wood forming a rectangle, then has the cables in it, the sand, and the heavy-duty plastic is stapled to the sides of the wooden frame (more a frame than a box) so it's all secure. Weighs a ton, I can't move it myself.

Gwendalou

Only thing I can imagine is cats using it for a litter box. Yuck!! LOL

rofl

Jnette, it's covered in some sort of plastic cloth. Not really plastic as it absorbs water. It's black and is totally tacked down to the wooden frame. So no sand is actually exposed.

Gwen

double post , sorry

This message was edited Apr 26, 2006 11:23 AM

So , how do you plant the seeds if it is covered with plastic ?

THe facory directions that came with my cable states clearly :

to protect the cable with tacked down hardware cloth under the sand/planting medium

to protect the cable when pricking out seedlings for potting up...........

This message was edited Apr 26, 2006 11:25 AM

This message was edited May 1, 2006 3:40 PM

I'm totally confused now. I don't plant in the sand that the cables are buried in! I have a wooden box, filled with sand that the heat cables are buried in. That's covered with 'hardware cloth.' I put my seeds into seed trays filled with seed starting medium. These go on top of the 'sand boxes.'

Gwen

I think the instructions Scooterbug is referring to is for when the cables are in the same soil that you are planting in. Your method sounds good and resolves the "protect the cables" issue

Oh! I've never heard of that method. I'm new to all this. The greenhouse was here and set up when we bought the place. I'm so lucky! I still have lots to learn.

Gwen

Could be the reason they are call SOIL heating cables. Ya think ?

My friend in Germany also uses soil heating cables for all her thousands of hybrid seedlings.

I would think that using heating pads that are made for heating seed trays would be much more economical as the pad is in direct contact with the trays.

Soil heating cables that are enclosed and covered with sand will first need to heat the sand.
THEN are expected to heat the seed trays ?

Seems like that would really waste a lot of wattage before getting to the part you want heated.

I can't afford to waste electrickery ;-)


Gwen, You lucky girl getting a GH . Color me green with envy ;-D

I guess the best thing would be to read thoroughly the usage instructions that come with whichever product you buy.

This message was edited May 1, 2006 3:42 PM

OK.. now I am the confused one.. Scoot..didn't you start the thread saying that you were tired of overpriced heating mats burning out and were going to go to the heating cables.. ??

lost and wandering around in a daze..... (you would think I'd be used to it by now :)

Right, just fishing for an alternative but didn't consider the chances I would be taking with boxes of sand the dining room.

So we are all finding out about the options available.
I tried te idea of putting the seed flats over the cable. It did not get warm enough and my elec bill went sky high.

Normally DH doesn't even mention the bill when I plug in the plant stand lights and heaters for seed starting.

This year he bellered like a wounded bull.

I'm still going in circles on this issue .

Well Scooter.. I have the perfect solution for you and your wounded bull. get a greenhouse.. :) (or do you have one already.. can't remember.. ) (it's that daze thing)

If you don't have one you can make an excellent argument for one. it would pay itself off in utility savings in a couple years depending on how large/which one you got.. mine only cost $240 so that is what I am basing it on

Have one but with our 20 below Winters it is not heated.
I need to start a couple hundred brug seeds every November.
I use an extra bedroom for a plant over wintering and seed growing room,
but the germinating flats need to be near the dining room bay window where it is warmer.
The plant room is to cold for new seeds.

Guess I need to move to FL ....... ( I wish )

This message was edited May 2, 2006 9:04 AM

a couple hundred brug seeds??? thud

Ohhh Noooooo,

Jazzi .... "Wake up "

*G*

I have a small green house and I use used water bed heat mats. They have a thermostat with a probe and all you have to do is put a thermometer in the soil and adjust the thermostat a little at a time till you get the temp you want then mark the thermostat where you want to set it next time. Put the mats between sand. Best of all the most I ever paid for one at garage sales or flea markets were $2.00 each. If you want to be fancier you can get a thermostat with a probe and hook it to a heavy duty relay and then wire the relay to some receptables and anything you plug into the receptables will come on with the thermostat which reads in degrees.

Just found this thread while looking for ways to keep roots warm on one gallon pots, and am wondering what methods people ended up using.

Sharon

Here's a link to my DIY propagating box project. http://geocities.com/ne0b/prop_box.htm
I've had trouble with lower quality heating cables so I would advise you not to skimp on cable quality or thermostats. You can certainy replace it but it's a pain.