New Grower Best Heating Mat?

[d7reu]

Hi, I will be using a heating mat as my grow room is getting very cold as my garage itself is freezing (from uk).

Will I be able to use the germination/heating mat on 365 days?

Cheers.

 

[Nixx]

Hi.
Best to clad your tent walls on outside with polystyrene tiles. Keep the warmth in. Put them on the floor, or carpet remnants / tiles.
Heat mats can be good but can also cause problems with soil getting far too warm. Best to check with a soil pot and test temp.
You might be better off with a fan heater.

 

[wwwillie]

Mine is in the basement and the concrete floor gets quite cold and the temps while not freezing gets down to the 40's F. I have a couple old rugs under the plants and some old sleeping bags and blankets draped over. I also use an oil filled electric radiator. So between the insulation, the lights, and the heater I can maintain a good temp in the tent. I agree with Nixx test the soil temps on the bottom of the pot with just a heat mat.

 

[Mr Piggy]

Hey willie, what would work even better than the rugs is if you could raise your pots off the ground somehow. Maybe stack some 2x4s under it or what not, but the air circulating underneath and the break in the convection through the ground would raise the root zone temp quite a bit. Honestly I've been looking at my current grow and thinking of raising them off the ground just for that. Seems to work well for everyone else.

Now I'm just stoned and rambling.

 

[wwwillie]

Ya Mr. P that's exactly what is going to happen as soon as I finish this grow. Built a nice little riser out of 2x4, plywood and some insulation. Should save a lot of grief and worry, keep it up off the floor too, we get water down there in the spring sometimes, depends on the snowpack. Thank.

 

[Mr Piggy]

Sounds perfect. Can't wait for pictures to come back online so I can see everyone's grows again.